The Hickory Red Tornadoes will face off against the East Lincoln Mustangs at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with Hickory sitting on seven straight wins and East Lincoln on eight.
On Friday, Hickory took their contest with ease, bagging a 44-8 victory over West Iredell. The score at the end of the third wound up being the final score as the Red Tornadoes just coasted through the last quarter.
Hickory got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Ronan Nieland out in front who picked up 88 receiving yards and a pair of scores. Another signal caller making a difference was Maddox McRee, who threw for 159 yards and three touchdowns on only 13 passes.
Hickory's run defense was locked in: West Iredell could only muster 2.5 yards per carry. The team can thank JB Young for the heroic effort on defense: he. Hickory didn't have any issues in that department, having averaged 7.7.
Hickory's defense didn't let Ja'Braylan Patterson, get away unscathed either: they got into the backfield for three sacks. Max Yount was particularly dangerous to the passing game, picking up two himself.
Meanwhile, East Lincoln humbled Foard with a 42-7 victory. Fans of the Mustangs have seen this all before: every one of the games they've played this season has ended in a blowout of 20+ points.
Hickory better focus on containing Grant Lawless and Jaxon Dollar as the pair were huge in East Lincoln's win. Lawless threw for 317 yards and three TDs while completing 72.7% of his passes, while Dollar picked up 198 receiving yards and four scores. With that strong performance, Dollar is now averaging an impressive 108.9 receiving yards per game.
Hickory's record is now 7-1. As for East Lincoln, their record now sits at 8-0.
Hickory took their victory against East Lincoln in their previous matchup back in September of 2024 by a conclusive 42-21 score. Do the Red Tornadoes have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Mustangs turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
