The Merritt Island Christian Cougars are taking a road trip to face off against the Donahue Catholic Shamrocks at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are still undefeated (Merritt Island Christian has seven wins dating back to last season, while Donahue Catholic has three).
Merritt Island Christian is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Florida's top teams: Eastland Christian, who was ranked 18th in their home state at the time (Merritt Island Christian was ranked second). Merritt Island Christian blew past Eastland Christian 48-6 at home last Friday. That 42 point margin sets a new team best for the Cougars this season.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Merritt Island Christian to victory, but perhaps none more so than Carter Stevenson, who rushed for 80 yards and a touchdown. The dominant performance gave Stevenson a new career-high in rushing yards. The team also got some help courtesy of Jordon Rooks, who rushed for 62 yards and a touchdown.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Merritt Island Christian was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 296 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 194 rushing yards in eight consecutive matches dating back to last season.
Merritt Island Christian's defense made their presence known, laying out the QB four times. Brayden Murphy was especially locked on to Eastland Christian's QB and sacked him twice.
Meanwhile, everything came up roses for Donahue Catholic at home against The Classical Academy of Sarasota on Friday as the team secured a 57-7 victory. The Shamrocks pushed the score to 57-0 by the end of the third, a deficit the Patriots cut but never quite recovered from.
Leo Cantwell went supernova for Donahue Catholic, rushing for 108 yards and three touchdowns on only five carries, while also picking up 35 receiving yards. Cantwell didn't just play on offense: he also picked up two sacks and made seven total tackles (3.0 for loss). Luke Misek was in the mix as well, providing Donahue Catholic with two touchdowns.
Merritt Island Christian's record now sits at 4-0. As for Donahue Catholic, they pushed their record up to 3-0 with that win, which was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season.
Friday's game might be decided in the trenches. Merritt Island Christian has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 251 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Donahue Catholic struggles in that department as they've been averaging 406. It's looking like Friday's contest might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Merritt Island Christian was dealt a bruising 40-0 defeat at the hands of Donahue Catholic when the teams last played back in August of 2023. Can Merritt Island Christian 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
