Football Preview: Spoto Spartans vs. Sickles Gryphons
The Spoto Spartans will square off against the Sickles Gryphons at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Spoto is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 33.8 points per game this season.
Spoto will head into Friday's match out to bounce back: they came back down to earth on Friday after soaring to a 41-point contest in their last game. They fell just short of East Bay by a score of 34-32. The Spartans haven't had much luck with the Indians recently, as the team's come up short the last three times they've met.
Despite the defeat, Spoto had strong showings from Nathan Richardson, who threw for 206 yards and three touchdowns, and Jaedyn Cartwright, who rushed for 154 yards and a touchdown while picking up 8.1 yards per carry. Those 154 rushing yards gave Cartwright a new career-high. 80 of Richardson's passing yards were hauled in by Z'Orey Cotton, who also brought in a receiving touchdown.
Spoto wouldn't let East Bay keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Spoto can thank Xavier Ortiz and Nasir Foster for forcing both of them. Foster also made eight total tackles, which is notable because Spoto is 2-1 when he posts at least three total tackles, but 2-3 otherwise.
Meanwhile, Sickles fell victim to Plant and their airtight defense on Friday. They were dealt an 82-0 loss at the hands of the Panthers. Having soared to a lofty 40 points in the game before, the Gryphons' shutout was a dramatic turnaround.
Spoto's defeat dropped their record down to 4-4. As for Sickles, their loss dropped their record down to 2-6.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Friday's game: Spoto has been on an offensive roll this season, having averaged 410.5 total yards per game. It's a different story for Sickles, though, as they've been averaging only 195.2. Will Spoto be able to march up the field at their leisure again, or will Sickles flip the script?
Spoto might still be hurting after the 33-7 defeat they got from Sickles when the teams last played back in August of 2019. Thankfully for Spoto, Jalen Joye (who rushed for 76 yards and a touchdown on only seven carries, and also picked up 54 receiving yards and a touchdown) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
