Football Preview: Braden River Pirates vs. Pinellas Park Patriots
The Braden River Pirates are taking a road trip to face off against the Pinellas Park Patriots at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Braden River is no doubt hoping to put an end to a four-game streak of away losses dating back to last season.
Braden River will roll into the contest after a wild two-game stretch: they didn't score any points two weeks ago, then bounced right back against Robinson on Friday. Braden River breezed by Robinson to the tune of 39-8. The high-scoring performance was a welcome turnaround for the Pirates' offense, which had struggled in the games prior.
Braden River can attribute much of their success to Lucas Despot, who threw for 142 yards and two touchdowns while completing 83.3% of his passes, and Julian Brown, who rushed for 165 yards and a touchdown. Those 165 rushing yards gave Brown a new career-high.
Braden River was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 238 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, after only ten points in their last match, Pinellas Park made sure to put some points up on the board against Osceola on Friday. Pinellas Park claimed a resounding 49-13 win over Osceola. The Patriots' offense stepped up their game for this one, as that was the most points they've scored all season.
Pinellas Park had a senior duo take command as Kaiden Nobles gained 150 total yards and three touchdowns and Zahmir Mcneil rushed for 120 yards and two touchdowns on only nine carries. Nobles also hauled in two receiving touchdowns, which is notable because Pinellas Park is undefeated when he posts at least two receiving touchdowns, but 2-3 otherwise. Amari Caro made the highlight reel by snagging an interception and taking it all the way to the house.
Pinellas Park didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. Caro picked up that interception and then proceeded to rub salt in the wound by taking it back the other way for a touchdown. Anthony Roman was another major factor on D, making 16 total tackles (3.0 for loss).
With the victory, Braden River broke their three-game losing streak and moved their record to 2-6. As for Pinellas Park, their win bumped their record up to 6-3.
Braden River strolled past Pinellas Park when the teams last played back in November of 2014 by a score of 44-28. The rematch might be a little tougher for Braden River since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
