Find yourself a chair and plop yourselves down as we deliver the best cuts from this past week’s action. There’s only two weeks left of the regular season and there are serious records that could be broken within the next two weeks–and perhaps beyond. Check out below who’s in the chair in this week’s edition of the Barber Shop.
Perfect 10 – Coming into Friday Night, East Lake’s Tupac Blanch had a total of just 149 yards rushing on 17 carries. On Friday Night versus Pinellas Park, he nearly surpassed that entire mark in one game. Blanch rushed for 131 yards on 10 carries and two touchdowns–the last time he carried the ball ten times in one game, Tupac rushed for 100+ yards and a touchdown against Lake Brantley.
(9) – The number of teams left seeking undefeated seasons. Last week, there were eleven–Fort Meade and Sunlake have dropped out. This week, it’s Nature Coast, River Ridge, Northside Christian, CCC, Braden River, Cambridge Christian, Armwood, Kathleen and Lakeland Christian all looking to keep that going. CCC and Kathleen can wrap up those seasons this week. CCC is going for their first undefeated season in school history.
Mustang in-stride – Mitchell’s Mychael Hamilton is just a sophomore, but giving us a glimpse of the future right now. His 105-yard performance vs. Sunlake gave him his 7th-straight 100+ yard performance. His only sub-100 came against–you guessed it–River Ridge in their season opener. Hamilton now has over 1,000 yards (1,053) on the season.
(876) – The number of yards Chris Schwarz needs to break Pasco County’s all-time rushing record after this past week.
(9–part 2) – The number go teams that have secured district championships thus far. They are: Armwood, Gibbs, Jesuit, Manatee, Mitchell, Nature Coast, Plant, Plant City and River Ridge.
(509 & 10) – The number of yards Nature Coast’s Deshawn Smith now needs after his performance versus Citrus. He’s averaging 274.4 yards per game and with two games remaining against teams giving up 30+ points per game, the senior has a pretty good chance of busting that record during the regular season.
(17) – The number of consecutive wins for East Lake over Pinellas Park.
A Night of Firsts – A few teams established some first throughout the area last Friday. Steinbrenner and Cambridge Christian secured their first postseason births in program history. Mitchell won their first district championship in school history and Calvary Christian and Dixie Hollins both earned their first victories of the season.
Bustin’ through – Brandon’s Larry Anderson is just a sophomore, and coming into Friday Night he was credited with just 14 yards rushing through five games. In their postseason-clinching win over Hillsborough, Anderson rushed for 167 yards. The Eagles will now travel to either Lake Gibson or Sebring in the first round of the playoffs.
(306) – the number of passing yards for Wesley Chapel’s Jacob Thomas on 23-of-41 passing. The junior QB has now thrown for 100+ yards in six-straight games. In those six, Thomas has 4-200+ games plus the 300+ performance. He has now thrown for 1,553 yards on the season.
(10) – the number of years it had been since Clearwater had made the postseason. The streak has ended and they will play for the 6A-9 title against Osceola on Friday at home.
(27) – the number of consecutive games that Durant hadn’t been shutout in before their run-in with Tampa Bay Tech. That streak dates back to 9/6/2013 when they were shutout by Sickles.
(146) – the number of points Armwood has outscored their district opponents in four games (168-22). That’s an average final score of 42-5 and just two points shy of doubling their second place finishers in Brandon.
(11) – the number of consecutive district championships that Plant has now won.
(7) – the number of years it has been since Ridgewood has finished without a winning record–that streak will at least end with a .500 record as the Rams (5-4) take on Fivay this week. The last time Ridgewood finished .500 was 2010.