Football Game Preview: Nanuet Golden Knights vs. Pearl River Pirates

The Nanuet Golden Knights will face off against the Pearl River Pirates at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.

Nanuet is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They breezed past Putnam Valley to the tune of 35-6 on Saturday. The victory continues a trend for the Golden Knights in their matchups with the Tigers: they've now won five in a row.

Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Pearl River, who bounced back after a loss on the road last Saturday. They were the clear victors by a 38-17 margin over Pleasantville on Saturday. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest win the Pirates have posted against the Panthers since October 26, 2019.

Pearl River had a senior duo take command as TJ Lanese threw for 217 yards and four TDs while completing 86.7% of his passes and Carter Kalchbenner picked up 113 receiving yards and four touchdowns. Lanese's passing game has become a key predictor of the Pirates' success: the team is 3-1 when his passer rating is 110 or higher, but only 1-2 otherwise. Speaking of playmakers, who could forget Tommy Mahoney, who went all the way with a kickoff return for a touchdown.

Nanuet's victory was their first in the league, bumping their league record up to 1-3 and their overall record up to 2-4. As for Pearl River, they now have a winning record of 4-3.

Nanuet couldn't quite finish off Pearl River in their previous matchup back in October of 2024 and fell 20-18. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Lanese, who threw for 149 yards and a pair of TDs while completing 85.7% of his passes, and also rushed for 43 yards. Now that the Golden Knights know the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.