Long Beach is on a three-game streak of home losses, Hancock a six-game streak of away losses dating back to last season, but someone's luck is about to change on Friday. The Long Beach Bearcats will welcome the Hancock Hawks at 7:00 p.m. Given that both suffered a loss in their last game, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this game.
Long Beach is headed into the contest out to prove that what happened against Picayune on Friday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Long Beach took a blow against Picayune, falling 49-7. The matchup marked the Bearcats' lowest-scoring match so far this season.
Meanwhile, Hancock lost to Pascagoula at home by a 42-27 margin on Friday. While losing is never fun, the Hawks can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Mississippi football rankings (they are ranked 125th, while the Panthers are ranked 34th).
Despite the loss, Hancock got top-tier performance from Kaison Koenenn, who rushed for 146 yards and two touchdowns. With that strong performance, Koenenn is now averaging an impressive 101.1 rushing yards per game.
Even though they lost, Hancock was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 271 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 160 rushing yards in four consecutive games.
Long Beach's defeat dropped their record down to 2-7. As for Hancock, their loss dropped their record down to an identical 2-7.
Long Beach was taken down by Hancock 53-14 in their previous matchup back in October of 2023. Thankfully for Long Beach, Zach Gullung (who rushed for 205 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 11.4 yards per carry) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
