St. James Academy hasn't had much luck against Blue Valley recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The St. James Academy Thunder's road trip will continue as they head out to face the Blue Valley Tigers at 7:00 p.m.
St. James Academy is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Kansas' top teams: Blue Valley West, who was ranked third in their home state at the time (St. James Academy was ranked 16th). St. James Academy fell to Blue Valley West 27-21.
Despite the loss, St. James Academy had strong showings from Parker Chase, who picked up 41 receiving yards and two touchdowns, and Francis Menghini, who threw for 121 yards and three touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Blue Valley got the win against Bishop Miege on Friday by a conclusive 27-7. The result was nothing new for the Tigers, who have now won four contests by 20 points or more so far this season.
It was another big night for Christopher Aiello, who threw for 353 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 11.4 yards per attempt. What's more, he also racked up 20 rushing yards, the most he's had since back in October of 2023. Another player making a difference was Jackson Hopper, who picked up 79 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Blue Valley's defense stepped up as well, laying out Marco Rodriguez. six times. The heavy lifting was done by Hendricks Hildebrand and Dawson Merritt, who racked up four sacks between them. Merritt is also on a roll when it comes to total tackles, as he's now made five or more in the last four games he's played.
St. James Academy's defeat dropped their record down to 3-5. As for Blue Valley, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 6-2 record this season.
St. James Academy came up short against Blue Valley in their previous matchup back in September, falling 20-10. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Blue Valley's Charlie Stachowiak, who rushed for 170 yards and two touchdowns. Now that St. James Academy knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
