The Hardin-Jefferson Hawks will face off against the Bridge City Cardinals at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.
Hardin-Jefferson is headed into the matchup out to prove that what happened against Little Cypress-Mauriceville on Friday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Hardin-Jefferson was beaten by Little Cypress-Mauriceville 49-13. The Hawks haven't had much luck with the Bears recently, as the team's come up short the last seven times they've met.
Meanwhile, Bridge City put another one in the bag on Friday to keep their perfect season alive. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Vidor 49-20 at home. Fans of the Cardinals have seen this all before: every one of the games they've played this season has ended in a blowout of 20+ points.
Hutch Bearden was his usual excellent self, rushing for 56 yards and two touchdowns, while also throwing for 128 yards and a touchdown on only 11 passes. Abraham Munguia got in on the action too, returning a kick for a touchdown.
Bridge City wouldn't let Vidor keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Bridge City can thank Kolby Leblanc and Bryce Breeden for forcing both of them. Breeden also set a new season high mark in total tackles with 13.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Bridge City was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 202 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 202 rushing yards in five consecutive contests.
Hardin-Jefferson's defeat dropped their record down to 3-2. As for Bridge City, they pushed their record up to 5-0 with the victory, which was their third straight at home.
Hardin-Jefferson suffered a grim 51-26 defeat to Bridge City when the teams last played back in October of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Bridge City's Merik Aras, who rushed for 153 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 9.0 yards per carry. Now that Hardin-Jefferson knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
