The Week 10 action in high school football gets started with two big games tonight at Ralph Wilson Stadium that will determine which teams return there for the championship next Thursday at 7 p.m.
The first game of the evening might be more intriguing than many think: No. 4 large school St. Joe’s (6-3) vs. unranked St. Francis (5-5) at 5 p.m.
St. Joe’s won at St. Francis in Week Five, 27-20, but the next week at Cathedral Prep (Pa.), the Marauders lost arguably their best player in senior returning first-team All-Western New Yorker Rod Payne to a knee injury, which has been reflected in a 2-2 record since then, including single-digit wins over St. Mary’s and Bishop Timon-St. Jude. St. Francis has gone 4-1 since then, with an ongoing three-game win streak that includes emphatic victories over St. Mary’s (28-0) and Timon (41-6).
Regular-season champion and defending league champ Canisius (7-2) will take on Bishop Timon-St. Jude (4-6) in tonight’s second game; Canisius recorded one of its five shutouts this season in beating Timon, 24-0, at home in Week Six. Timon did avenge one of its regular season defeats in last week’s quarterfinals by beating St. Mary’s, 24-7, behind an 183-yard rushing performance by junior Arenzo Thomas.
Next week’s episode of PrepTalkTV is a special one as the 10 finalists for this year’s Connolly Cup will be announced live at BuffaloNews.com. Members of the Connolly Cup committee will be in studio for another early kickoff (4 p.m.) as the Monsignor Martin title game is that evening.
The first game of the evening might be more intriguing than many think: No. 4 large school St. Joe’s (6-3) vs. unranked St. Francis (5-5) at 5 p.m.
St. Joe’s won at St. Francis in Week Five, 27-20, but the next week at Cathedral Prep (Pa.), the Marauders lost arguably their best player in senior returning first-team All-Western New Yorker Rod Payne to a knee injury, which has been reflected in a 2-2 record since then, including single-digit wins over St. Mary’s and Bishop Timon-St. Jude. St. Francis has gone 4-1 since then, with an ongoing three-game win streak that includes emphatic victories over St. Mary’s (28-0) and Timon (41-6).
Regular-season champion and defending league champ Canisius (7-2) will take on Bishop Timon-St. Jude (4-6) in tonight’s second game; Canisius recorded one of its five shutouts this season in beating Timon, 24-0, at home in Week Six. Timon did avenge one of its regular season defeats in last week’s quarterfinals by beating St. Mary’s, 24-7, behind an 183-yard rushing performance by junior Arenzo Thomas.
Early PrepTalk TV
Due to the Monsignor Martin semifinals, today’s PrepTalkTV episode will be aired at noon at BuffaloNews.com. Keith McShea and frequent guest co-host Dave DeLuca will look back at last week’s big games and look forward to this week’s big games.Next week’s episode of PrepTalkTV is a special one as the 10 finalists for this year’s Connolly Cup will be announced live at BuffaloNews.com. Members of the Connolly Cup committee will be in studio for another early kickoff (4 p.m.) as the Monsignor Martin title game is that evening.