The Hickory Ridge Ragin' Bulls will venture away from home to take on the Mooresville Blue Devils at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. Hickory Ridge is looking for their season's first win.
Hickory Ridge is likely headed into the match with a focus on the second half, which is when things went downhill against A.L. Brown on Friday. Hickory Ridge took a hard 31-14 fall against A.L. Brown.
Despite the loss, 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. Carter Bowman was another major factor on D, picking up a sack and making eight total tackles (2.0 for loss).
Meanwhile, you're bound to get a positive result if you outscore your opponent every quarter, and that's exactly how it played out for Mooresville on Friday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that they 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.
Mooresville's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Malachi Gwyn led the charge by rushing 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.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Mooresville was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 255 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 165 rushing yards in four consecutive games.
Hickory Ridge's defeat dropped their record down to 0-5. As for Mooresville, their record is now 3-1.
Hickory Ridge came up short against Mooresville in their previous matchup back in September of 2023, falling 42-35. Can Hickory Ridge 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
