Preview: Branford Buccaneers vs. Lafayette Hornets
Branford is 0-10 against Lafayette since September of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Branford Buccaneers are on the road again and play against the Lafayette Hornets at 7:30 p.m. on November 10th. Branford will be strutting in after a victory while Lafayette will be coming in after a loss.
Last Friday, Branford didn't have too much trouble with Hamilton County on the road as they won 25-6.
Branford can attribute much of their success to Thomas Sikes, who threw for 123 yards and three touchdowns, and also punched in a touchdown on the ground. The team also got some help courtesy of Austin Malaguti, who gained 115 total yards and a touchdown.
Meanwhile, after soaring to 38 points the game before, Lafayette were a bit more limited in their game on Friday. They took a serious blow against Pace, falling 35-7. While losing is never fun, Lafayette can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida football rankings (they are ranked 296th, while Pace is ranked 72nd).
Branford pushed their record up to 7-2 with that victory, which was their fourth straight on the road. That said, the team wasn't facing the toughest opposition over that stretch, as it included 1-6 Hollis Christian Academy and 3-6 Hamilton County (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 36.9% over those games). As for Lafayette, their defeat ended a four-game streak of away wins and brought them to 6-4.
Branford was taken down by Lafayette 47-6 in their previous meeting back in September. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Lafayette's Jamarien (jay) Ervin, who rushed for 153 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 8.5 yards per carry. Now that Branford knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
