Two dominant backs in Tyrese Jefferson and Jermaine Washington are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Melbourne Bulldogs will be playing in front of their home fans against the East River Falcons at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Melbourne is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 40.9 points per game this season.
Melbourne will roll into the contest after a wild two-game stretch: they only put up ten points last Friday, then bounced right back against Winter Springs on Friday. The Bulldogs blew past the Bears, posting a 49-20 win. The Bulldogs might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won four games by 29 points or more this season.
Edrick Hall
| 09/12/25 vs Palm Beach Christian Prep | 177.1 |
| 08/22/25 vs Cocoa Beach | 166.7 |
| 09/05/25 vs University | 162.4 |
| 10/03/25 @ Winter Springs | 131.2 |
| 09/19/25 @ Palm Bay | 107.7 |
| + 2 more games |
Melbourne found their leader in sophomore Edrick Hall, who threw for 254 yards and three TDs while completing 73.9% of his passes, and also rushed for 31 yards and one score. Hall's passing game has become a key predictor of the Bulldogs' success: the team is undefeated when his passer rating is 110 or higher, but only 1-2 otherwise. Melbourne's leading receiver Michael Rogers was Hall's top target yet again, picking up 83 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Melbourne's run defense was locked in: Winter Springs could only muster 2.5 yards per carry. The team can thank Tyler Gagen for the heroic effort on defense: he. Melbourne didn't have any issues in that department, having averaged 6.2.
Melbourne didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Ty Field and Kevin Thorpe. Melbourne got some further help from Noah McNair: he made 12 total tackles (3.0 for loss).
Meanwhile, East River played a tough matchup last Friday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They were outmatched by Innovation and fell 36-7. The Falcons have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Melbourne is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 5-2 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 43.8 points over those games. As for East River, their loss dropped their record down to 1-5.
Everything went Melbourne's way against East River when the teams last played back in October of 2021, as Melbourne made off with a 38-12 win. In that game, the Bulldogs amassed a halftime lead of 28-6, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
