The Althoff Catholic Crusaders and the Mater Dei Knights are set to duel on Friday. Althoff Catholic knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 31 points or more in their past six contests -- so hopefully Mater Dei likes a good challenge.
Althoff Catholic is headed into the game after thoroughly thrashing Collinsville: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Althoff Catholic blew Collinsville out of the water with a 54-14 final score. With the Crusaders ahead 34-7 at the half, the matchup was all but over already.
Althoff Catholic relied on the efforts of Jayden Ellington, who threw for 330 yards and six touchdowns while completing 76.5% of his passes, and Dierre Hill Jr, who gained 181 total yards and two touchdowns. A healthy portion of that aerial production (116 yards to be exact) went to Charleston Coldon, who also brought in a receiving touchdown.
Another reason for the win was Althoff Catholic's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for three sacks. Leading the way was Baron Vaughn with two.
Meanwhile, Mater Dei was fully in charge on Saturday, breezing past Marquette Catholic 42-7 on the road.
Mater Dei can attribute much of their success to Chase Jansen, who rushed for 87 yards on only seven carries, and Brett Hilmes, who gained 131 total yards and two touchdowns. The dominant performance gave Jansen a new career-high in rushing yards. The team also got some help courtesy of Chase Zurliene, who rushed for 71 yards and a touchdown on only eight carries.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Mater Dei was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 249 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Althoff Catholic pushed their record up to 6-0 with the victory, which was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season. As for Mater Dei, they are on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four matches, which provided a nice bump to their 3-3 record this season.
Althoff Catholic strolled past Mater Dei in their previous meeting back in October of 2023 by a score of 41-22. The rematch might be a little tougher for Althoff Catholic since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
