The Althoff Catholic Crusaders will head out on the road to take on the St. Teresa Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both will really light up the scoreboard.
While Crusaders fans will have to keep waiting for their squad to come home, they shouldn't be too worried about the road trip considering the result of Saturday's season opener. They breezed by Alton on the road to the tune of 41-14 on Saturday. Given the Crusaders' advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois football rankings (they are ranked 33rd, while the Redbirds are ranked 220th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Dierre Hill Jr had a dynamite game for Althoff Catholic, rushing for 97 yards and three touchdowns on only nine carries, while also catching a touchdown. Another player making a difference was Jayden Ellington, who threw for 138 yards and three touchdowns on only eight passes.
Althoff Catholic's defense stepped up as well, laying out Riley Smith. eight times. The heavy lifting was done by Jason Dowell and Baron Vaughn who racked up four sacks between them. Vaughn also put in work on the defensive side of the ball, picking up two sacks and making ten total tackles.
Meanwhile, St. Teresa took care of business in their home opener on Friday (and then some). They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Urbana 40-8 at home. The win was some much needed relief for the Bulldogs as it spelled an end to their three-game losing streak dating back to last season.
Caiden Kernaghan was a one-man wrecking crew for St. Teresa as he rushed for 214 yards and two touchdowns on only 14 carries, and also threw for 32 yards and two touchdowns.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, St. Teresa was moving up and down the field and finished the game with 417 total yards. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Urbana only gained 180.
St. Teresa's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Eli Etchason and Tylinn Davis.
Everything came up roses for Althoff Catholic against St. Teresa in their previous meeting back in September of 2023 as the team secured a 46-13 victory. In that contest, Althoff Catholic amassed a halftime lead of 34-7, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
