Football Preview: Bartow Yellow Jackets vs. Lake Wales Highlanders
The Bartow Yellow Jackets will venture away from home to challenge the Lake Wales Highlanders at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Given that the two teams suffered a loss in their last game, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this match.
Bartow is probably headed into the game with a chip on their shoulder considering Durant just ended the team's four-game winning streak on Friday. They were beaten by the Cougars 42-14. The Yellow Jackets were down 35-7 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.
Although Bartow took the loss, they still got scores from Ka?Marion Thomas, Joshod Hampton, and Carmello Harden.
Bartow didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Kendric Stacey and Hampton. Bartow got some further help from De'Coryian Stanley: he made 14 total tackles (1.0 for loss).
Meanwhile, Lake Wales entered their matchup against Osceola on Friday without any home losses, but there's a first time for everything. Lake Wales fell 28-17 to Osceola. The Highlanders have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Despite the loss, Lake Wales got top-tier performance from Brycen Levidiotis, who threw for 254 yards and two touchdowns, and also rushed for 32 yards. Kaneilius Purdy was another key player, picking up 104 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Bartow's defeat ended a four-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 5-3. As for Lake Wales, their loss dropped their record down to an identical 5-3.
Bartow suffered a grim 28-3 defeat to Lake Wales in their previous meeting back in November of 2023. Can Bartow avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
