Football Preview: Palmetto Ridge Bears vs. Gulf Coast Sharks
Palmetto Ridge and Gulf Coast are an even 5-5 against one another since September of 2014, but not for long. The Palmetto Ridge Bears are taking a road trip to challenge the Gulf Coast Sharks at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Palmetto Ridge's defense heads into the match hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. They were the clear victor by a 20-0 margin over Bonita Springs.
Palmetto Ridge was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 236 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since back in September of 2023.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Gulf Coast). They blew past Aubrey Rogers 58-7 at home on Friday. Given the Sharks' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida football rankings (they are ranked 196th, while the Patriots are ranked 435th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
This one was won in the trenches and the lion's share of the credit has to go to John Ruggiero and he. Ruggiero rushed for 153 yards and two touchdowns on only eight carries while he rushed for 153 yards and two touchdowns on only eight carries. His longest rush was for an impressive 65 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total. The team also got some help courtesy of Chamar Rivers, who rushed for 80 yards and a touchdown.
Palmetto Ridge's record is now 2-3. As for Gulf Coast, the victory was the third in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 3-2.
Palmetto Ridge came up short against Gulf Coast in their previous meeting back in September of 2023, falling 14-10. Can Palmetto Ridge avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
