Elbert County has been away from home for two games now, but on Friday they'll finally make their return. They will host the Commerce Tigers at 7:30 p.m. Elbert County will be strutting in after a win while Commerce will be coming in after a defeat.
Elbert County will head into Friday's matchup on the come-up: they were handed a three-point loss in their last match, but they sure didn't let that happen against Oglethorpe County on Friday. Elbert County simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Oglethorpe County 46-13 on the road. Given the Blue Devils' advantage in MaxPreps' Georgia football rankings (they are ranked 191st, while the Patriots are ranked 407th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Jacari Barnett had an outrageously good game as he rushed for 169 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 9.9 yards per carry. That's the most rushing yards he has posted since back in November of 2023. The team also got some help courtesy of Jayvyn Hickman, who rushed for 101 yards on only seven carries.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Elbert County was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 402 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, Commerce and Athens Academy were almost perfectly matched up on Friday, but Commerce suffered a 29-28 defeat. The Tigers have struggled against the Spartans recently, as their game on Friday was their fourth consecutive lost matchup.
Elbert County's victory bumped their record up to 2-3. As for Commerce, they now also have a losing record at 2-3.
Elbert County took a serious blow against Commerce when the teams last played back in October of 2023, falling 49-21. That contest was all but decided by halftime, at which point Elbert County was down 35-7.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
