Preview: Pinellas Park Patriots vs. Jesuit Tigers
Pinellas Park has enjoyed a two-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will face off against the Jesuit Tigers 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.
Last Friday, Pinellas Park strolled past Seminole with points to spare, taking the game 49-34. Pinellas Park pushed the score to 42-13 by the end of the third, a deficit Seminole cut but never quite recovered from.
Emarian Triplett was his usual excellent self, rushing for 156 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 9.8 yards per carry. Triplett has been hot recently, having posted 100 or more rushing yards the last four times he's played. Keyshaun Birks was in the mix too, providing Pinellas Park with two touchdowns.
On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Pinellas Park's defensive line and their four sacks. Javon Williams was especially locked on to Seminole's QB and sacked him twice.
Meanwhile, Jesuit waltzed into Friday's matchup with six straight wins but they left with seven. They blew past Tampa Catholic 66-35 at home. Given Jesuit's advantage in MaxPreps' Florida football rankings (they are ranked 34th, while Tampa Catholic is ranked 186th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Jesuit's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Will Griffin, who threw for 401 yards and seven touchdowns while completing 82.8% of his passes. Another player making a difference was Justin Thurman, who gained 215 total yards and three touchdowns.
Their wins bumped Pinellas Park to 6-4 and Jesuit to 8-2.
Keep an eye on the end zone in Friday's game as the two teams haven't had much trouble getting there this season. Pinellas Park commands a daunting offense this season, having averaged 5.4 touchdowns per game. However, it's not like Jesuit struggles in that department as they've been averaging 4.9 per game. With these two high-octane teams facing off on Friday, fans should be in for an exciting offensive matchup. Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more football content.
