Football Preview: Northwest Catholic Lions vs. East Catholic Eagles
Northwest Catholic and East Catholic are an even 5-5 against one another since October of 2014, but not for long. After both having extra time off, the two teams will shake off the cobwebs and square off against one another at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both will really light up the scoreboard.
Northwest Catholic's defense heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed last Saturday. They blew past Lewis Mills 42-0. Considering the Lions have won five matches by more than 19 points this season, Saturday's blowout was nothing new.
It was another big night for Vincent Burbank, who threw for 237 yards and four touchdowns while completing 81.3% of his passes. He is on a roll when it comes to passing touchdowns, as he's now passed for four or more in the last three games he's played. Kayden Davis was Burbank's top target, picking up 90 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Northwest Catholic didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. It was truly a group effort as Patrick Knorr, Bryce Jones, and Burbank picked up one apiece.
Meanwhile, East Catholic waltzed into their matchup last Friday with three straight wins... but they left with four. They took down the Blue Devils 35-17.
A big part of East Catholic's win came down to the chemistry between Christian Morales and his top target Joey Montalvo. Morales threw for 211 yards and four touchdowns on only 18 passes while Montalvo picked up 152 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Montalvo didn't just play on offense: he also made six total tackles and defended a pass. Jared Macaluso was in the mix as well, providing East Catholic with a touchdown.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to East Catholic's defense and their three sacks. Theo Perkins was particularly dangerous to the passing game, picking up two himself. He also set a new season high mark in total tackles with 12.
East Catholic's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 8-1. Those good results were due in large part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 12.0 points per game. As for Northwest Catholic, they have been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 7-2 record this season.
Northwest Catholic ended up a good deal behind East Catholic in their previous matchup back in November of 2023, losing 28-13. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Morales, who rushed for 147 yards and a touchdown on only 14 carries, and also threw for 27 yards and a touchdown. Now that Northwest Catholic knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
