Football Preview: Gulf Coast Sharks vs. Barron Collier Cougars
The Gulf Coast Sharks will venture away from home to square off against the Barron Collier Cougars at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Gulf Coast's defense heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. They claimed a resounding 42-0 win over Palmetto Ridge at home. Given the Sharks' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida football rankings (they are ranked 203rd, while the Bears are ranked 475th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Jace Seyler was his usual excellent self, throwing for 148 yards and three touchdowns, while also rushing for 68 yards and a touchdown. Javien Altine handled things on the ground, rushing for 88 yards and a rushing touchdown.
Gulf Coast's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Bradley Tilus and Makly Lormil. Another thorn in Palmetto Ridge's side was Luke Tallstrom, who made 17 total tackles (1.0 for loss).
Meanwhile, Barron Collier scored the most points they've had all season on Friday, but it wasn't enough. They were beaten by Lely 90-56. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game back in September (42), the Cougars still had to take the loss.
Barron Collier might have lost, but man, Brian Williams was a machine: he rushed for 50 yards and four touchdowns, and also threw for 301 yards and four touchdowns. Brody Graham also helped out as he racked up 150 receiving yards.
The victory (which was Gulf Coast's fourth in a row) raised their record to 4-2. As for Barron Collier, their loss dropped their record down to 1-4.
We should be in store for an exciting game as both have no problem gaining yardage. Gulf Coast has been on an offensive roll this season, having averaged 352.8 total yards per game. However, it's not like Barron Collier struggles in that department as they've been averaging 355.4. With a pair of commanding offenses duking it out, the defenses are going to have their work cut out for them.
Gulf Coast came up short against Barron Collier in their previous meeting back in November of 2023, falling 28-21. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Barron Collier's Niko Boyce, who threw for 314 yards and two touchdowns, and also rushed for 102 yards and a touchdown on only 12 carries. Now that Gulf Coast knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
