Football Recap: Merritt Island Comes Up Short

If Merritt Island was riding high fresh off their 42-21 takedown of Melbourne last Friday, their most recent game may have dampened their spirits a bit. The Mustangs fell 57-51 to the DeLand Bulldogs on Friday. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game last Friday (42), the Mustangs still had to take the loss.

When it comes to explaining why Merritt Island lost, don't look at Kevin Verpaele. Despite the final result, he threw for 476 yards and five TDs. Deshaun Thomas was in the mix as well, providing the Mustangs with two touchdowns.

DeLand's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Taihj Moore led the charge by rushing for 212 yards and four scores on only 13 carries. Marceles Carey was another major influence, as he rushed for 137 yards and ran in a TD.

Merritt Island now has a losing record of 1-2. As for DeLand, the win was the third in a row for them, bringing their record up to 3-0.

Merritt Island has already played their next game, a 39-8 victory against Palm Bay on the 12th. As for DeLand, they also wasted no time getting back out on the field and have already played their next contest, a 46-30 win against Appling County on the 12th.