The Ashley Screaming Eagle will square off against the Cleveland Rams at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the game red-hot, with Ashley sitting on four straight victories and Cleveland on 11.
Ashley is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They blew past Laney 41-7. The result was nothing new for the Screaming Eagle, who have now won five matchups by 21 points or more so far this season.
Jackson Eller looked great while leading his team to the win, throwing for 130 yards and two touchdowns, while also punching in a touchdown on the ground. Bryson Lovelace helped Eller out on the ground, rushing for 62 yards and a touchdown.
Ashley was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 225 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 225 rushing yards in four consecutive contests.
Ashley didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. It was truly a group effort as Quinn Bentley, Jahlil Bryant, and Zack Hall picked up one apiece.
Meanwhile, Cleveland narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past Heritage 24-21. Given the Rams' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina football rankings (they are ranked 12th, while the Huskies are ranked 150th), the result on Friday wasn't entirely unexpected.
Cleveland's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Jackson Byrd led the charge by throwing for 236 yards and a touchdown, while also rushing for 51 yards and a touchdown. A healthy portion of Byrd's aerial production (133 yards to be exact) went to Malachi Thomas.
Ashley is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven matches, which provided a nice bump to their 9-2 record this season. Those good results were due in large part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 13.9 points per game. As for Cleveland, their victory was their sixth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 11-0.
The upcoming game will be a clash of competing strengths. Ashley has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 210.6 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, Cleveland has preferred to attack from the air: they average 291.3 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
