The Avon Park Red Devils will take on the Tohopekaliga Tigers at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Avon Park is coming into the contest hot, having won their last four games.
Avon Park's defense heads into the game hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. They claimed a resounding 34-0 victory over Lake Placid.
Jabhari Payne
| 10/24/25 @ Lake Placid | 3 |
| 10/17/25 vs Discovery | 2 |
| 08/29/25 vs DeSoto County | 2 |
| 10/10/25 @ Tenoroc | 1 |
| 10/03/25 @ Ida Baker | 1 |
Jabhari Payne had a dynamite game, throwing for 150 yards and three touchdowns on only 14 passes, while also punching in one score on the ground. Those three passing touchdowns gave him a new career-high. Tayvion Jones helped Payne out on the ground, rushing for 65 yards and one TD.
Wins are hard to come by when you can't run the rock, something Avon Park proved: they limited Lake Placid to a paltry two yards per carry. The team can thank Frankie Robinson for the heroic effort on defense: he. Avon Park's run defense has been on the up-and-up: they allowed 4.68 yards per carry earlier this season, but they've only allowed 6.87 on average over their last five games.
Meanwhile, it was a proper cat-fight when Tohopekaliga took on Lake Nona on Friday. The Tigers lost to the Lions at home by a 30-13 margin. The Tigers haven't had much luck with the Lions recently, as the team has come up short the last three times they've met.
Avon Park will have to keep a close watch on AJ Wise and Sabby Meassick, a pair of players who had a big impact on Tohopekaliga's prior game. Wise picked up 184 receiving yards and one touchdown, while Meassick threw for 366 yards and a pair of TDs. Tohopekaliga is 4-2 when Meassick posts 300 or more passing yards, but 0-3 otherwise. A healthy portion of Meassick's aerial production (82 yards to be exact) also went to Tre Punter.
Even if they lost, Tohopekaliga's defense still kept up the pressure with nine sacks. The heavy lifting was done by David Eugene and Gavin Aponte, who racked up five sacks between them. Eugene also set a new season-high mark in total tackles with 14. Juan Hidalgo was another major factor on D, picking up a sack and making 15 total tackles (2.0 for loss) in addition to snagging an interception.
Tohopekaliga now has a losing record of 4-5. As for Avon Park, their win bumped their record up to 6-3.
Avon Park took a serious blow against Tohopekaliga when the teams last played back in November of 2024, falling 42-0. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Meassick, who threw for 404 yards and five touchdowns. Now that the Red Devils know the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
