Maiden has gone 8-2 against Lincolnton recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Friday. After each having a week off, the two teams will shake off the cobwebs and take on one another at 7:30 p.m. Both are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Two weeks ago, Maiden was fully in charge, breezing past Newton-Conover 48-14. Given the Blue Devils' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina football rankings (they are ranked 87th, while the Red Devils are ranked 227th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Maiden's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Kendall Roberts, who rushed for 171 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 7.1 yards per carry. The dominant performance gave Roberts a new career-high in rushing yards. The team also got some help courtesy of Grant Lawing, who threw for 150 yards and two touchdowns while completing 85.7% of his passes.
Maiden was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 297 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 172 rushing yards in seven consecutive contests.
One reason for the win was Maiden's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for seven sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Brooks Hayden and Gerald Danner, who racked up five sacks between them. Hayden also made four total tackles, which is notable because Maiden is undefeated when he posts at least four total tackles, but 2-3 otherwise.
Meanwhile, Lincolnton waltzed into their match two weeks ago with five straight wins... but they left with six. They blew past the Rebels 42-21. The Wolves pushed the score to 35-13 by the end of the third, a deficit the Rebels cut but never quite recovered from.
Treylen Bost continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 209 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 9.5 yards per carry. His rushing production has been exceptional as that marked his sixth straight game with at least 105 rushing yards. Another player making a difference was Rashad Lynch, who threw for 167 yards and two touchdowns.
Lincolnton wouldn't let West Lincoln keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Lincolnton can thank Jeremiah Thompson and A?Zarrian ?Zay? Coleman for forcing both of them. Lincolnton got some further help from Jade Hunter: he picked up two sacks and made five total tackles.
Maiden pushed their record up to 7-3 with the victory, which was their third straight on the road. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 47.0 points per game. As for Lincolnton, their record now sits at 6-4.
Friday's matchup might be decided in the on the ground. Maiden has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 195.2 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Lincolnton struggles in that department as they've been averaging 207. It's looking like Friday's game might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Maiden and Lincolnton were neck-and-neck in their previous meeting back in October, but Maiden came up empty-handed after a 20-19 loss. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Lynch, who rushed for 88 yards and a touchdown, and also threw for 176 yards and two touchdowns while completing 75% of his passes. Now that Maiden knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps