The Decatur Red Raiders will take on the Athens Golden Eagles at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Decatur has given up an average of 32.3 points per game this season, but Friday's game will give them a chance to turn things around.
Decatur came up short against Cullman on Friday, falling 37-13. The defeat continues a trend for the Red Raiders in their meetings with the Bearcats: they've now lost three in a row.
Despite the loss, Decatur got top-tier performance from Isaiah Allen, who rushed for 126 yards and two TDs on only 11 carries. The bulk of those rushing yards came from one huge play: a run that gained an incredible 68 yards.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Athens). They blew past Columbia 64-14 on Friday. The Golden Eagles haven't had any issues with the Eagles recently, as the game was their ninth consecutive win against them.
Decatur better keep an eye on Xavier Edwards. He was instrumental in Athens' win, rushing for 110 yards and three touchdowns on only six carries. They are 2-1 when Edwards posts 80 or more rushing yards, but 2-3 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Jaxson Moore, who rushed for 82 yards and one score on only six carries.
They were just one part of a punishing run game: Athens was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 378 rushing yards. They are 2-1 when they've run for more than 200 yards.
Athens didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Landen Buttleman and Skyler Sammons.
Decatur's defeat dropped their record down to 2-7. As for Athens, the victory got them back to even at 4-4.
Decatur was taken down by Athens 49-20 in their previous meeting back in October of 2024. That contest was all but decided by halftime, at which point the Red Raiders were down 42-13.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
