Football Recap: Miles Sanderson and Aiden Gallagher Lead the Defense for Paul VI Win

It was a proper cat-fight when Paul VI took on Collegiate on Friday. The Panthers came out on top against the Cougars by a score of 29-21. That result was just more of the same for these two, as the Panthers also won the last time the pair played back in September of 2024.

The critical scores for Paul VI came from Hudson Akin, Aiden Gallagher, Keyon Johnson, and Cooper Colcombe.

Wins are hard to come by when you can't run the rock, something Paul VI proved: they limited Collegiate to a paltry 1.4 yards per carry. The team can thank Miles Sanderson for the heroic effort on defense: he. Paul VI didn't have any issues in that department, having averaged 5.9.

Miles Sanderson

Total Tackles

09/26/25 vs Collegiate	13
09/19/25 @ Saint John Paul the Great Catholic	5
09/12/25 vs St. Michael the Archangel	10
09/05/25 vs Saint James	9
11/22/24 @ St. Mary's Ryken	23
11/15/24 vs Archbishop Carroll	20

Paul VI's defense didn't let Sam Settar, get away unscathed either: they got into the backfield for four sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Sanderson and Gallagher, who racked up all four sacks between them. Sanderson is also on a roll when it comes to total tackles, as he's now made five or more in each of the last six games he's played dating back to last season.

Collegiate lost despite a true team effort on offense. The best among them was Settar, who threw for 180 yards and a pair of TDs while completing 75% of his passes. Collegiate's leading receiver Zach Jarvis was Settar's top target yet again, picking up 87 receiving yards and one score.

The victory made it two in a row for Paul VI and bumps their season record up to 3-1. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 42.5 points over those games. As for Collegiate, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 3-2.

Coming up, Paul VI will head out to face off against St. Albans at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. The Bulldogs' defense has only allowed seven points per game this season, so the Panthers' offense will have their work cut out for them. As for Collegiate, they will have a little extra prep time after the loss as they won't be playing again for a while. They'll take on Benedictine at 3:45 p.m. on October 10.