Football Preview: St. Paul Swordsmen vs. Paraclete Spirits
The St. Paul Swordsmen will head out to take on the Paraclete Spirits at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. St. Paul will be hoping to continue their three-game streak of scoring more points each game than the last.
St. Paul is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They breezed by Bishop Alemany at home to the tune of 31-2 on Friday. Given the Swordsmen's advantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 74th, while the Warriors are ranked 275th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Marley Luatua continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 131 yards and two touchdowns on only 13 carries. His rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his fourth straight game with at least 102 rushing yards. St. Paul also got a significant boost from Jace Levario, who ran away from the competition to the tune of 81 yards.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: St. Paul was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 241 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 200 rushing yards in four consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, Paraclete came up short against St. Francis on Friday and fell 39-30. The Spirits have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Paraclete's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Joseph Mesa, who threw for 331 yards and three touchdowns while completing 81.8% of his passes, and Eric Green, who gained 196 total yards and two touchdowns. Green also deserves a shoutout for his performance on D, making 11 total tackles and defending two passes. Adrian Jones was Mesa's top target, picking up 93 receiving yards and a touchdown.
St. Paul's win bumped their record up to 5-3. As for Paraclete, their loss dropped their record down to 4-4.
Friday's matchup might be decided in the trenches. St. Paul has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 195 rushing yards per game. It's a different story for Paraclete, though, as they've been averaging only 89.2. How will they fare against such a dominant running game?
St. Paul was able to grind out a solid victory over Paraclete when the teams last played back in October of 2023, winning 40-28. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Paraclete's Tyler Soles, who threw for 377 yards and two touchdowns while completing 80% of his passes, and also rushed for 79 yards and two touchdowns on only eight carries. Now that he won't be playing on Friday, will it be easier for St. Paul to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
