Football Preview: Delbarton Green Wave vs. DePaul Catholic Spartans
Two dominant backs in Brock Dandridge and Nolan James are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Delbarton Green Wave are taking a road trip to challenge the DePaul Catholic Spartans at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Delbarton is looking to tack on another W to their six-game streak on the road dating back to last season.
Delbarton is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of New Jersey's top teams: Bergen Catholic, who was ranked first in their home state at the time (Delbarton was ranked seventh). Delbarton was outmatched by Bergen Catholic at home and fell 42-13. The loss continues a trend for the Green Wave in their matchups with the Crusaders: they've now lost six in a row.
Meanwhile, DePaul Catholic put another one in the bag on Thursday to keep their perfect season alive. They blew past St. Peter's Prep, posting a 54-21 win on the road. That 33 point margin sets a new team best for the Spartans this season.
DePaul Catholic relied on the efforts of Derek Zammit, who threw for 110 yards and four touchdowns while completing 75% of his passes, and James, who rushed for 148 yards and two touchdowns on only 14 carries. Elijah Burress was in the mix too, providing DePaul Catholic with two touchdowns.
DePaul Catholic's defense stepped up as well, laying out the QB four times. In that department, Lorenzo Nieves was the leader with two sacks. DePaul Catholic got some further help from Anthony Nittoli: he picked up 0.5 sacks and made ten total tackles (2.0 for loss) in addition to snagging an interception.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, DePaul Catholic was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 319 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since the start of last season.
With the defeat, Delbarton broke their four-game winning streak and moved their record to 5-2. As for DePaul Catholic, their victory bumped their record up to 7-0.
We should be in store for an exciting game as both have no problem gaining yardage. Delbarton has been on an offensive roll this season, having averaged 374 total yards per game. However, it's not like DePaul Catholic struggles in that department as they've been averaging 457.9. With a pair of commanding offenses duking it out, the defenses are going to have their work cut out for them.
Everything came up roses for Delbarton against DePaul Catholic in their previous matchup back in October of 2023, as the team secured a 28-0 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Delbarton 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
