The Swansboro Pirates will face off against the White Oak Vikings at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Swansboro is looking for their season?s first victory.
Swansboro's offense might be in the hot seat on Friday considering what happened against North Brunswick last Friday. They had to suffer through a 56-0 loss at the hands of the Scorpions. While losing is never fun, the Pirates can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina football rankings (they are ranked 332nd, while the Scorpions are ranked 101st).
Meanwhile, White Oak really took it to Northside - Jacksonville for the full four quarters, racking up a 48-6 win at home. The Vikings might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won three contests by 22 points or more this season.
Joshua Smith was his usual excellent self, rushing for 144 yards and two touchdowns on only seven carries.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: White Oak was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 379 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 198 rushing yards in 15 consecutive matchups dating back to last season.
White Oak's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged three passes before it was all said and done. In fact, those interceptions all came courtesy of defensive juggernaut Jamison Avila. Another thorn in Northside - Jacksonville's side was Nick Johnson, who picked up two sacks and made seven total tackles (3.0 for loss).
Swansboro's defeat dropped their record down to 0-3. As for White Oak, their victory bumped their record up to 3-1.
Swansboro was taken down by White Oak 42-0 in their previous matchup back in October of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Smith, who rushed for 103 yards and two touchdowns on only six carries, and also threw for 63 yards and a touchdown. Now that Swansboro knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
