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Keystone Heights’ best season since 2015 has a chance of becoming the best in school history.
The Indians face Astronaut High School in the first round of the Class-4A playoffs on Friday trying to continue an incredible season. This will be the first playoff game in school history. They hope to punctuate this historic game with a victory.
Keystone Heights’ roster only holds 31 players and started with just over 20. Players have to play on both sides of the ball at multiple positions.
Yet, the Indians won seven of their nine games this season to qualify for the playoffs. Their two losses came by a combined 23 points.
Matchup Breakdown
One way that Keystone Heights has been able to stay competitive this season is emphasizing ball control. The team runs the ball at will. It enjoys holding onto the ball as long as possible in order to keep its defense off the field and rest its limited bench.
The Indians are slightly favored over Astronaut, with Keystone holding the fourth seed and the War Eagles having the fifth seed. The winner moves on to play top-seeded Cocoa next week.
Looking at the numbers, these two teams are very similar. Both teams depend on the running game and have been successful doing so this season, as they are rushing for roughly 240 yards per game.
Senior Colby Townsend leads Keystone Heights in rushing yards per game (88.9), while Astronaut depends on junior Abreon Torres on the ground (107.6 rushing yards per game).
Keystone Heights’ home-field advantage may be a significant factor in the game. The War Eagles have not been very good away from home. Astronaut is 4-1 at home but only won one of its five games on the road.
The Indians’ bid to win Keystone Height’s first playoff game in school history kicks off at 7:30 on Friday night.
