Football Game Preview: Columbus Explorers vs. True North Classical Academy Titans + Official Tickets

The Columbus Explorers will take on the True North Classical Academy Titans at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.

Columbus is probably headed into the contest with a chip on their shoulder considering Norland just ended the team's three-game winning streak on Thursday. They lost to the Vikings at home by a 30-14 margin. The Explorers were down 30-6 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.

Despite the defeat, Columbus got top-tier performance from Shawn James, who rushed for 117 yards and a pair of scores.

Meanwhile, True North Classical Academy waltzed into their matchup on Friday with four straight wins... but they left with five. They didn't even let the Cougars on the board, marking their second-straight 42-0 shutout. The final result isn't all that surprising considering the Titans' considerable advantage in MaxPreps' Florida football rankings (they are ranked 58th, while the Cougars are ranked 289th).

Columbus better keep an eye on Zachary Katz. He was instrumental in True North Classical Academy's win, throwing for 149 yards and three touchdowns while completing 78.6% of his passes, and also punching in one rushing score. Cecil Smith was another key player, gaining 113 total yards.

Wins are hard to come by when you can't run the rock, something True North Classical Academy proved: they limited Somerset Academy - Canyons to a paltry one yards per carry. The team can thank Duane Johnson for the heroic effort on defense: he. True North Classical Academy didn't have any issues in that department, having averaged 6.6.

True North Classical Academy's defense didn't let the opposing QB, get away unscathed either: they got into the backfield for four sacks. Somerset Academy - Canyons' QB won't forget Zach Eguizabal anytime soon given he sacked him twice. Eguizabal is on a roll when it comes to sacks, as he's now posted at least one in each of the last three games he's played. True North Classical Academy got some further help from Johnson: he picked up a sack and made ten total tackles (2.0 for loss).

Columbus' loss dropped their record down to 3-6. As for True North Classical Academy, their victory bumped their record up to 5-2.