Merritt Island Christian has won seven straight games at home (dating back to last season), while Canterbury has won seven straight on the road also dating back to last season, but those streaks won't matter much on Friday. The Merritt Island Christian Cougars will welcome the Canterbury Crusaders at 7:00 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Last Friday, Merritt Island Christian made easy work of City of Life Christian Academy and carried off a 33-8 victory. Given the Cougars' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida football rankings (they are ranked second, while the Warriors are ranked 26th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
One reason for the win was Merritt Island Christian's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for four sacks. Leading the way was Brayden Murphy 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).
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Canterbury). They claimed a resounding 55-28 win over Lakeside Christian.
Roman Wilder and Duke Dudley were among the main playmakers for Canterbury as the former rushed for 352 yards and five touchdowns while picking up 16.8 yards per carry and the latter rushed for 200 yards and two touchdowns on only 12 carries. Wilder's longest rush was for an incredible 75 yards.
Canterbury was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 566 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since back in November of 2023.
Merritt Island Christian's victory bumped their record up to 10-0. As for Canterbury, their win bumped their record up to 7-1.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
