Two teams were on the hunt for playoff glory, but unfortunately for the Zephyrhills Bulldogs, they weren't the ones who walked away with it. Their rough 34-14 loss to the Knights on Friday might stick with them for a while. While losing is never fun, Zephyrhills can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida football rankings (they are ranked 113th, while Vanguard is ranked 25th).
When it comes to explaining why Zephyrhills lost, one person who can't be blamed is Brendyn Colella. Despite the final result, he threw for 249 yards and a touchdown.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Vanguard to victory, but perhaps none more so than Mitchell Brown , who rushed for 125 yards on only 14 carries. Tay?juan Leslie, farmer also deserves a shout-out for his two touchdowns.
On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Vanguard's defense and their five sacks. Kamerion Swinton was especially locked on to Zephyrhills' QB and sacked him 2.5 times.
Zephyrhills' defeat dropped their record down to 8-4. As for Vanguard, their win was their 11th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 10-2.
Zephyrhills does not have any more games scheduled as of now. Vanguard has the luxury of staying home another week and will welcome Lake Wales at 7:30 p.m. on November 24th. Lake Wales will be coming into the matchup with an undefeated record on the line.