After each having a week off, the Harlem Bulldogs and the Hephzibah Rebels will dust off their jerseys to square off against one another at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Harlem has four straight wins, Hephzibah has four straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Harlem will head into Friday's contest hoping to keep the good times rolling: they only won by three when they last took the field, which might have inspired the 21-point they dealt West Laurens two weeks ago. Harlem blew past West Laurens 28-7. That 21 point margin sets a new team best for the Bulldogs this season.
Malik Tyler continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 140 yards and a touchdown. Jayden Futrell got in on the action as well, converting a pick into a touchdown.
Harlem was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 236 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 153 rushing yards in six consecutive games dating back to last season.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Harlem's defense and their four sacks. Keaton Tillery was especially locked on to West Laurens' QB and sacked him twice.
Meanwhile, Hephzibah managed to keep up with Howard until halftime two weeks ago, but things quickly went downhill from there. Hephzibah lost 42-20 to Howard.
Harlem pushed their record up to 4-0 with the victory, which was their fifth straight on the road dating back to last season. As for Hephzibah, their defeat dropped their record down to 1-4.
Everything went Harlem's way against Hephzibah when the teams last played back in October of 2023, as Harlem made off with a 41-20 win. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Hephzibah's Telly Johnson, who rushed for 162 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 7.0 yards per carry. Now that he won't be playing on Friday, will it be easier for Harlem to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
