Football Preview: South Sumter Raiders vs. Vanguard Knights
The South Sumter Raiders and the Vanguard Knights are set to duel on Friday. South Sumter will be hoping to continue their four-game streak of scoring more points each match than the last.
South Sumter is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They put the hurt on Lake Minneola with a sharp 42-21 win last Friday. With that victory, the Raiders brought their scoring average up to 26.9 points per game.
It was another big night for Ja?Kyrian Turner, who rushed for 315 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 16.6 yards per carry. With that strong performance, he is now averaging an impressive 110.5 rushing yards per game.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, South Sumter was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 502 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since the start of last season.
South Sumter's defense made their presence known, laying out the QB nine times. The heavy lifting was done by Walker Mears and Jay Strawder, who racked up five sacks between them. South Sumter got some further help from Malakhi Boone: he picked up a sack, made ten total tackles, and defended a pass.
Meanwhile, Vanguard entered their tilt with Lecanto on Saturday with five consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with six. They claimed a resounding 40-13 win over the Panthers on the road. Given the Knights' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida football rankings (they are ranked 43rd, while the Panthers are ranked 167th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
South Sumter's victory bumped their record up to 3-4. As for Vanguard, their win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 6-1.
South Sumter took their victory against Vanguard when the teams last played back in October of 2023 by a conclusive 40-20. The rematch might be a little tougher for South Sumter since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
