Football Preview: Cathedral Phantoms vs. St. Paul Swordsmen
Cathedral is 6-0 against St. Paul since October of 2014, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Cathedral Phantoms will venture away from home to challenge the St. Paul Swordsmen at 7:00 p.m. Cathedral is coming into the match hot, having won their last four games.
Last Friday, Cathedral earned a 21-14 win over St. Francis.
Jaden Jefferson continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 149 yards and a touchdown on only ten carries, while also throwing for 195 yards and two touchdowns. Those 149 rushing yards gave him a new career-high.
Cathedral was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 231 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, St. Paul posted their closest victory since August 18, 2023 on Friday. They narrowly escaped with a win as the squad sidled past Paraclete 31-28. 31 seems to be a good number for the Swordsmen as the team scooped up a victory with the same number of points in their previous game.
Marley Luatua was his usual excellent self, rushing for 171 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 10.1 yards per carry. His rushing production has been exceptional as that marked his fifth straight game with at least 102 rushing yards. Gabriel Castaneda was another key player, rushing for 54 yards and a touchdown on only seven carries.
Another reason for the win was St. Paul's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for four sacks. Tupu Toloai was especially locked on to Paraclete's QB and sacked him twice.
Cathedral's win bumped their record up to 8-1. As for St. Paul, they pushed their record up to 6-3 with the victory, which was their third straight on the road.
Friday's contest might be decided in the on the ground. Cathedral has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 151.9 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like St. Paul struggles in that department as they've been averaging 201. It's looking like Friday's game might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Cathedral beat St. Paul 28-21 in their previous meeting back in October of 2023. The rematch might be a little tougher for Cathedral since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
