The Beckville Bearcats will look to defend their home field on Friday against the Union Grove Lions at 7:30 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Beckville has eight straight wins, Union Grove has five straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Beckville put the finishing touches on their seventh blowout victory of the season on Friday. They breezed by Harleton on the road to the tune of 48-14. Given Beckville's advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 316th, while Harleton is ranked 731st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Jkoby Williams was his usual excellent self, rushing for 188 yards and five touchdowns while picking up 11.1 yards per carry, and also throwing for 59 yards and a touchdown. Williams hasn't dropped below 100 rushing yards for six straight games. Another player making a difference was Jorden Prince, who rushed for 58 yards and a touchdown.
Meanwhile, Union Grove lost to Hawkins at home by a decisive 29-10 margin on Friday.
Beckville's victory was their fifth straight on the road, which bumped their overall record up to 8-1. That said, the team wasn't facing the toughest opposition over that stretch, as it included 2-8 Elysian Fields and 2-7 Big Sandy (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 38.4% over those games). As for Union Grove, they now have a losing record at 4-5.
Everything came up roses for Beckville against Union Grove in their previous meeting back in November of 2022 as the team secured a 56-28 win. Does Beckville have another victory up their sleeve, or will Union Grove turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
