The St. Joseph Regional Green Knights will face off against the St. Peter's Prep Marauders at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. St. Joseph Regional knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 31 points or more in their past three games -- so hopefully St. Peter's Prep likes a good challenge.
St. Joseph Regional is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Saturday. They took their matchup with ease, bagging a 35-0 victory over Delbarton. The contest was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point the Green Knights had established a 28-point advantage.
St. Joseph Regional's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Stalin Knowlden, who picked up 96 receiving yards and one TD, and also punched in one touchdown on the ground. Another passer making a difference was Lamar Best, who threw for 249 yards and one touchdown while completing 72.2% of his passes.
Wins are hard to come by when you can't run the rock, something St. Joseph Regional proved: they limited Delbarton to a paltry 0.8 yards per carry. While two picked up at least seven total tackles, Cameron Aime stood above the rest. He picked up 2.5 sacks and made seven total tackles (3.0 for loss). St. Joseph Regional's ground attack was stronger, having averaged 2.9.
St. Joseph Regional's defense didn't let Gavin Gilardi, get away unscathed either: they got into the backfield for six sacks. In that department, Aime was the leader with 2.5. Another thorn in Delbarton's side was Tahj Gray, who picked up a sack, made seven total tackles (2.5 for loss), and defended one pass.
Meanwhile, St. Peter's Prep faced St. Augustine Prep in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Friday. The Marauders strolled past the Hermits with points to spare, taking the game 31-17. The high-flying offensive performance was a huge turnaround for the Marauders considering their six-point performance the game before.
St. Peter's Prep's victory bumped their record up to 8-2. As for St. Joseph Regional, their win bumped their record up to an identical 8-2.
St. Joseph Regional and St. Peter's Prep were almost perfectly matched up when the teams last played back in September, but St. Joseph Regional suffered an agonizing 29-28 loss. Can the Green Knights avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
