Tarpon Springs hasn't had much luck against East Lake recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The Tarpon Springs Spongers are taking a road trip to face off against the East Lake Eagles at 7:30 p.m. Tarpon Springs will be coming into the contest with an undefeated record on the line.
Tarpon Springs is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They simply couldn't be stopped on Friday as they easily beat Northeast 43-8 at home. Given the Spongers' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida football rankings (they are ranked 90th, while the Vikings are ranked 228th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Makih Johnson was a one-man wrecking crew for Tarpon Springs as he picked up 114 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Johnson showed off some serious burst, cutting upfield on a catch for 61 yards. The team also got some help courtesy of Nikita Rinios, who rushed for 108 yards and a touchdown on only 13 carries.
Meanwhile, East Lake was not able to break out of their rough patch on Friday as the team picked up their fourth straight defeat. They lost 42-22 to Mitchell.
East Lake's loss came about despite a quality game from Eli Millian, who threw for 213 yards and two touchdowns. A healthy portion of that aerial production (96 yards to be exact) went to Joseph Archer.
Tarpon Springs pushed their record up to 4-0 with that win, which was their fifth straight at home dating back to last season. As for East Lake, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-4.
Friday's game might be decided in the trenches. Tarpon Springs has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 213.5 rushing yards per game. It's a different story for East Lake, though, as they've been averaging only 94.8. How will they fare against such a dominant running game?
Tarpon Springs came up short against East Lake when the teams last played back in September of 2023, falling 21-16. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of East Lake's Will Mirabella, who rushed for 143 yards and a touchdown on only 12 carries, and also threw for 20 yards and a touchdown. Now that Tarpon Springs knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
