vs
| 10/11/24 - Home | 24-6 W |
| 10/06/23 - Away | 38-35 W |
| 09/30/22 - Home | 21-19 W |
| 10/01/21 - Away | 42-21 W |
| 09/11/20 - Home | 33-14 W |
| 10/04/19 - Away | 45-7 W |
Poland Seminary has gone a perfect 6-0 against Girard recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Friday. The Bulldogs will head out to challenge the Indians at 7:00 p.m. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Poland Seminary comes in on three and Girard on seven.
On Friday, Poland Seminary took their contest with ease, bagging a 42-6 win over McKinley. Given the Bulldogs' advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio football rankings (they are ranked 58th, while the Red Dragons are ranked 611th) , the win wasn't entirely unexpected.
David Xipolitas continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, throwing for 170 yards and a pair of touchdowns while completing 71.4% of his passes, and also rushing for 45 yards and one score.
Meanwhile, Girard hadn't done well against South Range recently (they were 0-7 in their previous seven matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Friday. The Indians were the clear victors by a 56-35 margin over the Raiders. The Indians pushed the score to 49-21 by the end of the third, a deficit the Raiders cut but never quite recovered from.
Girard's win came from a few key players Poland Seminary will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was AJ Pearson, who threw for 351 yards and six TDs while completing 86.4% of his passes, and also rushed for 65 yards. He also deserves a shoutout for his performance on D, picking up a sack, making 14 total tackles (3.0 for loss), and defending three passes in addition to snagging an interception. Mario Lipinski was in the mix too, providing Girard with three scores.
Girard didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Braxton Sloan and Pearson. Girard got some further help from Allen Hess-Cardona: he made 14 total tackles.
Poland Seminary's record now sits at 6-1. As for Girard, their record is now 7-0.
Friday's matchup will pit two of the most dominant signal callers against one another: Xipolitas and Pearson. Xipolitas just won't slow down this season and has thrown 11 touchdowns (and no picks) while averaging 109.3 passing yards per game. Pearson has been a dominant force too and has thrown 19 touchdowns (and and only 3 picks) while averaging 250.4 passing yards per game.
Poland Seminary strolled past Girard in their previous meeting back in October of 2024 by a score of 24-6. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Bulldogs since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
