The East Leopards will venture away from home to take on the Olympus Titans at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
East is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another highly-ranked state team: Valor Christian, who was ranked third at the time (East was ranked 21st). East lost to Valor Christian at home by a 30-14 margin on Friday. The Leopards gained 178 more yards on the day, but it was the Eagles that made the best use of them.
East's loss came about despite a quality game from Dameon Crosby, who rushed for 54 yards and a touchdown on only six carries, and also threw for 132 yards on six of 19 attempts.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: East was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 301 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since back in August of 2023.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Olympus, who bounced back after a loss on the road last Friday. Their defense stepped up to hand Brighton a 13-0 shutout on Friday. The 13-point effort marked the Titans' lowest-scoring match of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Olympus' defense and their five sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Kingston Nugent and Thomas Mauga who racked up four sacks between them. Mauga also set a new season high mark in total tackles with nine.
East's defeat dropped their record down to 3-2. As for Olympus, their victory bumped their record up to 2-3.
Friday's game might be decided in the trenches. East has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 238.4 rushing yards per game. It's a different story for Olympus, though, as they've been averaging only 45.8. How will they fare against such a dominant running game?
East came up short against Olympus in their previous meeting back in September of 2023, falling 23-10. Can East avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
