Welcome to the inaugural
edition of Point/Counterpoint.
Instead of hearing from me
(which you do enough of anyways), I brought in 2 student journalists to state
their case for why each team, Cypress Bay or Miramar, will win Friday’s key
game in District 12-8A. I left their arguments in their original form, so that
the passion was not lost by my editing.
So, without further ado,
let’s get to the arguments.
Why Cypress Bay will win
by Jake Marsh
Cypress
Bay vs. Miramar. A rivalry in district 12-8A that has plenty of its own
history. This Friday, a new chapter will be written at Miramar’s own gridiron,
as the Lightning and Patriots will clash yet again.
At
the end of the day, I think the final result will have to strongly deal with
who overhauls in the matchup between the Lightning’s offense in its effort to
take down four-star linebacker Jermaine Grace. With the way Cypress Bay running
back Matt Dayes has been playing lately, (averaging 5.8 yards per carry) I
believe he has the physical ability and confidence to run over Grace and the
Patriots’ defensive line. The Lightning’s offense line, led by center Jason
Rae, will be able to refrain Grace from attacking quarterback Jaranta Lewis
into as much pressure as he can get. However, Lewis MUST step it up and have a
huge game. This is a statement game for the Lightning. It could decide whether
or not they have the ability to become legitimate contenders for both a
district and state championship. Lewis hasn’t totally been on top of his game
lately, and that’s why I think he is due for a big one this Friday. We all know
that his favorite target is Alex Montgomery, a 6’1’’ receiver headed to Wake
Forest in the fall. This will be the game where both of them break out and the
primary reason that Cypress Bay will prevail victorious.
On
the other side of the ball, linebacker Nico Marley along with the rest of the
Lightning defense will have interrupt the consistency of the Patriots’ offense.
Unlike Cypress Bay’s run-heavy offense with Dayes and Josh Kaiser, Miramar head
coach Damon Cogdell seems to balance it out either on the ground or in the air
with quarterback Nick Jeanty. Marley and the rest of the defense will be able
to stop the rushing attack of both Alex Lee and Cameron Rigby, who each have
three rushing touchdowns on the year. Senior cornerback Boaz Joseph will hold
Patriots wide receiver Sean Avant from having a monumental game. Joseph, who is
being looked at by 20+ schools, definitely has the ability to shut down Avant,
Geonte Smith, and the rest of the Miramar receiving core.
Both
the Patriots (2-2, 1-0) and the Lightning (3-1, 1-0) have similar offensive
numbers as a whole. Between the two teams, there is only a two point difference
in total points scored through four games. In the end, Cypress Bay and head
coach Mark Guandolo will get its revenge on the team that beat them twice and
eliminated them just a year ago. It will be a total team effort, and players on
both side of the ball will equally contribute to the victory.
FINAL SCORE: Cypress Bay 26, Miramar 24
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Jake Marsh is a Junior at
Cypress Bay, and is one of the students who runs the Cypress Bay Athletics
Twitter account (@CB_Athletics). You can follow Jake there, or at his personal
Twitter, @JakeMarsh18.
Why Miramar will win
By Nash Williams
In no disrespect to Cypress Bay or their opponents, Cypress Bay has played only one "quality" opponent this year. That of course being St. Thomas Aquinas. In that game the Lightning had lots of trouble getting their offense rolling. How will the famed Darkside defense of Miramar match up. To get a better understanding we'll do a position by position breakdown.
The defensive line HAS to get to Cypress Bay QB Jaranta Lewis. Lewis is a dual-threat QB who can make plays with his legs, already totaling for 178 rushing yards and 4 rushing TD's. If he is hurried the passing game slowly starts to shut down making the offense more one-dimensional.
If the passing game is shut down then the Lighting may have to rely on North Carolina State commit and starting RB Matt Dayes. Miramar star LB Jermaine "Country" Grace and defensive beast Ryan Samuels, who are known for their sideline to sideline ability, have combined for 57 tackles on the year will be key in helping shutdown the running attack.
The playmakers of the Miramar secondary, the G-Unit (Andre Godfrey and D'Kambui Greaves) have been ball hawking this season. I think Miramar Coach Damon Cogdell will make the right calls to stop the talented Cypress Bay WR Alex Montgomery who has racked up 338 receiving yards on the season.
But In my opinion the offense is what will lead to Miramar to a victory Friday night. The Miramar Patriots have a rushing attack like none other in Broward. They have accumulated 745 yards on the ground. They even gained 194 rushing yards against one of the top defenses in the country the Manatee Hurricanes.
I've seen the Cypress Bay defense in action this season. The defensive line has some questions. So coach Cogdell will look for his offensive line to open up some big holes. But once you get past the front four the defense is stout. The linebackers and secondary are all athletic. When Miramar is running the ball they average 5.5 yards a rush, getting chunks of yards at a time. With the weak defensive line of Cypress Bay I think that sort of success will continue.
But when it comes to the little things, statistically Miramar has the advantage. By little things I mean the penalties. When I saw Cypress Bay play Deerfield Beach in Week 1 I watched them claw to a 29-6 victory. They could have won that game by a much larger margin had they stopped bad mistakes, late hits, holding, block in the back. Things that are unnecessary. Miramar has 27 penalties compared to Cypress Bay's 30.
With all of these components I think Miramar has the recipe for success, and I predict the Patriots will come away with a 28-24 victory.
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Nash Williams is a Freshman at Zion Lutheran School, and a contributor to a variety of Sports Websites. You can follow him on Twitter @Nashwilliams1.
Special thanks to Jake Marsh and Nash Williams for being our guest contributors this week.
Those are THEIR thoughts.
What are yours?
Until Next Time,
Jake Marsh, Cypress Bay Athletics
Nash Williams, Freelance Contributor
Cameron J. Underwood
Miramar Sports
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