This Friday the Venice High football team (1-0) will visit an 0-2 Riverview squad whose record is more a reflection of the competition the Rams have faced than an indictment of their ability. Make no mistake, the Indians will not duplicate last week’s 55-0 thrashing of Booker, even if they play well.

The Rams drew the No. 3 team in class 5A (Palmetto) and the No. 1 team in the country (Manatee) in their first two regular season games, losing 49-7 to Manatee last week after dropping their opener 24-13 to Palmetto. Don’t put much stock in the lopsided score of the Manatee game; the Hurricanes figure to put similar beatings on most of their opponents this year. Venice, meanwhile, defeated Palmetto 24-23 during the preseason in a nail-biter.