The North Shelby Raiders will challenge the Knox County Eagles on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Having struggled with three defeats in a row, North Shelby finally turned things around against Southwest two weeks ago. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat the Wildcats 66-14.
Meanwhile, with a playoff game on the line, Knox County rose to the challenge on Friday. They breezed by the Tigers to the tune of 52-16. Winning may never get old, but the Eagles sure are getting used to it with their fourth in a row.
Knox County's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Cooper Clair, who rushed for 128 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 7.5 yards per carry, and Carrsen Hayes, who gained 107 total yards and a touchdown. Hayes also deserves a shoutout for his performance on D, making two total tackles and defending two passes.
Knox County wouldn't let Princeton keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Knox County can thank Alious Hunolt and Creighton Karhoff for forcing both of them. Hunolt also posted three sacks, which is notable because Knox County is 3-1 when he posts at least one sack, but 1-4 otherwise.
Knox County was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 231 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 223 rushing yards in four consecutive contests.
Knox County's victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 4-5. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 57.3 points per game. As for North Shelby, they now have a winning record of 5-4.
Things could have been worse for North Shelby, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 48-34 loss to Knox County when the teams last played back in October. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Clair, who rushed for 121 yards and four touchdowns, and also threw for 133 yards and three touchdowns while completing 90% of his passes. Now that North Shelby knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
