Football Preview: Durant Cougars vs. Riverview Sharks
Durant has been on the road for two straight, but on Friday they'll finally head home. They will welcome the Riverview Sharks at 7:30 p.m. Riverview took a loss in their last matchup and will be looking to turn the tables on Durant, who comes in off a win.
Durant is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They took their match on the road on Friday with ease, bagging a 53-6 win over Wharton. The contest was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 43-0.
Durant can attribute much of their success to Michael Ryan, who rushed for 77 yards and a touchdown on only six carries, and also threw for 60 yards and a touchdown while completing 80% of his passes. The dominant performance gave Ryan a new career-high in rushing yards.
Durant's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Kairee Barnum and Jayden Cornelius. Cornelius is also on a roll when it comes to defended passes, as he's now defended at least one in the last four games he's played dating back to last season.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Durant 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, Riverview entered their game against Newsome on Friday without any home losses, but there's a first time for everything. Riverview lost 37-13 to Newsome. While losing is never fun, the Sharks can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida football rankings (they are ranked 322nd, while the Wolves are ranked 149th).
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the best came from Rod Mack, who threw for 153 yards and two touchdowns, and also rushed for 31 yards.
Durant now has a winning record of 3-2. As for Riverview, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 1-4.
Durant strolled past Riverview in their previous matchup back in October of 2023 by a score of 36-22. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Riverview's Dontarious "Rico" Shoats, who rushed for 121 yards and a touchdown. Now that he won't be playing on Friday, will it be easier for Durant to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
