The North Catholic Trojans (5-4, 4-1) will host the Mars Planets (7-2, 5-0) at J.C Stone Field as they will fight to decide the victor of the Greater Allegheny Conference in 4A. The Trojans roll into this one coming off a 42-6 shellacking of Indiana, the exact same score that Mars beat the Indians by earlier in the season. While Indiana is struggling this year, the win provided a needed boost of confidence to the Trojans on both sides of the ball.
On offense, North Catholic exploded right out of the gate as Jack Fennel ran for 3 touchdowns in the first quarter as North Catholic jumped to a 21-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Not much changed the rest of the night on offense for the Trojans as they continued to power their way up and down the field with Fennel as he ended night rushing for 253 yards on 19 carries (13.3 yards per carry). Fennell also added a 82 yard kickoff return touchdown. The Trojans look to carry their offensive momentum into tonight. However, it was the Trojans defense that looked most impressive throughout the night. After forcing an early turnover on downs, the defense never looked back as they overpowered the Indians all night. The Trojans only allowed 155 yards of total offense, 74 of which came on the Indians lone TD drive.
Mars rides into JC Stone feeling confident while coming off of back-to-back dominant wins over Armstrong (38-0) and Hampton (42-15). It is up to the Trojans defense to shut down the impressive rushing attack of Senior Evan Wright, who has racked up 1,356 yards and 25 touchdowns in 9 games this season. The Trojan's run defense has been stellar this year against top running backs such as Tiqwai Hayes, Cam Lindsey, Luke Bombalski, and many others. However, the Trojans will still have to defend the pass, an area that they have struggled in this season. Planets QB Logan Goodworth marches into JC Stone throwing for 1,632 yards on 109 completions. He also has thrown 17 interceptions and has limited himself to only three interceptions so far. He has found a connection with Sophomore receiver Gabe Hein who has accumulated 774 receiving yards, over 100 a game, and 8 touchdowns. The Mars potent offense will pose a tough test for the Trojans defense. Additionally, the Mars defense has only allowed more than 15 points in a game twice this season, which both came against out of section opponents.
The key tonight for the Trojans is to get off to a quick start. An early touchdown can calm the team down and create some balance early on. If the Trojans can prevent the Mars offense from getting into a rhythm and punch the ball into the endzone when they get to the redzone, the Trojans will be happy come the end of the night. But if the Planets continue their play from the last few weeks, it could turn into a rough night for the Trojans. Kickoff is at 7pm at JC Stone field and coverage begins on the North Catholic Sports Network with a pregame show at 6:40pm.
