20 GAMES TO WATCH: New Smyrna Beach at Merritt Island

20 Games To Watch – Week 1

WHO: New Smyrna Beach Barracudas at Merritt Island Mustangs
WHEN: Friday, 7:00 PM
WHERE: Mustang Stadium, Merritt Island
RECORDS (FROM 2012): New Smyrna Beach, 9-1; Merritt Island 10-2
RADIO: WSBB 1230 AM, New Smyrna Beach

PLAYERS TO WATCH

New Smyrna Beach: DB D’Cota Dixon, Sr., QB Marcus Johnson, Sr., S Cole Halcomb, Sr., DL Matt Thomas, Sr., OL Jalen Merrick, Sr.
Merritt Island: DB Johnny Batch, Sr., OL Adam Valletutti, Sr., QB Nick Smith, Sr., OL Bailey Herring, So. K Dylan Barnas, Jr., DB Andrew Bocci, Sr.

QUICK HITS

New Smyrna Beach: The Barracudas are coming off a 9-1 season, but was 9-0 overall in the regular season, which marked the second time that feat occurred in school history. With 16 starters back things will look great, but depth is a key concern for this program. Outside of the depth concern, the Barracudas will play a tougher schedule this season and everything starts at Merritt Island. With this and the fact Merritt Island has key areas that need to develop, they appear to have the advantage at this point.

Merritt Island: Anyone knows Merritt Island has been more of a defenseive team than an offensive team over the years and it will likely be the same once again here. However, for Jeff McLean’s group some offensive spark might happen this year with QB Nick Smith starting for the second year in a row and should be much improved. He will have guys at other skill positions to work with, but with the amount of starters returning for New Smyrna Beach, this game could be a tough one to win.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

29.75 – The average amount of points Merritt Island scored per game in 2012.

3 – The number of state championship trophies stored in the Merritt Island trophy case.

13.4 – The average amount of points per game given up by New Smyrna Beach in 2012.

THE RANKINGS

New Smyrna Beach is currently unranked in the Class 6A Super 12 rankings and received votes in the Large Schools Division of the Media Poll. Merritt Island is currently ranked #12 in the Class 5A Super 12, but did not receive any votes in the Florida HS Football Media Poll.

WHAT COULD HAPPEN

Pretty much New Smyrna Beach appears to have the advantage on its side with 16 starters back and a couple of them being Division I prospects or pretty close to being there. Merritt Island will play this game with a defensive mindset that should keep them competitive throughout, but overall in the end who has the ball on the final play and who has the most points on the board. Right now we will take the Barracudas to go home with a road win.

ADVANTAGE: New Smyrna Beach