The Venice Indians will head out on the road to face off against the Lehigh Lightning at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Venice has five straight victories, Lehigh has five straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Venice's upcoming contest probably won't be as stressful as their last, when they took on another nationally ranked opponent: Cocoa, who was ranked 27th at the time (Venice was ranked 19th). Venice narrowly escaped with a win as the squad sidled past Cocoa 54-51.
It was another big night for Dorien Irving-Jones, who rushed for 226 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 7.3 yards per carry, and also picked up 36 receiving yards and a touchdown. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in rushing yards. Another player making a difference was Jayce Nixon, who threw for 279 yards and three touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Lehigh was beaten by North Fort Myers 41-13 two weeks ago.
Venice pushed their record up to 5-0 with the victory, which was their 14th straight at home dating back to last season. As for Lehigh, their loss dropped their record down to 0-4.
Everything came up roses for Venice against Lehigh when the teams last played back in November of 2022, as the team secured a 39-0 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Venice since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
