Aside from the recommendations, there's a weight factor: battery, gas tank, motor weight, and your body weight. Think teeter-totter: the more weight/speed in back, the higher the bow wants to lift. (Gas weighs about 7 lbs/gal, water weighs about 8 lbs/gal. Varies a bit with gas.)
Someday I'll go through the story of me, a 13ft tin, an auction Evinrude 18hp, and my first time out with the combo. (Hint: it was NOT pretty.) When the bow comes up so far you can't see, and folks on shore think of an exclamation point racing on the other side of the lake, you need to make some changes.
The 9.8 might be the perfect engine for that hull. With due respect for a whole bunch of folks, speed does not equal joy.
Then there's chop, and wind, and ...other stuff.
Don't invest before you can test.
Be safe, have fun.