The St. Mark's Spartans will face off against the Howard Wildcats at 3:30 p.m. on Friday.
St. Mark's is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Delaware's top teams: Red Lion Christian Academy, who was ranked ninth at the time (St. Mark's was ranked 16th). The Spartans were outmatched by the Lions and fell 55-21. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest loss the Spartans have suffered since August 28th.
Meanwhile, Howard put another one in the bag on Friday to keep their perfect season alive. They breezed past Archmere Academy to the tune of 36-0. The Wildcats' defense has been rock solid lately; the team hasn't given up a point in their last three contests.
Howard's win came from a few key players St. Mark's will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Jameson Bryant, who threw for 226 yards and a pair of TDs on only 19 passes, and also rushed for 51 yards and one touchdown on only five carries. That's the most passing yards he has posted since back in August. Another player making a difference was Korey Manley, who picked up 145 receiving yards and one score.
Wins are hard to come by when you can't run the rock, something Howard proved: they limited Archmere Academy to a paltry three yards per carry. The Wildcats didn't have any issues in that department, having averaged 8.4.
St. Mark's moved to 5-5 with that defeat, which also ended their three-game winning streak. As for Howard, their record now sits at 10-0.
St. Mark's was able to grind out a solid victory over Howard in their previous meeting back in November of 2021, winning 14-6. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Spartans 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
