The First Baptist Saints will venture away from home to challenge the Mercy Culture Prep Royals at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (First Baptist has 17 straight victories, Mercy Culture Prep has eight straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
First Baptist is headed into the matchup after thoroughly thrashing Covenant Christian: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that First Baptist blew Covenant Christian out of the water with a 56-14 final score. With the Saints ahead 42-14 at the half, the game was all but over already.
It was another big night for Bradlee Mays, who picked up 155 receiving yards and four touchdowns. Kaleb Mitchell also helped out with an impressive 88 receiving yards.
On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to First Baptist's defense and their seven sacks. Kore Thomas was especially locked on to Covenant Christian's QB and sacked him 4.5 times. Thomas is also on a roll when it comes to total tackles, as he's now made five or more in the last three games he's played dating back to last season. Another thorn in Covenant Christian's side was Joseph Martinez, who picked up 1.5 sacks and made six total tackles (2.0 for loss).
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, First Baptist was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 236 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 161 rushing yards in seven consecutive contests dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, Mercy Culture Prep scored the most points they've had all season on Friday, but it wasn't enough. They took a 38-20 bruising from Coram Deo Academy.
Despite the loss, Mercy Culture Prep got top-tier performance from Jon Anthony Lardizabal, who rushed for 128 yards and a touchdown.
First Baptist pushed their record up to 4-0 with the win, which was their sixth straight on the road dating back to last season. As for Mercy Culture Prep, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-4.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Friday's match: First Baptist has been unstoppable in the air this season, having averaged 354.2 passing yards per game. It's a different story for Mercy Culture Prep, though, as they've been averaging only 78.2. How will they fare against such a dominant passing game?
Everything came up roses for First Baptist against Mercy Culture Prep in their previous meeting back in September of 2023, as the team secured a 68-26 victory. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Mercy Culture Prep's Josh Marshall, who picked up 193 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Now that he won't be playing on Friday, will it be easier for First Baptist to walk away with another win? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
