The Leroy Bears will be staying on the road on Friday to face off against the Elba Tigers at 7:00 p.m. on December 1st. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Leroy had no problem doing just that on Friday. They blew past the Bulldogs 40-18.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Leroy to victory, but perhaps none more so than Brayden Huebner, who rushed for 43 yards and two touchdowns, and also threw for 154 yards and two touchdowns. Taylor Crumedy did his part to keep the secondary busy, picking up 96 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Elba put another one in the bag on Friday to keep their perfect season alive. They claimed a resounding 49-14 win over Maplesville on the road. Given Elba's advantage in MaxPreps' Alabama football rankings (they are ranked 90th, while Maplesville is ranked 226th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
It was another big night for Alvin Henderson, who rushed for 315 yards and six touchdowns while picking up 15.0 yards per carry. Henderson is absolutely dominating the rushing yard category: he's posted at least 100 every time he's taken the field this season. Cayden Adkins also helped out as he racked up 107 rushing yards.
The team's defense also helped out by holding Maplesville to a paltry 200 yards. A big part of that defensive dominance came down to Elba's ability to keep the quarterback under pressure: the team laid the passer out five times before it was all said and done. Adkins was especially locked on to Maplesville's QB and sacked him twice.
Their wins bumped Leroy to 12-0 and Brantley to 8-5.
Friday's game might be decided on the ground as these two are both standouts in the run game. Leroy has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 151.4 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Elba struggles in that department as they've been even better at 423.2 per game. It's looking like Friday's game might have some serious battles in the trenches. Check back here after the action for a full breakdown and analysis of the contest.
Everything came up roses for Leroy against Elba when the teams last played back in November of 2017 as the squad secured a 48-20 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Leroy since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
