The Derry Trojans will head out on the road to challenge the Elizabeth Forward Warriors at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
Derry is coming in off a wild two-game stretch: after soaring to 34 points last Friday, they were much more limited against Southmoreland on Friday. They took a 23-11 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Scotties. While losing is never fun, the Trojans can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania football rankings (they are ranked 335th, while the Scotties are ranked 149th).
Meanwhile, a well-balanced attack led Elizabeth Forward over Greensburg Salem in every quarter on their way to victory on Friday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that the Warriors blew the Golden Lions out of the water with a 49-7 final score. The game was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 28-7.
Derry better keep an eye on Ryan Messina. He was instrumental in Elizabeth Forward's win, throwing for 246 yards and a pair of touchdowns while picking up 11.7 yards per attempt. Logan Rider also helped out with an impressive 135 receiving yards.
Elizabeth Forward's run defense was locked in: Greensburg Salem could only muster 1.4 yards per carry. The team can thank Geo Thompson for the heroic effort on defense: he. Elizabeth Forward didn't have any issues in that department, having averaged 6.8.
Elizabeth Forward didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Aiden Hicks and Landon Honick. Hicks is also on a roll when it comes to total tackles, as he's now made five or more in each of the last three games he's played.
The win made it two in a row for Elizabeth Forward and bumps their season record up to 5-1. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 53.0 points over those games. As for Derry, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 3-3.
Derry was dealt a bruising 56-14 defeat at the hands of Elizabeth Forward when the teams last played back in October of 2024. Thankfully for the Trojans, Charlie Nigut (who rushed for 162 yards and two scores on only five carries, and also picked up 48 receiving yards and a pair of TDs) 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
