Two dominant signal callers in Rich Belin and Gary Merrill are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Cardinal Hayes Cardinals will challenge the St. Anthony's Friars at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Cardinal Hayes is looking to tack on another W to their nine-game streak on the road dating back to last season.
Cardinal Hayes is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Saturday. They claimed a resounding 34-6 win over Kellenberg Memorial. Given the Cardinals' advantage in MaxPreps' New York football rankings (they are ranked second, while the Firebirds are ranked 48th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Meanwhile, St. Anthony's came tearing into Saturday's matchup with four straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 14.8 points) and they left with even more momentum. They breezed by the Crusaders to the tune of 50-14. That looming 50-14 mark stands out as the most commanding margin for the Friars yet this season.
St. Anthony's has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight contests, which provided a nice bump to their 8-3 record this season. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 39.0 points per game. As for Cardinal Hayes, their victory bumped their record up to 7-3.
Cardinal Hayes came up short against St. Anthony's in their previous meeting last Saturday, falling 42-34. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Merrill, who rushed for 188 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 8.2 yards per carry, and also threw for 140 yards and two touchdowns while completing 81.8% of his passes. Now that Cardinal Hayes knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
