St. Joseph Regional has gone 8-0 against Paramus Catholic recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Saturday. The St. Joseph Regional Green Knights will be playing in front of their home fans against the Paramus Catholic Paladins at 1:00 p.m. Both are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
St. Joseph Regional is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another highly-ranked state team: Archbishop Stepinac, who was ranked fifth at the time (St. Joseph Regional was ranked fourth). St. Joseph Regional claimed a resounding 43-0 victory over Archbishop Stepinac on the road. The Green Knights' offense checked out after the first half but had enough points banked to take the game anyway.
A big part of the win came down to the chemistry between Lamar Best and his top target Nathan Bailey. Best threw for 227 yards and three touchdowns while completing 71.4% of his passes while Bailey gained 119 total yards and three touchdowns. The team also got some help courtesy of Mekhi Rossignol, who picked up 90 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Meanwhile, Paramus Catholic posted their biggest victory since September 16, 2023 last Saturday. They were the clear victor by a 49-29 margin over Pope John XXIII. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Paladins.
Xavier Williams was a one-man wrecking crew for Paramus Catholic as he rushed for 280 yards and six touchdowns while picking up 11.2 yards per carry, and also picked up 55 receiving yards. Williams really tore up the turf during one magnificent 77-yard run. Crew Colon was another key player, throwing for 275 yards and a touchdown while completing 84.2% of his passes.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Paramus Catholic was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 294 rushing yards. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Pope John XXIII only rushed for 92.
Paramus Catholic's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged three passes before it was all said and done. It was truly a group effort as Isaiah Selby, Williams, and Donte Shuler picked up one apiece. The dominant performance gave Williams a new career-high in rushing yards.
St. Joseph Regional now has a winning record of 2-1. As for Paramus Catholic, their win ended a four-game drought on the road dating back to last season and puts them at 2-0.
Everything came up roses for St. Joseph Regional against Paramus Catholic when the teams last played back in October of 2020 as the team secured a 43-6 victory. In that game, St. Joseph Regional amassed a halftime lead of 29-6, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Saturday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
