Football Preview: Seton Catholic Sentinels vs. Gila Ridge Hawks
The Seton Catholic Sentinels will play host again on Saturday to welcome the Gila Ridge Hawks, where kickoff is scheduled at 6:00 p.m. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Seton Catholic will roll into the game after a wild two-game stretch: they didn't score any points two weeks ago, then bounced right back against Independence on Friday. Seton Catholic came out on top against Independence by a score of 36-28.
Luc Aguilar continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 298 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 9.0 yards per carry, and also picking up 35 receiving yards. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in rushing yards.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Seton Catholic was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 298 rushing yards. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved they're rushing yard total in four consecutive matches.
Seton Catholic didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Joseph Ferrance and Sloan Sweet.
Meanwhile, Gila Ridge strolled past Cibola with points to spare on Thursday, taking the game 29-14. The Hawks pushed the score to 26-6 by the end of the third, a deficit the Raiders cut but never quite recovered from.
Gila Ridge found their leader in underclassman Kanai Hongo, who rushed for 139 yards and two touchdowns. Gila Ridge is undefeated when Hongo posts two or more rushing touchdowns, but 0-3 otherwise.
One reason for the win was Gila Ridge's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for six sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Andy Rodriguez and Drew Caudle, who racked up five sacks between them. Caudle also set a new season high mark in total tackles with seven.
Seton Catholic's victory bumped their record up to 5-2. As for Gila Ridge, the win got them back to even at 3-3.
Everything went Seton Catholic's way against Gila Ridge in their previous meeting back in October of 2023, as Seton Catholic made off with a 49-24 victory. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Gila Ridge's Steven Navas, who threw for 266 yards and three touchdowns. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Seton Catholic still be able to contain Navas? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
