Pope John Paul II’s Jaguars and the St. Thomas Aquinas Falcons play for the “Catholic Cup” tonight in a District 8-2A match up at Strawberry Stadium on the campus of Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond with kickoff set for 7.

Both teams enter following victories.

PJP (5-4, 2-2) snapped a two-game losing streak with a 28-6 victory over St. Helena Central. St. Thomas Aquinas (6-3, 4-0) clinched a share of the District 8-2A title by blanking Northlake Christian School 10-0.

If the Falcons lose and Springfield wins its game against NCS, St. Thomas Aquinas and Springfield would share the championship. A win by St. Thomas and the Falcons win it outright.

PJP is attempting to defeat the Falcons for the first time since 2006 when the Jaguars won 27-21. In that game, running back Andrew Guillot, now at Louisiana Tech, scored the game-winning touchdown on an 88-yard kickoff return. Last year’s score was 35-7.

PJP coach Mark Jean-mard said it’s a big contest for both teams.

“It’s going to be a pretty tough game. We’re playing to get into the playoffs. They’re playing for an outright district title and possibly a home game,” Jeanmard said.

The Jaguars run a double-wing offense, led by senior running back Tyler Lusignan.

Last week, Lusignan broke the 1,000-yard plateau, going for 185 and two – rushing touchdowns, while adding another on a 75-yard kickoff return. Lusignan enters tonight with 1,041 ground yards.

St. Thomas Aquinas coach John White said Lusignan gets the bulk of the carries.

“If he gets going, Pope gets going,” White said. “We’re going to have our hands full. They’re fighting for a playoff spot. They’re going to be ready to play. I’m sure they’re going to have some wrinkles in their offensive and defensive schemes we haven’t seen yet.”

White added they broke down 112 plays and Lusignan was involved in about 80 of them. He said PJP has a lot of good football players, but he’s the key guy. Joining Lusignan at running back is Carlo Conforto.

Also scoring for the Jaguars last week was quarterback Clyde Perkins on a two-yard sneak.

Defensively, Pope John Paul II runs a 4-3.

Jeanmard said he feels lineman R.J. Barba, linebacker Joel Price and safety/linebacker Tim Turner will play key roles in tonight’s game.

Jeanmard also said that the Falcons don’t miss a lot of tackles.

He said he saw very little footage of them missing stops.

For St. Thomas Aquinas, the Falcons’ offense operates out of the shotgun wing-T.

The entire backfield is seniors. Ethan Bleakley is the quarterback. Last week, he had a 24-yard rushing touchdown on a bootleg.

Brandon Robertson and Brandon Loria handle the running back duties.

Robertson tallied 25 carries for 124 yards last week, while Loria totaled 25 attempts for 45 yards.

The wide receivers are senior Jarrett Reed and junior Ross Pellichino.

Defensively, the Falcons are a 50-club.

Last week, backup nose guard Brent Crump (6-foot-7, 300 pounds), a senior, had a big day. He posted eight solo tackles with an interception and a fumble recovery.

The starting nose guard Dion Patterson has been sidelined with a knee injury since week four. He is expected back for the playoffs.

White said his top defenders are senior middle linebacker Cameron Lebleu and junior linebacker Hank Perrilloux.