Football match preview: Gardendale plays at home

Gardendale recently won 7-2 against Minor and will look to add to its winning record on Friday. The Gardendale Rockets will play the Minor Tigers in front of their home crowd at 7 p.m. Both come into the matchup with comfortable wins in their previous games.

Gardendale came into the game fresh off their most points of the season. They handled their road game on Friday with ease, taking a 51-14 victory over Jackson-Olin. The dominant offensive performance was a huge turnaround for the Rockets considering they had scored seven points in the previous game.

Meanwhile, Minor picked up another win two weeks ago to keep their perfect season alive, defeating Woodlawn 48-27.

Minor found his leader in junior Kamari Bell, who rushed for 137 yards and three touchdowns on just 11 carries. The dominant performance gave Bell a new career high in rushing yards. Another player who made the difference was Trevone Hurth, who rushed for 143 yards on just seven carries.

Minor didn't let Woodlawn hold onto the ball, forcing two fumbles. Minor can thank David Mason and Mykale Hrabowski for forcing both fumbles. Brandon Woodard was another key factor on defense, recording a sack and making 11 total tackles (1.0 for loss).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the score, Minor was unstoppable on the ground, finishing the game with 412 rushing yards. They easily outscored their opponents in that regard, as Woodlawn only rushed for 122 yards.

With the win, Gardendale tied the score at 2-2. Minor increased his record to 3-0 with the win.

Gardendale beat Minor 61-49 in their last game in October 2023. One of the team's biggest obstacles in that game was Minor's Sherman Williams, who rushed for 44 yards and three touchdowns and also threw for 275 yards and two touchdowns while averaging 11.0 yards per attempt. Now that they have a second chance to win this matchup, the question is, can Gardendale still keep Williams at bay? There's only one way to find out.

Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered in MaxPreps