By: Zachary Harmuth
After a heartwrenching loss last week to MBA, Father Ryan (4-3, 1-2 in AA DIvision II) faces Pope John Paul II (3-4, 0-4) on the road in a Thursday game this week in a division matchup.
Father Ryan will be playing to keep its playoff hopes alive, and PJP will be playing just for pride.
Even though that is the case, for PJP (as with all teams in the tough AA Division II) pride means almost as much as the playoffs – especially in a game against a school in the division.
On the football side of things, Father Ryan should be able to easily handle the Knights.
PJP comes off a bye week and the last game it played was against Brentwood Academy (another division rival). That did not end so well: BA won by nearly 50 points.
By comparison,when the Fightin’ Irish played BA, in the first week of September, the Irish were victorious, 24-20 (an upset which sent BA spinning to three straight losses afterwards).
And just to prove that was not a fluke, in its very close loss to MBA last week (20-17), Father Ryan proved it can play with the best of the teams in the division. MBA beat BA, also.
And MBA is among the best teams in AA Division II.
Father Ryan so far has used a balanced running and passing game to overcome its opponents. It has also used a ferocious defense.
Max Stoffer, fittingly named, leads the team with 92 total tackles. Robert Crawford leads the the with 3.5 sacks, and as a team Father Ryan has 10 on the year.
They also have 11 interceptions, led by Andrew Rector, who with 5 has almost half of them
Defensively, they have allowed 18.9 points per game this season. For instance, it held MBA to just 20 last week, and MBA usually scores about 31 points per game.
PJP, on offense, has only scored 11 points per game on average, which is worst in its division.
Father Ryan averages 27 points per game on offense, and PJP gives up on average 36 points per game.
So, really, what the numbers say that this will be a bigger win than usual, even, for Father Ryan and a worse loss than usually by PJP.
It is up to the defense, and on offense up to quarterback Cameron Towns and star running-fullback Joeseph Holzmer (leading the team with rushing yards and total yards), to simply do just what they have done all year.
If they do, they will finish the week 5-3, and 2-2 in their division.
Please join our FREE Newsletter
