Prep vs Pope John Recap

      At high noon on Saturday, the Marauders traveled to Pope John XXIII High School to take the Lions for their penultimate game of the regular season. Prep took care of business, and beat Pope John 30-9.
Abdul Turay was the first to score for the Marauders in the first quarter giving Prep a 6-0 lead after a failed two-point conversion. After Pope John scored a touchdown of their own later in the first quarter, Tyler Bell and Hunter Watson once again led the Prep passing attack in the second quarter. The duo scored two passing touchdowns from 41 and 4 yards, and they went into the half with a 20-6 lead.
     Both teams scored a field goal in the third quarter, and the 39 yarder from Bradley Abraham was the first Prep field goal of the season. Junior Bryant Issac Jr threw a 12 yard touchdown pass to Sophomore Amari Jones in the fourth quarter, and put the icing on the cake for a much needed bounce back win after a tough loss at home a week ago.

Sophomore Bradley Abraham celebrates his 39 yard Field Goal in the 3rd quarter.

Bauer Anderson and Liam O'Neill combined for one of Prep's five QB Sacks.

​      Bell finished the day completing 15 of his 16 passing attempts for 243 yards and 2 TDs. Watson had 6 catches on 6 targets for 121 yards and 2 TDs and Junior Chris Horn added 5 catches for 73 yards. Tyler Barksdale added 42 yards rushing on 7 attempts coupled with Turay's 5 carries for 31 yards and a TD.
        Pope John's offense was able to control the pace of the game and dominate the overall time of possession, running 70 offensive snaps to Prep's 37. The Marauder defense did hold Pope John to 3.34 yards per play overall and held the Lions to 5/15 on 3rd downs and 3/7 on 4th downs. The defensive production was spread evenly amongst many players, with 9 players adding 4+ tackles. However, the defense also added 5 sacks with several players recording the first of their careers including Sophomore DE Karter Gelin (1 sack) and Senior LB Liam O'Neill (.5 sack). Seniors Sebastian Gray (1.5), Julian Conteras (1), Will Maloof (.5), and Sophomore DT Bauer Anderson (.5) also added sacks on the quarterback. Sophomore Jevon Ledgister also added the first interception of his career.
     The Marauders improve to 7-1 on the season and their regular season finale will be at Don Bosco on Halloween for a 7PM kickoff.

Senior RB Tyler Barksdale was presented with a plaque as Prep's Super Football Conference Young Man of the Year nomination after the game.