Football Preview: Iona Prep Gaels vs. Cardinal Hayes Cardinals
The Iona Prep Gaels will venture away from home to square off against the Cardinal Hayes Cardinals at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Iona Prep knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 31 points or more in their past three matches -- so hopefully Cardinal Hayes likes a good challenge.
Iona Prep is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of New York's top teams: St. Anthony's, who was ranked eighth in their home state at the time (Iona Prep was ranked first). Iona Prep walked away with a 48-40 victory over St. Anthony's on Friday. With that win, the Gaels brought their scoring average up to 27.7 points per game.
Crew Davis was his usual excellent self, rushing for 199 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 11.7 yards per carry, and also picking up 120 receiving yards and two touchdowns. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in rushing yards. Julian Guzman was another key player, throwing for 202 yards and two touchdowns on only 18 passes.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Iona Prep was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 306 rushing yards. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as St. Anthony's only rushed for 211.
Iona Prep didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Mamadee Sangaray and Elijah Smith.
Meanwhile, Cardinal Hayes entered their tilt with Kellenberg Memorial on Saturday with two consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with three. They were the clear victor by a 27-7 margin over the Firebirds.
Iona Prep's record now sits at 4-2. As for Cardinal Hayes, they pushed their record up to 4-1 with the victory, which was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season.
Iona Prep and Cardinal Hayes were almost perfectly matched up when the teams last played back in November of 2023, but Iona Prep suffered an agonizing 30-29 loss. Can Iona Prep 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
