Time: Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Records: East Rowan 0-3; Hickory Ridge
Series: Tied 1-1
Last meeting: Hickory Ridge won 14-0 in 2010.
Notable: East Rowan rallied to win an exciting 28-22 game against the Ragin’ Bulls in 2009. Baseball hero Preston Troutman caught two long TD passes in that one.
Last week: East lost 24-6 at home to North Rowan; Hickory Ridge tried without success to play a home game against Carson. Weather was a problem on Friday and Monday.
Next week: East makes the short trip to Carson to start NPC play; Hickory Ridge starts the SPC season at neighbor Central Cabarrus
Game notes: East is playing its first road game of the season, not necessarily bad news as the Mustangs have been outscored 133-6 in their three games in Granite Quarry.
East players such as Tyler l’hommiedeu and Kyler Brown competed hard against North Rowan last week, and the 18-point final margin was deceptive. It was a six-point game with just over a minute to go.
East made strides on defense after being hopelessly overmatched the first two weeks of the season against Salisbury and Concord. But the obvious shortcoming remains negligible offense. Calvin Edwards ranks 12th in the county in rushing, and he’s only Mustang to even register on any of the charts.
After three games, East has 98 rushing yards, 30 passing yards and 11 offensive turnovers. The chains aren’t moving at all when the Mustangs have the ball, so the defense eventually wears out.
Hickory Ridge lost by a PAT to Piedmont and beat 2A Cuthbertson.
QB Nick Tyson, RB Trent Jordan and receiver Jason Eury usually lead the Ragin’ Bulls. Unless they turn it over a ton, the Bulls will be 2-1.