It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Port Charlotte had no problem doing just that on Friday. They took down the Jesuit Tigers 45-31. The defensive woes were uncharacteristic for the Pirates, who until this matchup were averaging 14.17 points allowed.
Port Charlotte found their leader in sophomore Logan Flaherty, who rushed for 115 yards and two touchdowns on only 13 carries, and also threw for 298 yards and three touchdowns while completing 73.1% of his passes. Those 298 passing yards set a new season-high mark for Flaherty. Ifeanyi (Ike) Perry also helped out as he racked up 161 rushing yards.
Flaherty was just one part of a punishing run game: Port Charlotte was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 300 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 174 rushing yards in 20 consecutive contests dating back to last season.
Jesuit lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Trent Teeling, who picked up 123 receiving yards and a touchdown. Teeling is becoming a predictor of Jesuit's success: when he posts at least 80 receiving yards the team is 6-2 (and 1-2 when he doesn't). S.J. Green got in on the action as well, returning a kick for a touchdown.
Port Charlotte pushed their record up to 10-2 with the win, which was their sixth straight at home. Those victories were due in large part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 9.8 points per game. As for Jesuit, their defeat ended a four-game streak of away wins and brought them to 7-4.
Port Charlotte will be playing at home against Naples at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Both have allowed few points on average, (Port Charlotte: 14.2, Naples: 9.6) so any points scored will be well earned. Jesuit does not have any more games scheduled as of now.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
