Football Preview: Bishop Manogue Miners vs. Faith Lutheran Crusaders
The Bishop Manogue Miners will challenge the Faith Lutheran Crusaders at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with Bishop Manogue sitting on seven straight victories and Faith Lutheran on 11.
Bishop Manogue is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They walked away with a 35-28 win over Reed.
Bishop Manogue can attribute much of their success to Brandon Mann, who rushed for 195 yards and a touchdown while picking up 8.5 yards per carry, and Pele Masina, who rushed for 143 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 7.9 yards per carry. Masina also deserves a shoutout for his performance on D, making three total tackles and defending a pass.
Bishop Manogue was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 384 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since the start of last season.
Meanwhile, Faith Lutheran faced Shadow Ridge in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Friday. Faith Lutheran slipped by Shadow Ridge 35-34. The defensive woes were uncharacteristic for the Crusaders, who until this matchup were averaging 12.64 points allowed.
Alexander Rogers was his usual excellent self, throwing for 295 yards and three touchdowns while completing 73.1% of his passes, and also rushing for 63 yards and two touchdowns. Those 63 rushing yards gave him a new career-high. 144 of Rogers' passing yards were hauled in by Rouselle Shepard, who also brought in a receiving touchdown.
Faith Lutheran wouldn't let Shadow Ridge keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force three fumbles. It was truly a group effort as Cole Keith, Matthew Mason, and Patrick Duffy picked up one apiece. Keith has been hot for a while, having also posted five or more total tackles the last 22 times he's played. Faith Lutheran got some further help from Ricky Manning: he made 14 total tackles (2.0 for loss).
Bishop Manogue's victory was their 11th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 9-3. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 41.5 points per game. As for Faith Lutheran, their record is now 11-0.
Bishop Manogue strolled past Faith Lutheran in their previous meeting back in November of 2023 by a score of 40-21. Does Bishop Manogue have another victory up their sleeve, or will Faith Lutheran turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
