Football Preview: Merritt Island Mustangs vs. Viera Hawks
Two dominant backs in Delvonte Williams and Eric Nelson are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Merritt Island Mustangs have the luxury of staying home for another week and will welcome the Viera Hawks at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both might be coming in a bit winded given these two teams combined for 1,007 yards in their previous games.
Merritt Island is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They really took it to Satellite for the full four quarters, racking up a 56-7 victory. With that win, the Mustangs brought their scoring average up to 27.3 points per game.
It was another big night for Williams, who rushed for 151 yards and two touchdowns. The team also got some help courtesy of Kevin Verpaele, who threw for 230 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 11.5 yards per attempt.
Merritt Island was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 259 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, Viera can finally bid farewell to their three-game losing streak thanks to their game on Friday. They took down Melbourne 28-14.
Nelson continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 173 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 8.7 yards per carry, and also throwing for 67 yards and a touchdown. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in rushing yards. Another player making a difference was Ryan Boobar, who rushed for 169 yards on only 14 carries.
Merritt Island's victory bumped their record up to 6-3. As for Viera, their win ended a three-game drought on the road and puts them at 4-5.
Friday's contest might be decided in the on the ground. Merritt Island has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 161 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Viera struggles in that department as they've been averaging 182.8. It's looking like Friday's match might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Merritt Island barely slipped by Viera in their previous matchup back in November of 2022, winning 28-27. Will Merritt Island repeat their success, or does Viera have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
