The Middletown North Lions will square off against the St. John-Vianney Lancers at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
St. John-Vianney is hoping to do what Freehold Boro couldn't on Saturday: put an end to Middletown North's winning streak, which now stands at five games. Middletown North blew past Freehold Boro, posting a 35-7 victory on the road. Given the Lions' advantage in MaxPreps' New Jersey football rankings (they are ranked 94th, while the Colonials are ranked 275th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Meanwhile, St. John-Vianney fought the good fight in their overtime contest against Manalapan on Friday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They and the Braves were almost perfectly matched up, but they suffered a 35-34 loss. The Lancers have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
St. John-Vianney might have lost, but man, Abdul Turay was a machine: he rushed for 225 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 7.5 yards per carry. The dominant performance gave Turay a new career-high in rushing yards. The team also got some help courtesy of Jahmere James, who picked up 105 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Even though they lost, St. John-Vianney was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 232 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 225 rushing yards in three consecutive matchups.
Middletown North's win bumped their record up to 5-0. As for St. John-Vianney, their defeat dropped their record down to 3-2.
Middletown North came out on top in a nail-biter against St. John-Vianney in their previous matchup back in October of 2021, sneaking past 24-21. The rematch might be a little tougher for Middletown North since the squad 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
