Florida high school football: Week 9 schedule, scores

The high school football schedule in Florida features just one matchup between top 25 teams in the state as No. 6 Norland (Miami) hosts No. 13 Columbus (Miami) at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night.

Norland is unbeaten and coming off a 29-26 victory over nationally-ranked Central (Miami) that bumped them up to No. 15 in the MaxPreps Top 25. The Vikings are led by junior signal caller Ennio Yapoor, who has completed 73 percent of his passes for 1,766 yards and 15 touchdowns against just three interceptions. Yapoor has also added 391 rushing yards and six additional scores on 50 carries.

After suffering its first loss of the season two weeks ago, Columbus rebounded with a 44-8 victory over Doral Academy (Doral) last week and look to continue that momentum headed into their anticipated showdown Friday night. Senior quarterback Alberto Mendoza is the catalyst of the Explorers offense. He has completed 70 percent of his passes for 1,437 yards and 15 touchdowns against five interceptions in seven games.

On Thursday night a pair of matchups of intrigue kick off the week as No. 2 IMG Academy (Bradenton) hosts quality out-of-state opponent Gray Collegiate Academy (West Columbia, S.C.) and No. 7 Central (Miami), who dropped to 3-3 on the season after the loss to Norland last week, looks to bounce back with a road showdown against a solid Southridge (Miami) squad with a record of 6-2.

Three one-loss teams battle top 25 teams in the state as Monarch (Coconut Creek) hosts No. 3 St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale), Naples travels to No. 4 American Heritage (Plantation) and Benjamin (Palm Beach Gardens) heads to No. 19 Cardinal Newman (West Palm Beach).