Two dominant signal callers in Lamar Best and Tyler Bell are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. After each having a week off, the St. Joseph Regional Green Knights and the St. Peter's Prep Marauders will dust off their jerseys to take on one another at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. St. Joseph Regional is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 31.2 points per game this season.
St. Joseph Regional is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of New Jersey's top teams: DePaul Catholic, who was ranked second in their home state at the time (St. Joseph Regional was ranked seventh). St. Joseph Regional fell 28-21 to DePaul Catholic last Saturday. The Green Knights have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Despite the defeat, St. Joseph Regional got top-tier performance from Nathan Bailey, who rushed for 101 yards and a touchdown, and also picked up 98 receiving yards. The bulk of those receiving yards came from one huge play: a catch that gained an incredible 56 yards. Another player making a difference was Mason Geis, who threw for 198 yards and two touchdowns while completing 73.7% of his passes.
St. Joseph Regional wouldn't let DePaul Catholic keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. St. Joseph Regional can thank AJ Revella and Elias Martinez-Beasley for forcing both of them. Revella is also on a roll when it comes to total tackles, as he's now made six or more in the last four games he's played.
Meanwhile, after soaring to 58 points the game before, St. Peter's Prep was a bit more limited in their matchup two weeks ago. They were beaten by Don Bosco Prep 42-7. The contest marked the Marauders' lowest-scoring game so far this season.
St. Joseph Regional's loss dropped their record down to 5-4. As for St. Peter's Prep, they now have a losing record at 4-5.
The upcoming match will be a clash of competing strengths. St. Joseph Regional has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 161.6 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, St. Peter's Prep has preferred to attack from the air: they average 350.3 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Saturday? There's only one way to find out.
St. Joseph Regional took their win against St. Peter's Prep in their previous meeting back in September by a conclusive 38-14. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was St. Peter's Prep's Andres Perez, who rushed for 54 yards and a touchdown, and also picked up 57 receiving yards. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will St. Joseph Regional still be able to contain Perez? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
