Football Recap: Pope John XXIII Takes a Loss + How To Watch

Pope John XXIII lost against Delbarton back in October of 2024 and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Saturday. Pope John XXIII lost 38-15 to Delbarton. While losing is never fun, Pope John XXIII can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' New Jersey football rankings (they are ranked 41st, while Delbarton is ranked tenth).

Although Pope John XXIII took the loss, they still got scores from Luke Gialanella and Luke Romano.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Delbarton to victory, but perhaps none more so than Gavin Gilardi, who threw for 162 yards and three TDs on perfect 15-for-15 passing. The dominant performance also gave Gilardi a new career-high in passer rating (170). Another player making a difference was Jayden Schmalz, who rushed for 78 yards and one touchdown.

This is the second loss in a row for Pope John XXIII and nudges their season record down to 1-4. Admittedly, the team was facing some tough opposition over that stretch, including 4-0 Bergen Catholic (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 75% over those games). As for Delbarton, they are on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four games. That's provided a nice bump to their 3-3 record this season.

Pope John XXIII will be playing in front of their home fans against Seton Hall Prep at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. Pope John XXIII will be up against the Pirates' rather soft defense (which has allowed 25.75 points per matchup), so fans could be in store for a big offensive performance. As for Delbarton, they will get to enjoy the win for a while: their next game is against Bergen Catholic at 1:00 p.m. on the 18th.