Football Preview: Venice Indians vs. Port Charlotte Pirates
The Venice Indians will head out to take on the Port Charlotte Pirates at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are still undefeated after three-games, but that won't be the case come Friday.
Venice is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Florida's top teams: Bishop Verot, who was ranked 20th in their home state at the time (Venice was ranked sixth). Venice took down Bishop Verot 71-56 on Friday.
Venice found their leader in underclassman Dorien Irving-Jones, who rushed for 209 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 11.0 yards per carry, and also picked up 36 receiving yards. With that strong performance, Irving-Jones is now averaging an impressive 2.3 rushing touchdowns per game. Another player making a difference was Gata Wilder, who rushed for 133 yards and three touchdowns on only 15 carries.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Venice was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 369 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 204 rushing yards in six consecutive contests dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, Port Charlotte got themselves on the board against Lehigh on Friday, but Lehigh never followed suit. They breezed by the Lightning on the road to the tune of 66-0. Given the Pirates' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida football rankings (they are ranked 73rd, while the Lightning are ranked 283rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Venice's record now sits at 3-0. As for Port Charlotte, their record now sits at 3-0.
Everything came up roses for Venice against Port Charlotte in their previous matchup back in September of 2014 as the squad secured a 35-6 victory. In that match, Venice amassed a halftime lead of 21-0, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
