The Northwest Cabarrus Trojans are taking a road trip to face off against the East Rowan Mustangs at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Northwest Cabarrus has three straight victories, East Rowan has 14 straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Northwest Cabarrus will head into Friday's match hoping to keep the good times rolling: they only won by two when they last took the field, which might have inspired the 45-point they dealt South Rowan on Friday. Northwest Cabarrus breezed by South Rowan at home to the tune of 45-0. Given the Trojans' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina football rankings (they are ranked 75th, while the Raiders are ranked 252nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
It was another big night for Jarlon Drye, who rushed for 173 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 8.7 yards per carry. His rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his fourth straight game with at least 100 rushing yards dating back to last season. The team also got some help courtesy of Hudson Irwin, who threw for 185 yards and three touchdowns on only 16 passes.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Northwest Cabarrus was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 237 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 182 rushing yards in four consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Friday just wasn't the day for East Rowan's offense. They were beaten by Concord 45-0 on Friday.
Northwest Cabarrus pushed their record up to 3-1 with the win, which was their eighth straight at home dating back to last season. As for East Rowan, their loss dropped their record down to 0-4.
Thursday's contest might be decided in the trenches. Northwest Cabarrus has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 251.5 rushing yards per game. It's a different story for East Rowan, though, as they've been averaging only 4.2. How will they fare against such a dominant running game?
Everything came up roses for Northwest Cabarrus against East Rowan when the teams last played back in September of 2023, as the squad secured a 44-0 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Northwest Cabarrus since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
