The Pearl Pirates will head out on the road to take on the Northwest Rankin Cougars at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Pearl will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Mississippi Rankings (they are ranked 140th, while the Cougars are ranked 29th).
Last Tuesday, Pearl came up short against the Panthers and fell 46-39. Pearl has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Meanwhile, Northwest Rankin came tearing into Friday's matchup with four straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 36 points) and they left with even more momentum. They came out on top in a nail-biter against Ridgeland and snuck past 64-61. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
Pearl has traveled a rocky road recently having lost six of their last eight contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 8-16 record this season. As for Northwest Rankin, they pushed their record up to 21-10 with that victory, which was their tenth straight at home.
Pearl was dealt a bruising 55-12 defeat at the hands of the Cougars when the teams last played last Friday. The game was all but decided by halftime, at which point Pearl was down 35-10.
