After each having a week off, the Albemarle Bulldogs and the East Wilkes Cardinals will shake off the cobwebs and face off against one another at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Albemarle's offense hasn't had much luck over their past three matchups, but Friday's contest will give them a chance to turn things around.
Albemarle is headed into the game out to prove that what happened against North Stanly two weeks ago (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Albemarle lost 24-0 to North Stanly. The shutout was out of character for the Bulldogs seeing as the last time the team failed to score was back in September.
Meanwhile, East Wilkes had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 25.5 points) and they went ahead and made it three two weeks ago. They blew past the Vikings, posting a 49-0 victory. Given the Cardinals' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina football rankings (they are ranked 193rd, while the Vikings are ranked 388th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Ayden Guessford was nothing short of spectacular: he rushed for 133 yards and three touchdowns on only seven carries. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in rushing yards. Another player making a difference was Phoenix Blackburn, who rushed for 35 yards and a touchdown.
East Wilkes was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 256 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 192 rushing yards in three consecutive matches.
East Wilkes didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off five passes before the game was over. Seth Lambert led the group effort, picking up three of those interceptions all by himself.
East Wilkes' win was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 8-2. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 33.4 points per game. As for Albemarle, their loss dropped their record down to 3-7.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
