NCS is coming off an impressive 43-8 road victory over the Pine Red Raiders, while St. Thomas Aquinas secured a 27-8 road victory over St. Helena Central last week.
The Wolverines have performed well after moving up to Class 2A and are in the thick of the district race.
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Derek Williams has 832 yards on 132 with 12 TDs. Broussard carried 88 times for 593 yards with 10 TDs.
Broussard has completed 28-of-64 passes for 375 yards with three TDs and one interception. Michael Peck, who caught the Wolverines’ lone completion for 20 yards last week, and Josh Seale are the Wolverines’ top receivers.
Defensively, sophomore outside linebacker Mallery Mele blocked a punt, which he recovered and returned for a score. He finished with six tackles and also recorded a sack. Junior inside linebacker Tyler Clark tallied nine tackles with a fumble recovery and he also caused a fumble. Junior middle linebacker Shawn Burst contributed seven tackles and caused a fumble. Burst tops the Wolverines with 71 tackles (45 primary and 26 assists). Clark, Mele and outside linebacker Dylan Paquette lead the NCS defense with three sacks each.
NCS first-year coach Tony Agresta said it is a key game for first place in the district. Over the past two years the road to the district title has gone through St. Thomas Aquinas.
“They play physical football, which is the same way that we like to play. We’re expecting a battle,” Agresta said. “They are a balanced football team. They run what I call a hybrid Wing-T offense with some of its concepts. They use a lot of motion and their offensive linemen come off the ball well. Their backs run the ball hard. If you become too concerned with trying to stop their running game they don’t hesitate to put the ball in the air.”
Agresta said this week’s opponent is much bigger than his club is.
“We understand that. I’m sure they will try to use their size to their advantage. But you can’t measure the size of our kids’ heart. Playing against bigger teams hasn’t intimidated us at all to this point so it shouldn’t be any different this week. We have lots of respect for them,” Agresta said.
St. Thomas Aquinas head coach John White is in his fourth year with the Falcons. White described NCS as a good, well-coached football team.
“Their record (6-2) speaks for itself. They have a really talented quarterback (Broussard). He runs their offense extremely well. If we expect to slow down the Northlake offense then we have to slow him down,” White said.
“Defensively, they run a lot of schemes. They are very aggressive on the defensive side of the ball. They manage to keep their opponents’ scoring chances to a minimum,” he said.
White said his team will have its work cut out for them going against Northlake Christian. He said their players are in the right position to make plays.
Senior quarterback Ethan Bleakely runs the Falcons’ Air Wing offense. Bleakely has connected on 48-of-116 passes for 737 yards with five TDs and three interceptions. Senior tailback Brandon Robertson is the team’s leading ball carrier with 854 yards on 119 carries with seven touchdowns. Senior Brandon Loria is another big time contributer on the ground with 588 yards on 127 rushes with seven TDs. Junior receiver Ross Pellichino, the Falcons’ top receiver, comes in with 18 receptions for 226 yards and three scores. The Falcons’ offensive line is led by senior right tackle Michael Recotta.
STA operates out of a 50-defense led by senior linebacker Cameron LeBleu and junior lineman Cade Loper. Junior free safety Hunter Reid has eight interceptions on the season. Senior defensive end Travis Gregory returns to the Falcons’ starting lineup after missing the last three games with a concussion. He saw limited action in last week’s victory over St. Helena Central.
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