Laurens Academy and King Academy are an even 5-5 against one another since October of 2015, but not for long. The Laurens Academy Crusaders and the King Academy Knights are set to duel on Friday.
Laurens Academy is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of South Carolina's top teams: Richard Winn Academy, who was ranked first in their home state at the time (Laurens Academy was ranked sixth). Laurens Academy was dealt a 62-12 loss at the hands of Richard Winn Academy on Friday. The Crusaders were red-hot offensively headed into the matchup (they scored no less than 31 points in the three contests prior) but the Eagles' defense proved too tough.
Despite the defeat, Laurens Academy got top-tier performance from Garrett Murphy, who rushed for 106 yards on only ten carries, and also picked up 64 receiving yards. Murphy's rushing production has been exceptional as that marked his seventh straight game with at least 106 rushing yards. Mason Cooper handled things on the ground, rushing for 92 yards.
Even though they lost, Laurens Academy was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 201 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 166 rushing yards in nine consecutive games.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask King Academy). They walked away with a 40-32 victory over Newberry Academy on Friday. The win was a breath of fresh air for the Knights as it put an end to their five-game losing streak.
Laurens Academy's loss ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 6-3. As for King Academy, their victory bumped their record up to 2-6.
Laurens Academy strolled past King Academy in their previous meeting back in September by a score of 52-36. The rematch might be a little tougher for Laurens Academy since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
