The Lovejoy Leopards will head out on the road to square off against the Walnut Grove Wildcats at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Lovejoy knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 31 points or more in their past five matchups -- so hopefully Walnut Grove likes a good challenge.
Last Friday, Lovejoy humbled Emerson with a 48-7 victory. Given the Leopards' advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 43rd, while the Mavericks are ranked 144th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Lovejoy relied on the efforts of Ben Adams, who gained 158 total yards and two touchdowns, and Jacob Richard Janecek, who rushed for 68 yards and three touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Walnut Grove unfortunately witnessed the end of their seven-game winning streak dating back to last season on Friday. The game between them and Anna wasn't particularly close, with Walnut Grove falling 55-41. The loss put an end to the Wildcats' undefeated start to the season.
Despite the defeat, Walnut Grove got top-tier performance from Cameron Newton, who rushed for 265 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 9.8 yards per carry. Newton is on a roll when it comes to rushing touchdowns, as he's now punched in two or more in the last seven games he's played dating back to last season. The team also got some help courtesy of Luke Watkins, who picked up 158 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Even though they lost, Walnut Grove was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 298 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 174 rushing yards in 11 consecutive contests dating back to last season.
Lovejoy's win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 5-2. As for Walnut Grove, their loss ended a four-game streak of away wins dating back to last season and brought them to 6-1.
The upcoming match will be a clash of competing strengths. Lovejoy has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 185.3 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, Walnut Grove has preferred to attack from the air: they average 322.4 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
