Football Preview: Roosevelt Roughriders vs. Eastside Catholic Crusaders
Roosevelt is on a seven-game streak of home wins (dating back to last season), while Eastside Catholic is on a three-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The Roosevelt Roughriders will welcome the Eastside Catholic Crusaders at 7:45 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Last Friday, everything came up roses for Roosevelt on the road against Garfield as the squad secured a 49-3 victory. Given the Roughriders' advantage in MaxPreps' Washington football rankings (they are ranked 26th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 194th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Damari King continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 133 yards and two touchdowns on only ten carries, while also picking up 38 receiving yards and a touchdown. He also deserves a shoutout for his performance on D, picking up three sacks and making three total tackles. Zaire Griffin was another key player, rushing for 111 yards and a touchdown on only five carries.
Roosevelt's defense stepped up as well, laying out the QB eight times. The heavy lifting was done by King and Jojo Paaga, who racked up five sacks between them. King's rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his fourth straight game with at least 133 rushing yards.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Roosevelt was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 293 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 293 rushing yards in four consecutive matches.
Eastside Catholic never got on the board in their matchup last Friday, but that sure wasn't the case in their game against Ballard last Thursday. They claimed a resounding 41-7 win over the Beavers on the road. With the Crusaders ahead 34-0 at the half, the game was all but over already.
Roosevelt's victory bumped their record up to 4-1. As for Eastside Catholic, their win bumped their record up to an identical 4-1.
Roosevelt was dealt a bruising 56-0 defeat at the hands of Eastside Catholic in their previous meeting back in September of 2022. Thankfully for Roosevelt, Masen Uribe (who rushed for 101 yards and two touchdowns on only eight carries) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
