The Hickory Ridge Ragin' Bulls will head out on the road to square off against the Mooresville Blue Devils at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. Hickory Ridge will come in still looking for their first win of the season.
Hickory Ridge is likely headed into the contest with a focus on the second half, which is when things went downhill against A.L. Brown on Friday. The game between Hickory Ridge and A.L. Brown wasn't particularly close, with Hickory Ridge falling 31-14.
Despite the defeat, Hickory Ridge had strong showings from David Johnson, who rushed for 80 yards and a touchdown, and Joell Wooten, who picked up 109 receiving yards. The dominant performance gave Johnson a new career-high in rushing yards. Speaking of playmakers, who could forget Ezekiel Kelly, who went all the way with a kickoff return for a touchdown.
Hickory Ridge's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Kelly and Hayden Hall. Hall also set a new season high mark in total tackles with nine. Another thorn in A.L. Brown's side was Carter Bowman, who picked up a sack and made eight total tackles (2.0 for loss).
Meanwhile, you can't lose the match if you win every quarter, and that was precisely Mooresville's strategy against Cox Mill on Friday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Mooresville blew Cox Mill out of the water with a 55-0 final score. Given the Blue Devils' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina football rankings (they are ranked 28th, while the Chargers are ranked 152nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Mooresville to victory, but perhaps none more so than Malachi Gwyn, who rushed for 102 yards and a touchdown on only six carries. Another passer making a difference was Brody Norman, who threw for 199 yards and two touchdowns on only 18 passes.
Hickory Ridge's loss dropped their record down to 0-5. As for Mooresville, the victory made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 3-1.
Hickory Ridge came up short against Mooresville when the teams last played back in September of 2023, falling 42-35. Can Hickory Ridge avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
