Football Preview: Archbishop McCarthy Mavericks vs. Plantation Colonels
After each having a week off, the Archbishop McCarthy Mavericks and the Plantation Colonels will shake off the cobwebs and challenge one another at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both will really light up the scoreboard.
If Archbishop McCarthy beats Plantation with 31 points on Thursday, it's going to be the team's new lucky number: they've won their past two matchups with that exact score. Archbishop McCarthy came out on top in a nail-biter against King's Academy two weeks ago, sneaking past 31-28. That's two games straight that the Mavericks have won by exactly three points.
Kendall Brown had a dynamite game for Archbishop McCarthy, rushing for 80 yards and a touchdown, while also throwing for 168 yards and a touchdown.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Plantation). They breezed by South Plantation to the tune of 38-0 two weeks ago. Given the Colonels' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida football rankings (they are ranked 74th, while the Paladins are ranked 406th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Plantation can attribute much of their success to Rayshawn Cunningham, who rushed for 75 yards and a touchdown on only eight carries.
Plantation didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. It was truly a group effort as Larry Freelove, Jakari Johnson, and Sadle Howard picked up one apiece. Tory Thornton was another major factor on D, picking up two sacks and making five total tackles (3.0 for loss).
Plantation was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 305 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Plantation's victory was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 6-4. Those good results were due in large part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 9.0 points per game. As for Archbishop McCarthy, their win ended a three-game drought on the road and puts them at 6-4.
Thursday's contest might be decided in the on the ground. Archbishop McCarthy has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 203.8 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Plantation struggles in that department as they've been averaging 158.4. It's looking like Thursday's game might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Archbishop McCarthy ended up a good deal behind Plantation in their previous meeting back in October, losing 18-3. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Plantation's Zachariah Ray, who rushed for 143 yards and two touchdowns. Now that Archbishop McCarthy knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
