The Classical Purple will challenge the Johnston Panthers at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with Classical sitting on eight straight wins dating back to last season and Johnston on five.
Classical is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Rhode Island's top teams: Ponaganset, who was ranked 16th at the time (Classical was ranked 13th). The Purple were the clear victors by a 35-15 margin over the Chieftains on Saturday. The result was nothing new for the Purple, who have now won five games by 20 points or more so far this season.
The critical scores for Classical came from Tahmeed Moshood, Josiah Nyakoon, Coby Tavares, Silas Mckay, and Bam Adebayo.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Johnston). They blew past Pilgrim 43-7 on Friday. Give some credit to the fans of both teams: the last five times they've met, the home team has come away the winner.
Classical better focus on containing Ethan Archambeault and Michael Messina as the pair were huge in Johnston's win. Archambeault threw for 161 yards and a pair of touchdowns while completing 75% of his passes, while Messina gained 90 total yards and a touchdown. Messina showed off some serious burst, lighting up the secondary with a catch for 56 yards.
Johnston's run defense was locked in: Pilgrim could only muster three yards per carry. The Panthers' ground attack was stronger, having averaged 4.2.
Johnston's victory bumped their record up to 7-1. As for Classical, their win bumped their record up to 7-0.
Everything came up roses for Classical against Johnston when the teams last played back in November of 2024, as the squad secured a 45-7 victory. Will the Purple repeat their success, or do the Panthers have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
