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Preview: St. Xavier at La Salle

St. Xavier WR Liam Clifford (photo by Dan Beineke/TriStateFootball.com)

The city’s top two teams in the Blitz 5 Top 25 go at it on Friday night as our focus turns to North Bend Road. La Salle hosts St. Xavier for King of the Road bragging rights. Both teams showed moments of greatness and sloppiness in the openers. If the old adage holds true, that teams make their biggest improvements from Week 1 to Week 2, then we should be in line for another GCL South instant classic.

#2 ST. XAVIER BOMBERS (0-1) at #1 LA SALLE LANCERS (1-0)
Kickoff: 7:00 p.m.
Lancers Stadium
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PLAYERS TO WATCH: St. Xavier WR Liam Clifford (Penn State commit) will be going up against a La Salle secondary that features DB Jaylen Johnson (Ohio State commit), Iesa Jarmon (Cincinnati commit) and Jaymar Hargrove-Mundy (Miami – OH commit). Lancers’ DB/WR Devonta Smith (Alabama commit) will not suit up for this game after getting flagged for two personal fouls in the first seven minutes of last week’s win at Elder. Clifford caught nine passes for 125 yards to open the season at Brownsburg. It was the 11th time in his last 13 starts that Clifford has had at least five receptions

La Salle DB Iesa Jarmon (photo by Greg Shoemaker/TriStateFootball.com)

The La Salle offense is fueled by senior QB Zach Branam and junior RB Gi’Bran Payne. Branam amassed 343 yards of total offense (177 pass, 166 rush) and accounted for five touchdowns (three passing, two rushing) in the season opener. Payne found the end zone four times while running for 113 yards on 12 carries and catching three passes for 58 yards versus Elder.

In his first varsity start St. Xavier QB Brogan McCaughey threw for 252 yards and two touchdowns against Brownsburg. The Bombers’ defense is led by seniors LB Matt Devine, DL Gio Albanese and junior DB Eli Kirk. Devine had 13 total tackles (seven solo) and Kirk had 12 total tackles (six solo), forced a fumble and had an interception in the season opener.

St. Xavier LB Matthew Devine (photo courtesy of ScoutingOhio.com)

TEAM TRENDS: St. Xavier leads this all-time series 43-17-1. The Lancers beat the Bombers in 2019 for just the second time in the teams last nine meetings.

St. Xavier ran for just 10 yards on 29 carries versus Brownsburg last week. As a team, the Bombers haven’t averaged more 3.6 yards per carry in a season since 2015.

La Salle has had at least one player run for more than 100 yards seven times in its last eight contests. The Lancers have had two players run for more than 100 yards in each of their last three games, including matchups against Elder, Massillon Washington and Toledo Central Catholic. La Salle has averaged 294.7 yards, 6.4 per carry with 12 touchdowns rushing in that span.

La Salle DB Jaylen Johnson (photo by Greg Shoemaker/TriStateFootball.com)

XAVIER’S KEYS TO VICTORY: The Bombers need to get the running game going early. That will force the La Salle secondary to move closer to the line of scrimmage and open up downfield passing plays for McCaughey and Clifford. The defense must do a better job of stopping the run at the line of scrimmage. St. Xavier’s defensive backfield had far too many tackles against Brownsburg.

LA SALLE’S KEYS TO VICTORY: Cleaning up the mental mistakes on defense is a top priority. The Lancers were penalized 11 times for 109 yards against Elder. Running the ball and decision making by Branam are La Salle’ biggest assets on offense. Executing on this side of the ball leads to wins in big games for La Salle.

Prediction: La Salle 28, St. Xavier 24 

 

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