Maiden has gone 9-1 against Bunker Hill recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Friday. The Maiden Blue Devils will challenge the Bunker Hill Bears at 7:30 p.m. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Maiden gave up the first points last Friday, but they didn't let that get them down. They walked away with a 37-29 victory over Bandys. The score was all tied up 22-22 at the break, but the Blue Devils were the (much) better team in the second half.
Kendall Roberts and Grant Lawing were among the main playmakers for Maiden as the former rushed for 164 yards and a touchdown and the latter threw for 244 yards and two touchdowns while completing 73.9% of his passes. Those 164 rushing yards gave Roberts a new career-high. Keyahjae Smyre was Lawing's top target, rushing for 65 yards and a touchdown on only nine carries.
They were just one part of a punishing run game: Maiden was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 249 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 188 rushing yards in four consecutive matches.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Maiden's defense and their five sacks. Leading the way was Raheim Misher with three.
Meanwhile, Bunker Hill had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 16 points) and they went ahead and made it three on Friday. They were the clear victor by a 34-12 margin over the Cavaliers. Given the Bears' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina football rankings (they are ranked 75th, while the Cavaliers are ranked 236th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Jason Willis Jr continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 168 yards and four touchdowns on only 15 carries. His longest rush was for an impressive 53 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total.
Maiden has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 5-2 record this season. As for Bunker Hill, they pushed their record up to 5-1 with the win, which was their 11th straight at home dating back to last season.
Friday's contest might be decided in the on the ground. Maiden has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 181.9 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Bunker Hill struggles in that department as they've been averaging 243. It's looking like Friday's matchup might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Maiden took a serious blow against Bunker Hill in their previous meeting back in October of 2023, falling 49-9. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Willis Jr, who rushed for 332 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 11.9 yards per carry. Now that Maiden 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
