The Paramus Catholic Paladins will take on the St. Thomas Aquinas Trojans at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both might be coming in a bit winded given these two teams combined for 825 yards in their previous games.
Paramus Catholic is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of New Jersey's top teams: DePaul Catholic, who was ranked third in their home state at the time (Paramus Catholic was ranked 11th). Paramus Catholic was dealt a 55-28 loss at the hands of DePaul Catholic on Friday. The Paladins haven't had much luck with the Spartans recently, as the team's come up short the last six times they've met.
Paramus Catholic might have lost, but man, Xavier Williams was a machine: he rushed for 124 yards and a touchdown, and also picked up 74 receiving yards and a touchdown. Williams torched the secondary when he pulled down a catch that went for 71 yards. Another player making a difference was Marco Green, who threw for 271 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 10.8 yards per attempt.
Meanwhile, St. Thomas Aquinas had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 37 points) and they went ahead and made it four on Friday. They strolled past the Minutemen with points to spare, taking the game 25-8. The 25-point effort marked the Trojans' lowest-scoring matchup of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead St. Thomas Aquinas to victory, but perhaps none more so than Josiah Zayas, who picked up 91 receiving yards and two touchdowns, and also rushed for 60 yards. Zayas is on a roll when it comes to receiving touchdowns, as he's now hauled in two or more in the last four games he's played. Chukwuma Odoh was another key player, rushing for 112 yards and a touchdown on only five carries.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: St. Thomas Aquinas was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 298 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 150 rushing yards in six consecutive contests dating back to last season.
Paramus Catholic's defeat dropped their record down to 2-2. As for St. Thomas Aquinas, their win was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 4-1.
Friday's match might be decided in the on the ground. Paramus Catholic has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 212.5 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like St. Thomas Aquinas struggles in that department as they've been averaging 265. It's looking like Friday's game might have some serious battles in the trenches. Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other football content.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
