The Shepherd Pirates will take on the Silsbee Tigers at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Shepherd is coming into the game on a three-game losing streak.
Shepherd is headed into the contest out to prove that what happened against Hamshire-Fannett on Friday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Shepherd was dealt a 55-8 defeat at the hands of Hamshire-Fannett. While losing is never fun, the Pirates can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 705th, while the Longhorns are ranked 109th).
Shepherd might have lost, but man, Preston Stephens was a machine: he rushed for 195 yards while picking up 7.2 yards per carry. Stephens' rushing production has been exceptional for a while as that marked his 17th straight game with at least 119 rushing yards dating back to last season. Backing up that air attack was Landen Dellinger, who rushed for 92 yards and a rushing touchdown.
Even though they lost, Shepherd was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 321 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 176 rushing yards in 21 consecutive matchups dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Silsbee). They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 49-47 victory over Jasper on Friday. With that win, the Tigers brought their scoring average up to 26.2 points per game.
A big part of Silsbee's victory came down to the chemistry between Michael Moshier and his top target Jayden Miller. Moshier threw for 305 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 13.3 yards per attempt while Miller picked up 194 receiving yards and three touchdowns. The dominant performance also gave Moshier a new career-high in rushing yards (71). Another player making a difference was Jacaleb Johnson, who gained 142 total yards and a touchdown.
Silsbee didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Johnson and Gary Farr.
Silsbee's win bumped their record up to 6-3. As for Shepherd, their loss dropped their record down to 3-6.
Shepherd was taken down by Silsbee 52-13 when the teams last played back in November of 2019. Thankfully for Shepherd, Chris Martin (who rushed for 164 yards and two touchdowns on only six carries) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
