Football Preview: Gainesville Hurricanes vs. Vanguard Knights
Gainesville is 2-8 against Vanguard since October of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Gainesville Hurricanes will head out on the road to face off against the Vanguard Knights at 7:30 p.m. Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Gainesville took a loss when they played away from home last Monday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Monday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Lake Weir 36-8 at home. With Gainesville ahead 22-0 at the half, the matchup was all but over already.
A big part of Gainesville's win came down to the chemistry between Nelson Tambling and his top target Calvin Thomas. Tambling threw for 239 yards and four touchdowns while completing 72.7% of his passes while Thomas picked up 211 receiving yards and four touchdowns. Thomas showed off some serious burst, lighting up the secondary with a catch for 69 yards.
Meanwhile, Vanguard waltzed into their game on Friday with six straight wins... but they left with seven. Their defense stepped up to hand the Raiders a 7-0 shutout.
Gainesville's victory bumped their record up to 5-3. As for Vanguard, their win was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 7-1.
Gainesville was taken down by Vanguard 68-0 when the teams last played back in August of 2022. Thankfully for Gainesville, Javarien Salter (who rushed for 51 yards and two touchdowns) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
