Hickory Grove Christian and Asheville School (Independent) are an even 3-3 against one another since September of 2015, but not for long. The Hickory Grove Christian Lions will head out on the road to face off against the Asheville School (Independent) Blues at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
Hickory Grove Christian unfortunately witnessed the end of their eight-game winning streak on Friday. They took a 23-13 hit to the loss column at the hands of High Point Christian Academy.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Anthony Hawkins, who rushed for 80 yards and a touchdown.
Even if they lost, Hickory Grove Christian's defense still kept up the pressure with five sacks. High Point Christian Academy's QB won't forget Michael Mccray anytime soon given Mccray sacked him five times.
Meanwhile, Asheville School (Independent) got themselves on the board against SouthLake Christian Academy on Friday, but SouthLake Christian Academy never followed suit. They breezed by the at home to the tune of 63-0. Asheville School (Independent) pushed the score to 56-0 by the end of the third, a deficit SouthLake Christian Academy had no chance of recovering from.
Asheville School (Independent)'s success was spearheaded by the efforts of Caleb Jenkins, who rushed for 107 yards and a touchdown on only five carries, and Ricky Tolbert, who threw for 135 yards and four touchdowns while completing 91.7% of his passes. Jenkins hasn't dropped below 100 rushing yards for three straight games. Leo Sfez zhao got in on the action too, converting a pick into a touchdown.
Hickory Grove Christian's defeat dropped their record down to 8-1. As for Asheville School (Independent), their win was their third straight at home, bumping their overall record up to 5-3.
We should be in store for an exciting game Friday as the two teams have no problem gaining yardage. Hickory Grove Christian has been on an offensive roll this season, having averaged 374.5 total yards per game. However, it's not like Asheville School (Independent) struggles in that department as they've been averaging 359.2 per game. With a pair of commanding offenses duking it out, the defenses are going to have their work cut out for them.
Hickory Grove Christian took a serious blow against Asheville School (Independent) in their previous meeting back in October of 2021, falling 55-12. Thankfully for Hickory Grove Christian, Rayden Aphayvong (who rushed for 147 yards and five touchdowns on only eight carries, and also threw for 258 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 12.3 yards per attempt) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
