By: Ross Van De Griek
The HSSportsFlorida "Tampa Bay" Game of the Week will travel to Pinellas County for the second time in three weeks. The Palmetto Tigers (4-0) will head north on the Skyway Bridge to take on the Largo Packers (3-1) on Friday night.
Palmetto (4-0) is coming off a 47-7 win at Port Charlotte last week, to start the season 4-0 for the first time since 2011 (where they finished 12-2). The Tigers are led by 10th year head coach Dave Marino, who holds a career record of 72-39. Palmetto is led by senior quarterback Xavier Williams who has thrown for 147 passing yards in the first 4 games of the season. The Tigers like to rely on the run game, that features junior running back Sagel Hickson & junior Robert Gavin. This will be the 2nd time this season that Palmetto will travel to Pinellas County for a game, as they opened the season with a 27-7 win over Pinellas Park.
Largo (3-1) is coming off a 21-14 win vs Clearwater last week. The Packers were led by senior quarterback Brandon Coppola, who went 5/12 for 117 passing yards in the win & running back Andre Bell finished with 19 carries, for 83 rushing yards. Senior wide receiver & future Iowa Hawkeye Quavon Matthews had 111 of the team's 117 receiving yards in last week's win. Senior linebacker & future Miami Hurricane AJ Mathis led the defense, with 16 total tackles in last week's win over rival Clearwater. Future Florida State Seminole Jayion McCluster added 12 total tackles (2 tackles for loss) in the win.
Some other names to watch for Largo, will be the sophomore duo between Garrett Gurney & Conner Gurney, who each had a sack in last week's win over Clearwater.
Score Prediction: Largo 31, Palmetto 28