The Bruton Panthers will face off against the Grafton Clippers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Bruton knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 31 points or more in their past four matches -- so hopefully Grafton likes a good challenge.
Bruton's offense will try to repeat the strong performance it gave on Friday, when they got past Northumberland's usually-dominant defense. Bruton took their matchup on the road with ease, bagging a 42-12 win over Northumberland. Fans of the Panthers have seen this all before: every one of the games they've played this season has ended in a blowout of 20+ points.
Peter Henderson was nothing short of spectacular: he rushed for 209 yards and a touchdown while picking up 8.7 yards per carry. He really tore up the turf during one magnificent 86-yard run. Ashton Bell was another key player, rushing for 19 yards and two touchdowns.
Bruton wouldn't let Northumberland keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Bruton can thank Paul Mutter and Troy Walson for forcing both of them. With that strong performance, Mutter is now averaging an impressive 5.2 total tackles per game. Another thorn in Northumberland's side was Rumante Todd, who picked up a sack and made seven total tackles (3.0 for loss).
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Bruton was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 296 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, Grafton can finally bid farewell to their four-game losing streak dating back to last season thanks to their game on Friday. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 9-6 victory over New Kent. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Clippers have posted against the Trojans since October 1, 2015.
Bruton's victory bumped their record up to 4-0. As for Grafton, their win (their first of the season) made their record 1-3.
Bruton came up short against Grafton in their previous meeting back in September of 2023, falling 21-10. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Grafton's Makale Barnett, who rushed for 204 yards and a touchdown on only 15 carries. Now that Bruton knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
