Football Preview: Manatee Hurricanes vs. Braden River Pirates
On Friday Manatee will have to hit the road after three straight games at home. They will square off against the Braden River Pirates at 7:00 p.m. One thing working in Manatee's favor is that they have posted at least 31 points in their last four matchups.
Last Friday, Manatee blew past Palmetto, posting a 35-7 victory at home. The Hurricanes' offense checked out after the first half but had enough points banked to take the game anyway.
Andrew Heidel continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, throwing for 217 yards and four touchdowns while completing 82.4% of his passes, and also punching in a touchdown on the ground. What's more, he also racked up 12 rushing yards, the mosthe's had since back in October of 2023. KeiShawn Smith handled things on the ground, rushing for 81 yards.
Meanwhile, a win for Braden River just wasn't in the cards on October 4th as the team wasn't able to take the lead at any point. They lost 30-8 to Palmetto. While losing is never fun, the Pirates can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida football rankings (they are ranked 400th, while the Tigers are ranked 74th).
Manatee pushed their record up to 6-1 with the victory, which was their fifth straight at home. As for Braden River, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 1-5.
Manatee beat Braden River 28-20 in their previous meeting back in September of 2023. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Braden River's Matthew Schefer, who picked up 128 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Now that he won't be playing on Friday, will it be easier for Manatee to walk away with another win? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
