There will plenty at stake when the St. Augustine Prep and Holy Spirit high school football teams meet tonight.
St. Augustine (7-0) is No. 3 in The Press' Elite 11. Holy Spirit (6-1) is No. 11. Kickoff is 7 p.m. at Holy Spirit in Absecon.
Tonight's winner will be the Cape-Atlantic League National Conference champion. The winner will also boost its playoff seeding enough to host a first-round playoff game next weekend.
St. Augustine won 26-24 last season and is the defending conference champion.
Tonight's game features some of the region's most dynamic players.
St. Augustine quarterback Dustin Thomas has thrown for 1,064 yards and 16 touchdowns. Darnell Laws has rushed for 520 yards. Gabe Voumard has caught 24 passes for 393 yards and sacked the opposing quarterback six times at defensive end.
"We're just playing it like it's another football game," St. Augustine coach Dennis Scuderi said. "Like every other game, we tell our kids one game at a time. The game you play that week is the game that is important."
Holy Spirit counters with sophomore running back Nigel Jones, who has rushed for 835 yards and 16 touchdowns.
Quarterback Joe Callahan has thrown for eight touchdowns and linebacker Anthony Sarao leads a defense that hasn't allowed a touchdown in 10 quarters.
Holy Spirit won the conference in 2007.
"The guys are very focused," Holy Spirit coach Charles Roman said. "It's extremely important to us to get back to being conference champion. This game is as big as its gets for Holy Spirit.
Contact Michael McGarry:
609-272-7185
