The Cypress Lake Panthers will take on the Riverdale Raiders at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Last Friday, Cypress Lake was just a hair shy of victory and fell 37-36 to East Lee County. The Panthers have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Meanwhile, Riverdale put another one in the bag on Friday to keep their perfect season alive. They blew past Mariner 35-12. Given the Raiders' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida football rankings (they are ranked 163rd, while the Tritons are ranked 372nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
This one was won in the trenches and the lion's share of the credit has to go to Lovensky Blanchard and he. Blanchard rushed for 168 yards and a touchdown on only 14 carries while he rushed for 168 yards and a touchdown on only 14 carries. His longest rush was for an impressive 63 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Riverdale was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 314 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 157 rushing yards in seven consecutive matchups dating back to last season.
Riverdale's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged three passes before it was all said and done. It was truly a group effort as Latroy Pender Jr., Carlton Williams, and Cleyon Grizzle picked up one apiece.
Cypress Lake's defeat dropped their record down to 1-3. As for Riverdale, they pushed their record up to 4-0 with that win, which was their third straight on the road.
Cypress Lake ended up a good deal behind Riverdale in their previous matchup back in September of 2023, losing 43-29. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Riverdale's Cole Hayes, who rushed for 291 yards and five touchdowns while picking up 9.1 yards per carry. Now that Cypress Lake 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
