Two dominant backs in Connor Rushford and Ke'Von Johnson are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The DeRidder Dragons will face off against the Northwest Raiders at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. DeRidder is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 32.9 points per game this season.
DeRidder is headed into the game out to prove that what happened against Iowa on Thursday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. DeRidder was dealt a 42-14 defeat at the hands of Iowa. While losing is never fun, the Dragons can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Louisiana football rankings (they are ranked 137th, while the Yellowjackets are ranked 31st).
Despite the loss, DeRidder got top-tier performance from Rushford, who rushed for 132 yards and a touchdown. DeRidder is 2-1 when Rushford posts 100 or more rushing yards, but 3-4 otherwise. DeRidder also got a significant boost from Reed Williams, who ran away from the competition to the tune of 81 yards.
Even though they lost, DeRidder was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 200 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 200 rushing yards in five consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, Northwest came tearing into Friday's matchup with five straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 39.2 points) and they left with even more momentum. They put the hurt on the Bulldogs with a sharp 36-11 win. Considering the Raiders have won seven contests by more than 24 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
Northwest pushed their record up to 8-2 with the victory, which was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season. Those good results were due in large part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 9.6 points per game. As for DeRidder, their defeat dropped their record down to 5-5.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
