Tuscola has gone 7-2 against Smoky Mountain recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Friday. The Tuscola Mountaineers will be playing in front of their home fans against the Smoky Mountain Mustangs at 7:30 p.m.
Tuscola is headed into the match having just suffered their closest defeat since August 18, 2023 on Friday. They fell just short of West Henderson by a score of 20-17. The Mountaineers haven't had much luck with the Falcons recently, as the team's come up short the last two times they've met.
Although Tuscola took the loss, they still got scores from Bridger Jones and Bo West.
Even if they lost, Tuscola's defense still kept up the pressure with three sacks. In that department, Conner Song was the leader with two. He also set a new season high mark in total tackles with nine. Another thorn in West Henderson's side was Walker Bolden, who made 15 total tackles (3.0 for loss).
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Smoky Mountain). They really took it to East Henderson for the full four quarters, racking up a 53-6 victory at home. With the Mustangs ahead 28-0 at the half, the matchup was all but over already.
Ayden Johnson was a one-man wrecking crew for Smoky Mountain as he rushed for 253 yards and three touchdowns on only 15 carries. Johnson is crushing it when it comes to rushing yards: he's rushed for at least 154 every time he's taken the field this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Rylee Smith, who rushed for 95 yards and two touchdowns on only nine carries.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Smoky Mountain was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 618 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Tuscola's loss dropped their record down to 4-3. As for Smoky Mountain, they moved to 3-3 with that win, which also ended their three-game losing streak.
Tuscola beat Smoky Mountain 34-21 when the teams last played back in October of 2023. Will Tuscola repeat their success, or does Smoky Mountain have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
