The St. Mary's Knights will head out to challenge the Paradise Honors Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams might be coming in a bit winded given these two teams combined for 821 yards in their previous games.
On Friday, St. Mary's was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 24-20 to Northwest Christian. The Knights haven't had much luck with the Crusaders recently, as the team has come up short the last three times they've met.
Despite the defeat, St. Mary's had strong showings from Luke Horn, who threw for 260 yards and a pair of TDs, and Anthony Cannon, who picked up 162 receiving yards and one touchdown. Cannon showed off some serious burst, cutting upfield on a catch for 59 yards.
Meanwhile, after only seven points in their last contest, Paradise Honors made sure to put some points up on the board against Thunderbird on Thursday. The Panthers simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat the Titans 38-7. The game was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 21-0.
St. Mary's better keep an eye on Chuck Van Dyke. He was instrumental in Paradise Honors' win, rushing for 286 yards and three scores while picking up 8.9 yards per carry. Van Dyke is becoming a predictor of the Panthers' success: when he posts at least two rushing touchdowns the team is undefeated (and 1-3 when he doesn't).
Wins are hard to come by when you can't run the rock, something Paradise Honors proved: they limited Thunderbird to a paltry 3.2 yards per carry. The team can thank Parker Dailey for the heroic effort on defense: he. Paradise Honors is a perfect 4-0 when they shut down the run game so well.
Paradise Honors' defense didn't let JP Stewart, get away unscathed either: they got into the backfield for five sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Evan Seashols and Abiel Diaz, who racked up four sacks between them. Diaz also set a new season-high mark in total tackles with eight. Paradise Honors got some further help from Dailey: he made nine total tackles (1.0 for loss) and defended one pass in addition to snagging an interception.
Paradise Honors is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four matchups. That's provided a nice bump to their 5-3 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 10.8 points on average over those games. As for St. Mary's, their loss dropped their record down to 5-3.
We should be in store for an exciting game as St. Mary's and Paradise Honors have no problem gaining yardage. The Knights have been on an offensive roll this season, having averaged 398.4 total yards per game. However, it's not like Paradise Honors struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 354.8 total yards. With a pair of commanding offenses duking it out, the defenses are going to have their work cut out for them. Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other football content.
