Sylva Bay Academy has been on the road for two straight, but on Friday they'll finally head home. They will square off against the Pine Belt Spartans at 7:00 p.m.
Sylva Bay Academy is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another highly-ranked state team: DeSoto, who was ranked first at the time (Sylva Bay Academy was ranked seventh). Sylva Bay Academy was dealt a 68-28 loss at the hands of DeSoto on Friday. The Saints' defeat signaled the end of their three-game winning streak.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Pine Belt). They claimed a resounding 44-8 victory over New Orleans Home School S on the road. The high-flying offensive performance was a huge turnaround for the Spartans considering their six-point performance the game before.
Pine Belt found their leader in underclassman Brandon Burris, who rushed for 95 yards and two touchdowns on only six carries. The team also got some help courtesy of Channing Melvin, who rushed for 75 yards and a touchdown on only seven carries.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Pine Belt was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 319 rushing yards. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 91.2 rushing yards per game earlier this season, but in their last three matchups they've averaged 176.3.
Pine Belt didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. It was truly a group effort as Jayden Hartfield, Caleb Smith, and Bryce Kyzar picked up one apiece.
Sylva Bay Academy's loss dropped their record down to 6-2. As for Pine Belt, their win (their first of the season) made their record 1-6.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
