The Marco Island Academy Rays will square off against the Windermere Prep Lakers at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. The two teams are strolling into their matchups after big wins in their previous games.
Marco Island Academy is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Saturday. They blew past Babcock, posting a 35-0 win. The Rays' offense stepped up their game for this one, as that was the most points they've scored all season.
Meanwhile, you can't lose the game if you win every quarter, and that was precisely Windermere Prep's strategy against Faith Christian on Friday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that the Lakers blew the Lions out of the water with a 41-8 final score. The Lakers pushed the score to 34-8 by the end of the third, a deficit the Lions had little chance of recovering from.
Windermere Prep's win came from a few key players Marco Island Academy will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Ty Tracey, who rushed for 69 yards, and also threw for 95 yards and two touchdowns while completing 77.8% of his passes. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in passer rating (150.5). Another player making a difference was Jay Evans, who picked up 41 receiving yards and a pair of scores.
Windermere Prep was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 287 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 238 rushing yards in three consecutive games.
Windermere Prep didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Trevor Doggett and Carter Pucci. Doggett got in on the action too, converting a pick into a touchdown.
Windermere Prep pushed their record up to 6-3 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. Those home wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 27.3 points over those games. As for Marco Island Academy, the victory was their first on the road , bumping their record up to 4-5.
Marco Island Academy couldn't quite get it done against Windermere Prep in their previous meeting back in September as they fell 31-20. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Doggett, who rushed for 113 yards and two TDs. Now that the Rays know the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
