Norland is 1-8 against Central since October of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Norland Vikings will stay at home for another week and welcome the Central Rockets at 7:30 p.m. on November 24th. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Two teams were on the hunt for playoff glory, but only Norland walked away with it. They put the hurt on Monsignor Pace with a sharp 52-27 win on Thursday. Given Norland's advantage in MaxPreps' Florida football rankings (they are ranked sixth, while Monsignor Pace is ranked 79th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Ennio Yapoor got back to being his usual excellent self, as he threw for 428 yards and four touchdowns while completing 78.3% of his passes, and also punched in a touchdown on the ground. Yapoor hasn't dropped below 300 passing yards for five straight games. Another player making a difference was Isaiah Scott, who picked up 166 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Central had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 42.8 points), and they went ahead and made it five on Friday. Everything went their way against Booker T. Washington as Central made off with a 35-12 victory.
Norland has yet to lose a contest at home this season, leaving them with a 12-0 record. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 41.8 points per game. As for Central, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight contests, which provided a nice bump to their 8-3 record this season.
Norland skirted past Central 29-26 in their previous meeting back in October. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Central's Jc Evans, who rushed for 54 yards and two touchdowns, and also threw for 53 yards and a touchdown. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Norland still be able to contain him? There's only one way to find out.
