Two dominant signal callers in Roman Wilder and Bode Handwork are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Canterbury Crusaders will head out to take on the Merritt Island Christian Cougars at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with Canterbury sitting on three straight victories and Merritt Island Christian on 13 (dating back to last season).
Canterbury is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Florida's top teams: Lakeside Christian, who was ranked 20th in their home state at the time (Canterbury was ranked ninth). Canterbury really took it to Lakeside Christian for the full four quarters, racking up a 55-28 win. The Crusaders' offense stepped up their game for this one, as that was the most points they've scored all season.
Canterbury's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Wilder, who rushed for 352 yards and five touchdowns while picking up 16.8 yards per carry, and Duke Dudley, who rushed for 200 yards and two touchdowns on only 12 carries. The dominant performance gave Dudley a new career-high in rushing yards.
Canterbury was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 566 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, everything went Merritt Island Christian's way against City of Life Christian Academy on Friday as Merritt Island Christian made off with a 33-8 victory. Considering the Cougars have won eight matches by more than 19 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Merritt Island Christian's defense and their four sacks. In that department, Brayden Murphy was the leader with two. Josiah Hutchinson was another major factor on D, picking up 0.5 sacks, forcing a fumble, and making nine total tackles (2.0 for loss).
Canterbury's record is now 7-1. As for Merritt Island Christian, their win was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 10-0.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
