Lawrence County (12-1, 5-0), under the direction of second-year head coach Jaymie Palmer, continued its winning streak, thumping the Columbia Wildcats 40-21 in the opening round of the playoffs.

This week, the Cougars will be home again as they welcome the East Central Hornets to Monticello.

The Hornets (7-4, 2-2), coached by Seth Smith, slipped past Northeast Jones 32-30 last Friday to advance to the second round.

East Central provides a strong rushing attack as senior running back A.J. Davis leads the team with 2,659 rushing yards on 398 carries for the season.

Junior quarterback Glenn Evans has 381 passing yards and has rushed for 367 yards on the season.

Tony Brown is Hornets’ top receiver as he leads with 10 catches for 272 yards.

Defensively, Devin Whitfield is the leader with 134 tackles on the season. Stone Tolbert is the second leading tackler with 123 tackles on the season. Kyle Ely has 92 tackles on the year.

LCHS’ top offensive performer last week against Columbia was junior running back Quitten Brown. He had a dominating performance last Thursday as he rushed for 233 yards on 29 carries and scored three touchdowns. Charl’Tez Nunnery had 136 passing yards as the Cougars piled up a whopping 511 yards of total offense.

My prediction: Lawrence County prevails 35-24.