The St. John the Baptist Cougars will be playing in front of their home fans against the St. Peter's Eagles at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Two teams were on the hunt for playoff glory, but only St. John the Baptist walked away with it. They were the clear victor by a 35-12 margin over Christ the King. Given St. John the Baptist's advantage in MaxPreps' New York football rankings (they are ranked 69th, while Christ the King is ranked 341st), the result on Saturday wasn't entirely unexpected.
Among those leading the charge was Maxwell Bowers, who threw for 130 yards and two touchdowns while completing 81.8% of his passes. Luka Skoda was in the mix too, providing St. John the Baptist with two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, St. Peter's game on Saturday was all tied up 20-20 at the half, but luckily for them it didn't stay that way. They put the hurt on Fordham Prep with a sharp 40-20 victory. The victory made it back-to-back wins for St. Peter's.
St. Peter's can attribute much of their success to Marco Aruta, who rushed for 151 yards and two touchdowns on only 14 carries, and Jeremiah Williams, who rushed for 166 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 9.8 yards per carry. Williams was no stranger to the big play, turning on the jets for a run that went for 68 yards.
St. John the Baptist's victory ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 5-4. As for St. Peter's, they pushed their record up to 8-2 with that victory, which was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season.
St. John the Baptist came up short against St. Peter's when the teams last played back in September, falling 19-14. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of St. Peter's Aruta, who rushed for 132 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 8.3 yards per carry. Now that St. John the Baptist knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
