Preview: Homestead Broncos vs. Miramar Patriots
The Homestead Broncos will be playing at home against the Miramar Patriots at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Homestead comes in on nine and Miramar on four.
Two teams were on the hunt for playoff glory, but only Homestead walked away with it. They skirted past the Spartans 35-33. Given Homestead's advantage in MaxPreps' Florida football rankings (they are ranked 23rd, while Southridge is ranked 93rd), the result on Friday wasn't entirely unexpected.
Joshua Townsend was his usual excellent self, rushing for 33 yards and two touchdowns, while also throwing for 187 yards and two touchdowns on only 17 passes.
Meanwhile, Miramar put the finishing touches on their seventh blowout victory of the season on Friday. They put the hurt on Belen Jesuit with a sharp 31-7 victory.
Miramar's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Eric Nelson led the charge by picking up 248 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Nelson's longest reception was for an incredible 85 yards. Another player making a difference was Kael Alexander, who threw for 324 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 13.0 yards per attempt.
Homestead has yet to lose a game at home this season, leaving them with a 10-1 record. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 41.7 points per game. As for Miramar, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven contests, which provided a nice bump to their 8-4 record this season.
Everything went Homestead's way against Miramar when the teams last played back in November of 2022 as Homestead made off with a 33-13 victory. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Miramar's Nathaniel (nate ) Henry, who rushed for 133 yards and a touchdown. Now that he won't be playing on Friday, will it be that much easier for Homestead to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
