Football Preview: St. John Paul II Panthers vs. Pensacola Catholic Crusaders
After three games on the road, St. John Paul II is heading back home. They will welcome the Pensacola Catholic Crusaders at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both are strolling into their contests after big wins in their previous games.
St. John Paul II is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They took their game on Friday with ease, bagging a 74-0 victory over FAMU DRS. Given the Panthers' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida football rankings (they are ranked 203rd, while the Baby Rattlers are ranked 550th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
It was another big night for Gavin Ford, who threw for 298 yards and five touchdowns while picking up 14.9 yards per attempt, and also rushed for 30 yards and a touchdown. He is becoming a predictor of St. John Paul II's success: when he posts at least three passing touchdowns the team is 3-1 (and 2-3 when he doesn't). Another big playmaker for St. John Paul II was Travion Dickey, who returned a punt for a touchdown.
Meanwhile, Pensacola Catholic entered their tilt with South Walton on Friday with four consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with five. They blew past the Seahawks 45-7. The Crusaders might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won six matchups by 23 points or more this season.
Cj Nettles continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 167 yards and five touchdowns on only ten carries. His rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his third straight game with at least 148 rushing yards.
Pensacola Catholic was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 233 rushing yards. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 77.2 rushing yards per game earlier this season, but in their last four matches they've averaged 295.
One reason for the win was Pensacola Catholic's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for 12 sacks. Noah Hamlin and Trenton Henderson were the leaders of the group effort as each produced three apiece.
St. John Paul II's win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 5-4. As for Pensacola Catholic, their victory bumped their record up to 7-1.
We should be in store for an exciting game as the two teams have no problem gaining yardage. St. John Paul II has been on an offensive roll this season, having averaged 366.2 total yards per game. However, it's not like Pensacola Catholic struggles in that department as they've been averaging 389.9. With a pair of commanding offenses duking it out, the defenses are going to have their work cut out for them.
St. John Paul II might still be hurting after the 37-13 loss they got from Pensacola Catholic in their previous matchup back in November of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Pensacola Catholic's Ryan Huff, who threw for 252 yards and three touchdowns while completing 76.2% of his passes. Now that St. John Paul II knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
