The Middle Creek Mustangs will venture away from home to take on the Jacksonville Cardinals at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Middle Creek comes in on five and Jacksonville on 12.
Middle Creek is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They came out on top against Northern Nash by a score of 31-24. 31 seems to be a good number for the Mustangs as the squad scooped up a victory with the same number of points in their previous game.
Jayden Spencer
| 08/29/25 @ Willow Spring | 126 |
| 11/28/25 @ Northern Nash | 113 |
| 09/19/25 vs J.H. Rose | 111 |
| 10/03/25 vs Sanderson | 90 |
| 09/12/25 vs Eastern Wayne | 90 |
A big part of Middle Creek's win came down to the chemistry between Lex Sevilla and his top target Nicolas Bocciardi. Sevilla threw for 343 yards and four TDs while picking up 11.1 yards per attempt while Bocciardi picked up 209 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns. Bocciardi really caught the secondary sleeping when he pulled down a catch that went for 71 yards. Jayden Spencer handled things on the ground, rushing for 113 yards.
Middle Creek didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Honor Paxton and ZaVarius Johnson. Johnson has been hot recently, having also posted two or more defended passes the last three times he's played. Another thorn in Northern Nash's side was Davis Prichard, who forced one fumble and made ten total tackles (2.0 for loss).
Meanwhile, you're bound to get a positive result if you outscore your opponent every quarter and that's exactly how it played out for Jacksonville on Friday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that they blew Union Pines out of the water with a 34-7 final score. Considering the Cardinals have won seven matchups by more than 20 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
Jacksonville's win came from a few key players Middle Creek will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Anthony Washington, who rushed for 64 yards and two scores on only eight carries, and also threw for 144 yards and a pair of TDs. That's the most passing yards he has posted since back in September. Another player making a difference was Amari Pearson, who rushed for 145 yards and one touchdown on only ten carries.
Jacksonville was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 242 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 186 rushing yards every time they've taken the field this season.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Jacksonville's defense and their four sacks. That dominant display was truly a team effort as four different players picked up one apiece. They got some further help from Blake Moses: he picked up a sack and made ten total tackles (4.0 for loss).
Jacksonville's victory bumped their record up to 12-0. As for Middle Creek, their win bumped their record up to 10-2.
Friday's game might be decided on the ground. Middle Creek has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 184.2 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Jacksonville struggles in that department as they've been averaging 301.3 rushing yards. There's a good chance Friday's contest turns into a tough fight on the ground. Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more football content.
