The Archbishop McCarthy Mavericks will head out on the road to challenge the Cypress Bay Lightning at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both might be coming in a bit winded given how much these teams ran up and down the field in their prior games.
While Mavericks fans will have to keep waiting for their team to come home, they shouldn't be too worried about the road trip considering the result of Friday's season opener. They enjoyed a cozy 23-6 win over Community School of Naples on Friday. Winning may never get old, but the Mavericks sure are getting used to it with their tenth in a row dating back to last season.
Robert Kerns had an outrageously good game as he rushed for 131 yards and a touchdown on only 12 carries, and also threw for 110 yards and a touchdown. His longest rush was for an impressive 50 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total. Archbishop McCarthy also got a significant boost from Damien Grant, who ran away from the competition to the tune of 121 yards.
Grant wasn't the only one working in the rushing yards department: Archbishop McCarthy was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 336 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 217 rushing yards in ten consecutive contests dating back to last season.
Archbishop McCarthy didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Mahki Vance and Jacarri Watson. Archbishop McCarthy got some further help from Ji'Koi Highsmith: he picked up a sack, made five total tackles (3.0 for loss), and defended a pass.
Meanwhile, Cypress Bay gave their fans exactly what they wanted out of a home opener on Friday. They blew past Stoneman Douglas 48-22. Given the Lightning's advantage in MaxPreps' Florida football rankings (they are ranked 144th, while the Eagles are ranked 334th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
A big part of the victory came down to the chemistry between Jake Balanovich and his top target Santi Paz. Balanovich threw for 284 yards and four touchdowns on only 17 passes while Paz picked up 181 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
Archbishop McCarthy suffered a grim 20-0 defeat to Cypress Bay in their previous matchup back in August of 2019. Can Archbishop McCarthy avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
