The Paraclete Spirits will venture away from home to face off against the St. Paul Swordsmen at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, these teams will really light up the scoreboard.
On Friday, Paraclete beat St. Francis 42-35. Given the Spirits' advantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 130th, while the Golden Knights are ranked 339th) , the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Kyle Fulton Jr
| 10/24/25 vs St. Francis | 196 |
| 10/03/25 @ Bishop Alemany | 155 |
| 08/22/25 vs Garces Memorial | 135 |
| 09/19/25 vs Village Christian | 133 |
| 09/05/25 vs Hart | 124 |
| + 4 more games |
Paraclete's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Joseph Mesa, who threw for 270 yards and five touchdowns, and Kyle Fulton Jr, who rushed for 196 yards and one TD while picking up 10.3 yards per carry. Fulton Jr has become a key player for the Spirits: the team is undefeated when he posts at least 80 rushing yards, but 1-2 otherwise.
Wins are hard to come by when you can't run the rock, something Paraclete proved: they limited St. Francis to a paltry one yards per carry. The team can thank Zachary Iskyian for the heroic effort on defense: he. Paraclete didn't have any issues in that department, having averaged 9.6.
Paraclete's defensive line didn't let Alister Chan, get away unscathed either: they got into the backfield for three sacks. The team can thank three different players for their defensive prowess: Darren Coleman, Christopher Rivera, and Austin Robinson, who each picked up one sack apiece.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask St. Paul). They blew past Bishop Alemany 41-7 on Friday. The game was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 21-0.
Paraclete better keep an eye on Marley Luatua. He was instrumental in St. Paul's win, rushing for 102 yards and a pair of scores on only five carries. Luatua's longest rush was for an incredible 73 yards. Jordan Lauago was another key player, rushing for 50 yards and one TD.
Paraclete is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matchups. That's provided a nice bump to their 7-2 record this season. A key ingredient in that success has been their performance when it comes to yards per carry: they averaged an imposing 5.38 yards per carry in those games compared to only 3.5 in the others. As for St. Paul, they picked up their first road victory, bumping their record up to 3-6.
Paraclete couldn't quite finish off St. Paul when the teams last played back in October of 2024 and fell 31-28. Can the Spirits avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
