Football Preview: Charlotte Catholic Cougars vs. Independence Patriots
The Charlotte Catholic Cougars will challenge the Independence Patriots at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. Charlotte Catholic's defense has only allowed 16.8 points per game this season, so Independence's offense will have their work cut out for them.
Charlotte Catholic took a loss when they played away from home two weeks ago, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Friday. They strolled past Providence with points to spare, taking the game 21-6. Given the Cougars' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina football rankings (they are ranked 32nd, while the Panthers are ranked 85th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Charlotte Catholic's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Jon Fijalkowski and Charles Patrick. Fijalkowski is also on a roll when it comes to total tackles, as he's now made five or more in the last four games he's played dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, Independence put another one in the bag two weeks ago to keep their perfect season alive. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat South Mecklenburg 40-13 on the road. The Patriots pushed the score to 26-0 by the end of the third, a deficit the Sabres had little chance of recovering from.
Jayden Jones was his usual excellent self, rushing for 211 yards and two touchdowns on only 15 carries. The team also got some help courtesy of Justin Little, who threw for 253 yards and two touchdowns on only 18 passes.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Independence was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 288 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 222 rushing yards in four consecutive matches.
The victory got Charlotte Catholic back to even at 2-2. As for Independence, their win was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 4-0.
Charlotte Catholic suffered a grim 31-10 defeat to Independence when the teams last played back in September of 2023. Can Charlotte Catholic avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
