East Central has been on the road for two straight, but on Friday they'll finally head home. They will host the Gautier Gators at 7:00 p.m. The two teams are at an even 3-3 against one another since October of 2014, but likely not for long.
East Central is headed into the match out to prove that what happened against Laurel on Friday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. East Central had to suffer through a 41-14 loss at the hands of Laurel. The Hornets haven't had much luck with the Golden Tornadoes recently, as the team's come up short the last three times they've met.
Despite the loss, East Central saw an underclassman step up: Trevor Wall made six total tackles (4.0 for loss).
Meanwhile, Gautier waltzed into their contest on Friday with four straight wins... but they left with five. They blew past the War Eagles 31-8. Given the Gators' advantage in MaxPreps' Mississippi football rankings (they are ranked 34th, while the War Eagles are ranked 108th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
East Central's defeat dropped their record down to 1-6. As for Gautier, they pushed their record up to 6-1 with the win, which was their ninth straight at home dating back to last season.
East Central took a serious blow against Gautier when the teams last played back in October of 2023, falling 34-7. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Gautier's Solomon Baggett, who rushed for 232 yards and three touchdowns on only 14 carries. Now that East Central 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
