Pearl River’s Rebels head across Lake Pontchartrain to face the Holy Cross Tigers in a District 9-4A game tomorrow at Joe Yenni Stadium in Metairie with kickoff at 2 p.m.

PRHS (6-0) enters the contest with a 2-0-district record, while Holy Cross (1-5) is 0-2 in league competition.

The Rebels are coming off a 42-6 victory over Riverdale, while the Tigers suffered an 18-15 defeat to Salmen.

Pearl River quarterback Matt Smith (12) attempts to avoid the tackle of Riverdale'€™s Paul Wallace (9) in a district game held last Friday at PRHS. (File Photo by James Elorriaga)

This season, Pearl River has outscored its opponents 223-49. The Rebels are averaging 37.1 points per game. The defense has two shutouts and has not allowed anybody to score more than 16 points against them.

On the other side, the Tigers have been outscored 159-112. Holy Cross’ two worst quarters this season are the first and fourth. The Tigers have tallied just seven points in the first period, while giving up 24. In the fourth stanza, the Tigers have been outscored 46-26.

Holy Cross won last season’s game 49-27.

This year, the Tigers are playing with just five senior starters, four on defense and one on offense.

Defensively, Pearl River runs a 3-3 odd stack. Senior linebacker Stephen Arthur leads the Rebels with 56 tackles, 27 of them have been solo. He is also tied atop the team with Craig Domingue as both have three sacks. Domingue has recorded 50 stops, good for second, and he’s recovered a fumble. The Rebels have sacked opposing quarterbacks eight times. Senior linemen T.J. Peterson and Scott Schure have the others.

Junior linebacker Blake Ladner has been in on 46 tackles, 15 solos.

PRHS’ defense has also intercepted seven passes. Senior defensive back Cory Jenkins, who also sees time at running back, has made three picks, including two last week.

The unit will be facing an offense that likes to spread it out. The Tigers will rotate senior Bryce Ellzey and sophomore Ryan Deemes at quarterback.

This season, Ellzey has thrown for 537 yards with four touchdowns and five interceptions. Deems has completed 26-of-52 for 358 yards, three TDs and two picks.

The leading wide receivers are seniors Blake Toups and Cameron Merrill. Toups, who is also a defensive back, has caught 25 passes for 206 yards and four touchdowns. Merrill has 17 receptions for 381 yards and two TDs.

The running backs are junior Devin Smith and sophomore Brenton Bowman. Smith has run 47 times for 155 yards with a score. Bowman has 33 carries for 217 yards and a pair of scores.

Offensively, the Rebels run a Wing-T.

Holy Cross coach Barry Wilson said Pearl River’s offensive style is tough to prepare for.

“They’re going to run the Wing-T and they execute it very well,” Wilson said. “We don’t face that much and when a team runs it well, it causes problems in practice.”

The feature back is James Gillum, who ran for 178 yards and three scores last week. Jeremiah Levy also came up big for the Rebels with 100 yards on five carries, including a 65-yard scoring run.

The quarterback is senior Matt Smith. Last week, he completed a 60-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Jacob Maxwell.

PRHS will be taking on a defense that bases out of the 4-3, but varies throughout. Tiger defensive coordinator Eric Rebaudo said senior strong safety Vick Corso and senior end/tackle Cody DeCuir have been the most consistent players for Holy Cross. This season, Corso has 40 tackles with one sack, a forced fumble and a recovered fumble. DeCuir has been in on 43 stops with two sacks and a forced fumble.