The St. Albans Bulldogs will face off against the Paul VI Panthers at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. St. Albans will come into the matchup with an undefeated record on the line.
St. Albans is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of District of Columbia's top teams: McKinley Tech, who was ranked 19th at the time (St. Albans was ranked sixth). The Bulldogs took their contest on Friday with ease, bagging a 42-0 victory over the Trainers. Give the Bulldogs' defense some credit: that's the team's third straight shutout.
St. Albans can attribute much of their success to Brett Paukstis, who threw for 201 yards and three touchdowns while completing 77.8% of his passes, and Will Martin, who rushed for 67 yards and a pair of TDs on only seven carries.
St. Albans didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Trey Sheridan and Edward Samuel, Iii.
Meanwhile, it was a proper cat-fight when Paul VI challenged Collegiate on Friday. The Panthers came out on top against the Cougars by a score of 29-21.
The critical scores for Paul VI came from Hudson Akin, Aiden Gallagher, Keyon Johnson, and Cooper Colcombe.
Wins are hard to come by when you can't run the rock, something Paul VI proved: they limited Collegiate to a paltry 1.4 yards per carry. The team can thank Miles Sanderson for the heroic effort on defense: he. Paul VI didn't have any issues in that department, having averaged 5.9.
Paul VI's defense didn't let Sam Settar, get away unscathed either: they got into the backfield for four sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Sanderson and Gallagher, who racked up all four sacks between them. Sanderson also set a new season-high mark in total tackles with 13.
Paul VI's win bumped their record up to 3-1. As for St. Albans, their victory bumped their record up to 4-0.
Saturday's game might be decided on the ground. St. Albans has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 152.8 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Paul VI struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 268 rushing yards. There's a good chance Saturday's matchup turns into a tough fight on the ground.
St. Albans came up short against Paul VI in their previous meeting back in October of 2024, falling 21-14. Will the Bulldogs have more luck at home instead of on the road? Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other football content.
