Bartram Trail and Buchholz are an even 5-5 against one another since November of 2015, but not for long. The Bartram Trail Bears will look to defend their home field on Friday against the Buchholz Bobcats at 7:00 p.m. Bartram Trail is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 28.6 points per game this season.
Bartram Trail is headed into the game out to prove that what happened against St. Augustine on Friday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Bartram Trail was dealt a 48-21 defeat at the hands of St. Augustine. While losing is never fun, the Bears can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida football rankings (they are ranked 91st, while the Yellow Jackets are ranked 26th).
Despite the loss, Bartram Trail got top-tier performance from Arthur Lewis IV, who rushed for 109 yards and three touchdowns. Lewis IV is crushing it when it comes to rushing yards: he's rushed for at least 109 every time he's taken the field this season. Bartram Trail also got a significant boost from Jaden Weatherly, who ran away from the competition to the tune of 90 yards.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Bartram Trail was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 243 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 180 rushing yards in seven consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Buchholz). They blew past Tocoi Creek, posting a 63-22 victory at home. Considering the Bobcats have won three contests by more than 27 points this season, Monday's blowout was nothing new.
Trace Johnson continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, throwing for 350 yards and two touchdowns while completing 81% of his passes, and also punching in a rushing score. Buchholz is undefeated when Johnson posts 250 or more passing yards, but 1-3 otherwise.
Bartram Trail now has a losing record at 3-4. As for Buchholz, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 5-3.
The upcoming matchup will be a clash of competing strengths. Bartram Trail has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 275.1 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, Buchholz has preferred to attack from the air: they average 283 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Bartram Trail suffered a grim 37-17 defeat to Buchholz in their previous matchup back in November of 2023. Thankfully for Bartram Trail, Quinton Cutler (who rushed for 193 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 11.4 yards per carry, and also picked up 51 receiving yards) 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
