The Tavares Bulldogs will look to take advantage of their home-field for the first time this season as they take on the South Lake Eagles at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Tavares will be strutting in after a win while South Lake will be coming in after a defeat.
Tavares is coming home in high spirits after they had to open their season on the road against Citrus. Tavares breezed by Citrus on the road to the tune of 45-0 on Friday.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Tavares to victory, but perhaps none more so than Tyler Davis, who rushed for 101 yards and two touchdowns on only six carries. The team also got some help courtesy of Tamauri Collins, who rushed for 73 yards and a touchdown on only seven carries.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Tavares was moving up and down the field and finished the game with 422 total yards. That's the most total yards they've posted since back in September of 2023.
Meanwhile, South Lake couldn't capitalize on their home-field advantage in their season opener. They fell just short of Nature Coast Tech by a score of 14-12 on Friday. The loss leaves the Eagles without a win on the season.
Even if they lost, South Lake's defense still kept up the pressure with 8.5 sacks. Quoy Nelson was particularly dangerous to the passing game, picking up 3.5himself. South Lake got some further help from Rome McKinnond: he made 14 total tackles (2.0 for loss) and defended a pass.
Things could have been worse for Tavares, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 31-14 loss to South Lake in their previous meeting back in October of 2016. Thankfully for Tavares, Kelley Joiner Jr (who rushed for 209 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 8.7 yards per carry) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
