Football Preview: Pensacola Catholic Crusaders vs. St. John Paul II Panthers
The Pensacola Catholic Crusaders will face off against the St. John Paul II Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Pensacola Catholic comes in on five and St. John Paul II on four.
Last Friday, Pensacola Catholic blew past South Walton, posting a 45-7 win. Considering the Crusaders have won six matchups by more than 22 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
Cj Nettles was his usual excellent self, rushing for 167 yards and five touchdowns on only ten carries. His rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his third straight game with at least 148 rushing yards.
Pensacola Catholic was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 233 rushing yards. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 77.2 rushing yards per game earlier this season, but in their last four games they've averaged 295.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Pensacola Catholic's defense and their 12 sacks. Noah Hamlin and Trenton Henderson were the leaders of the group effort as each produced three apiece.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask St. John Paul II). They breezed by FAMU DRS to the tune of 74-0 on Friday. Given the Panthers' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida football rankings (they are ranked 203rd, while the Baby Rattlers are ranked 550th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
It was another big night for Gavin Ford, who threw for 298 yards and five touchdowns while picking up 14.9 yards per attempt, and also rushed for 30 yards and a touchdown. He is becoming a predictor of St. John Paul II's success: when he posts at least three passing touchdowns the team is 3-1 (and 2-3 when he doesn't). Travion Dickey also deserves a mention for his punt return touchdown.
Pensacola Catholic's victory bumped their record up to 7-1. As for St. John Paul II, they pushed their record up to 5-4 with the win, which was their third straight on the road.
We should be in store for an exciting game as both have no problem gaining yardage. Pensacola Catholic has been on an offensive roll this season, having averaged 389.9 total yards per game. However, it's not like St. John Paul II struggles in that department as they've been averaging 366.2. With a pair of commanding offenses duking it out, the defenses are going to have their work cut out for them.
Everything went Pensacola Catholic's way against St. John Paul II in their previous matchup back in November of 2023, as Pensacola Catholic made off with a 37-13 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Pensacola Catholic 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
