Football Preview: Riverdale Baptist Crusaders vs. St. Thomas Aquinas Trojans
Riverdale Baptist has been away from home for three games now, but on Friday they'll finally make their return. They and the St. Thomas Aquinas Trojans are set to duel. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Riverdale Baptist's offense will try to repeat the strong performance it gave on Friday, when they got past Hayfield's usually-dominant defense. Riverdale Baptist put the hurt on Hayfield with a sharp 55-30 victory. With that win, the Crusaders brought their scoring average up to 28.6 points per game.
Riverdale Baptist's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Aveon Cobb, who rushed for 164 yards and two touchdowns on only eight carries, and also picked up 87 receiving yards. Cobb's longest rush was for an incredible 80 yards. Jayden Kitchens was another key pass catcher, gaining 235 total yards and three touchdowns.
Riverdale Baptist was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 353 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, St. Thomas Aquinas entered their tilt with Sayreville on Friday with two consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with three. Everything went their way against the Bombers as they made off with a 43-20 win. Given the Trojans' advantage in MaxPreps' New Jersey football rankings (they are ranked 37th, while the Bombers are ranked 166th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
St. Thomas Aquinas found their leader in sophomore Chukwuma Odoh, who rushed for 153 yards and two touchdowns on only eight carries. Odoh's rushing production has been exceptional as that marked his eighth straight game with at least 107 rushing yards. The team also got some help courtesy of Ca'Si Thomas, who rushed for 108 yards and a touchdown.
Riverdale Baptist's victory was their eighth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 8-0. As for St. Thomas Aquinas, their win bumped their record up to 7-2.
Friday's game will pit two of the most dominant backs against one another: Cobb and Odoh. Cobb has put up some stellar numbers this year, and currently owns excellent season averages 88.7 rushing yards per game this season. For his part, Odoh has averaged 128.2 rushing yards per game this season.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
