No. 10 Nazareth (5-0, 3-0 East Suburban Catholic) @ Benet (4-1, 2-1 East Suburban Catholic), 7:30PM.
Last week: Nazareth won at Marian Catholic, 56-17; Benet lost at Marist, 21-7
Storyline: Handed its first loss of the season in an upset loss at Marist last week, Benet returns home with playoff eligibility and getting back in the East Suburban Catholic Conference race on its mind.
Benet got yet another 100-yard game from workhorse running back Brad Sznajder but struggled to get much of anything going against the RedHawks.
Brad Sznajder ran for 115 yards on 15 carries while his younger brother, Jack, threw a pair of interceptions against a Marist defense that got a much-needed victory to stay in playoff contention.
Awaiting the Redwings will be 5-0 Nazareth, led by the running back duo of Nolan Dean and Julian Love.
Dean, a Neuqua Valley transfer, had 578 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns entering the Roadrunners’ game with Marian Catholic last week.
The Roadrunners are averaging 51 points a game through their first five games and have scored over 50 points a game in the last three weeks, including putting up 56 points each in their last two games.
Benet coach Pat New on Nazareth: “I knew that even before the season they would be a really tough opponent and I kind of figured they would be right at the top of the conference and they’ve performed as expected. The problem with Nazareth, from a defensive standpoint, on trying to defend them is they’ve got two tremendous athletes at receiver helping the quarterback and great running backs. Then if that’s not enough to worry about, you’ve got an offensive line that’s probably the best offensive line we’ll see all year. They’ve got a huge (O-line); huge, huge kids that really get after it and block hard.
“I remember (Dean) real well. I live about a mile from Neuqua, so I remember (Dean) very well. Sometimes when I was off on a Friday night, I’d watch Neuqua. So I’ve seen him play a few times.
“(A win) would be huge for us and our guys realize the importance of it and we’ll give it our best shot. But this is a talented team. Probably one of the best teams in the state all year (up to this point), so our guys know they got their work cut out for them.”
