Football Preview: Wiregrass Ranch Bulls vs. Land O' Lakes Gators
Two dominant backs in Nathan Mcneil and Tj Morrow are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Wiregrass Ranch Bulls will be playing at home against the Land O' Lakes Gators at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Wiregrass Ranch will be looking to keep their nine-game home win streak dating back to last season alive.
Last Friday, Wiregrass Ranch beat Springstead 14-3. The 14-point effort marked the Bulls' lowest-scoring contest of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.
Wiregrass Ranch can attribute much of their success to Ian Wilson Ii, who rushed for 65 yards and two touchdowns. That's the most rushing yards Wilson Ii has posted since back in November of 2023. Bryce Randolph did his part to keep the secondary busy, picking up 84 receiving yards.
Wiregrass Ranch didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Randolph and Carmelo Joseph.
Meanwhile, Land O' Lakes came into Friday's game having lost four straight, but that streak is now in the rearview. They came out on top against Nature Coast Tech by a score of 42-31 on Friday. With that victory, the Gators brought their scoring average up to 28.1 points per game.
Morrow was his usual excellent self, rushing for 209 yards and six touchdowns while picking up 8.7 yards per carry. He was no stranger to the big play, turning on the jets for a run that went for 59 yards.
Land O' Lakes wouldn't let Nature Coast Tech keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Connor Purcell was the leader in that area as all came courtesy of his dominant performance. He also set a new season high mark in total tackles with 13. Another thorn in Nature Coast Tech's side was Mason Clarke, who picked up 0.5 sacks and made 13 total tackles (1.5 for loss).
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Land O' Lakes was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 214 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 154 rushing yards in four consecutive matchups.
Wiregrass Ranch's win bumped their record up to 7-0. As for Land O' Lakes, their victory ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 2-5.
Wiregrass Ranch couldn't quite finish off Land O' Lakes in their previous matchup back in October of 2023 and fell 37-35. Will Wiregrass Ranch have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more football content.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
