Pope John Paul II (2-1) hosts the Northlake Christian School Wolverines (1-2) tonight at Lester Latino Jaguar Field. The Jaguars are coming off a 20-0 homecoming victory over the Sarah T. Reed Olympians. The Wolverines fell prey to Newman, 42-20, allowing Greenies’ senior quarterback Wes Luquette to toss for six touchdowns.

In last year’s contest, NCS hung on for an exciting 27-25 homecoming victory in a game played at Strawberry Stadium in Hammond. The Wolverines stopped a two-point conversion attempt with less than five minutes to play to hold off the Jaguars’ comeback bid after they trailed 27-0.

Tonight’s game is the second of three consecutive home tilts for the Jaguars. PJP won the game on the scoreboard last week, but came up short in the statistical battle. PJP struggled with its ground game only mustering 38 yards, while Reed picked up 196 yards rushing on 38 carries. The Jags were limited to nine first downs.

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PJP’s defense came up big in last week’s shutout victory, picking off Reed quarterback Kewon Bullocks four times, holding him to just 2-of-14 passing.

Junior outside linebacker James Cousin picked off two passes, while cornerback Ryan Palmisano and safety Tyler Lusignan had one each. The Jags’ applied heavy defensive pressure against Sarah T. Reed, notching four sacks led by senior defensive end Bobby Mayfield and senior middle linebacker Brad Alfonso, who posted two sacks each. Mayfield was also credited with a fumble recovery as was Joel Price.

PJP sophomore linebacker Tyler Martin scored on a 31-yard punt return after alertly picking up the ball following a minus 5-yard punt making his way into the end zone late in the first quarter.

Jags’ senior quarterback Nathan Hewitt completed 4-of-10 passes for 92 yards, including a 28-yard TD connection with senior Tommy Gritten to give PJP a 14-0 halftime lead with Cousin booting both extra points.

Gritten closed out the Jags’ scoring, finding the end zone on a six-yard end around with 1:28 left in the third quarter.

Jags’ first-year coach Mark Jeanmard said Gritten continues to make big contributions to include special teams as the kickoff and punt returner. “We have had solid special teams play with no mistakes to this point,” Jeanmard said.

Jeanmard said despite being in his first year he has heard that the PJP-NCS match up is fast becoming a big rivalry. “Both schools take pride in what they do. I’m sure both teams will give a determined effort,” Jeanmard added.

Jeanmard said his team has to continue to guard against giving up the big play. “On offense, we want to be able to move the ball, and take care of business. We can’t afford to commit turnovers.”

He described Northlake as having a young offensive squad. “We run the same base offense. On film, they have had three different people take snaps. We have to understand our alignments, and know who is back there. We want to get pressure on the quarterback. Our linebackers will have to make their presence felt,” added the first-year coach.

NCS head coach Rowland Skinner, who is in his second year, said his club is focused.

“We have to put last week’s disappointing loss behind us. We have had really good practices leading up to the game. We have to be prepared and ready to play going against a well-coached Pope John Paul team,” Skinner said. “We are focused on executing our game plan. We want to be able to move the ball, sustaining drives.”

Skinner said it is important his Wolverines set up in the right alignment. “They have some playmakers so we need to tackle well. A couple guys, No. 6 (running back Ross Macaluso) and No. 87 (receiver Tommy Gritten) can hurt you when they get the ball. They run out of multiple formations, and execute well. They try to establish the run, but they can also pass the ball,” Skinner added.

Skinner said his freshman quarterback Tim Broussard is getting a lot of experience under his belt. Broussard finished 9-of-20 for 73 yards and a score. Senior receiver Alex Reed, a two-way performer for the Wolverines, caught his first TD pass of the season last week, hauling in an 18-yard strike from Broussard.

Sophomore linebacker Tyler Clark posted six individual tackles for the Wolverines. He also recovered a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. NCS junior defensive end Cody Jones was also credited with six solo stops.

Sophomore linebacker Shawn Burst and sophomore safety Chris Craighead caused fumbles. Craighead was also credited with recovering a Newman fumble.

Sophomore nose guard Micah Agresta recovered an onside kick.

Skinner added that a couple of his younger two-way performers, sophomore receiver/outside linebacker Corey Weaver and sophomore wingback/safety Derek Williams have played solid on both sides of the ball. Williams was credited with a fumble recovery last week.