Pope John Paul II opens district by hosting Pine

The Pope John Paul II Jaguars will go for their fourth win a row, which would equal last season’s total, tonight when they host the Pine Raiders in the District 9-2A opener for both squads.

PJP enters tonight’s match up with a 3-1 record, while Pine is 0-4.

The Jaguars are coming off their second-straight shutout after blanking Northlake Christian School, 24-0. Pope John Paul has not allowed a point in the last eight quarters. Last week, the Raiders suffered a 55-0 setback to Franklinton.

The Jaguars won last season’s match up, 28-16.PJP coach Mark Jeanmard called this a trap game.

“Sometimes when you’re 3-1 and they’re 0-4, you think you should win. The school’s they’ve lost to are 3-A and above,” Jeanmard said.

Pine has fallen to 4-A teams Pearl River and Franklinton along with 3-A clubs Jewel Sumner and Loranger. Jeanmard said his team is always looking to get better.

“The good thing is they have come to practice and worked on the things they’ve needed to improve on,” Jeanmard said. “It’s business like. They understand we haven’t reached our goals.”

The defense has played well for PJP, led by the senior back Ryan Palmisano, who has made four interceptions in the last three games.

Jeanmard talked about Palmisano.

“Ryan has been a major factor because we know we can put him on one side of the field because he can cover it,” Jeanmard said.

The coach added that Palmisano is one of the quietest people on the team and doesn’t make a lot of hoopla when he does his job. The unit has intercepted seven passes this season and is averaging nine three-and-outs the last two games. In last week’s victory, senior lineman Bobby Mayfield tallied three sacks, while senior linebacker Cory Davis had three tackles for a loss.

They will be facing an offense that likes to run out of the power-I. The Raiders have just 37 players on their roster and nine of their starters go both ways.

Knowing he would have players participating on both sides of the ball, Raiders’ coach Paul Burgard said they prepared for it, but if someone does start getting tired, he will put a fresh player in.

“They went through an extensive off-season program of running and lifting,” Burgard said. “We designed our entire off-season program around strength and endurance.

The quarterback is Daryl Westbrook, who also plays linebacker. The fullback is Tyler Graham, who serves as a defensive back. The wingbacks Dale Stogner and Chamychal Brown are also both linebackers. Guard Brandon Wiley competes at defensive tackle. The rest of the two-way players include offensive tackles Dale Kuhn and Jimmy Martin, who play defensive line. Tight end Spencer Robinson is a safety, while tight end Jermichael Weary is also a defensive lineman.

Offensively, PJP runs a veer. Quarterback Nathan Hewitt is questionable for the game with a knee situation. If he cannot go, Carlo Conforto will call signals like he did last week. In the NCS game, Conforto hit on 2-of-3 for 53 yards and a touchdown pass to Chris Jeansonne.

The running back is senior Ross Macaluso, who had a complete game last week. He ran for 97 yards and completed a pair of halfback passes for touchdowns. They will be facing a 4-4-defense that focuses on stopping the run first. Burgard said they will use different formations if they feel it’s a passing down. The coach said Stogner and Wiley have been his two most consistent players on defense.