La Salle takes its shot at No. 1 St. Joseph’s Prep
The No. 3 Explorers were the last Philadelphia-area team to beat the high-powered Hawks, who won have 30 in a row vs. local competition.
Walking off the field after last year’s Catholic League title game, La Salle’s football players, coaches and followers weren’t happy with the numbers on the scoreboard.
But they found solace in the fiercely competitive nature of the Explorers’ 23-13 loss to arch-rival St. Joseph’s Prep.
“That was the game where we really got our respect back,” La Salle linebacker Dillon Trainer said. “I’m not a moral victory guy but the way we played, we felt pretty good about it.”
La Salle and St. Joseph’s Prep will meet again Saturday night at Wissahickson High School in the most anticipated football game of the early portion of the 2019 season.
St. Joseph’s Prep (1-2) is coming off a bye after opening the season with three games against nationally ranked opponents in Marietta, Ga. (21-17 loss), St. John’s College of Washington, D.C. (34-30 win) and IMG Academy of Bradenton, Fla. (31-25 loss).
“I like where we’re at,” said St. Joseph’s Prep junior linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr., who recently committed to reigning national champion Clemson. “We came up a little short in those games but we showed we could compete with anybody.”
St. Joseph’s Prep is the No. 1 team in the Inquirer Southeastern Pennsylvania Top 10. The Hawks have won 30 games in a row against Philadelphia-area opponents.
La Salle (4-0) also is coming off a bye after opening the season with impressive victories over quality opponents such as Imhotep Charter, North Penn and Malvern Prep.
The Explorers are the last Philadelphia-area team to defeat St. Joseph’s Prep, handing the Hawks a 29-28 defeat in the Catholic League title game in 2015.
La Salle is led by Trainer, a Delaware recruit, as well as fellow senior defensive standouts in Ryan Savage, Sam Graham and Jalen Devose.
Sophomore running back Sam Brown, who scored five touchdowns against North Penn, and senior quarterback Jack Machita pace the offense.
St. Joseph’s Prep is led by junior quarterback Kyle McCord, an Ohio State recruit, as well as junior receivers Sahmir Hagans and Marvin Harrison, Jr. Trotter Jr. leads the defense along with senior linebacker Liam Johnson, a Princeton recruit.
St. Joseph’s Prep has won six in a row vs. La Salle. The first five victories were by a combined 114 points, including a 49-12 in the Catholic League opener last season.
But the Explorers made a game of it in the second meeting, raising hopes inside the program that they can carry the confidence from that competitive battle into Saturday night’s showdown.
Trainer said the Explorers felt even better about their performance against the Hawks in the Catholic League final last season after seeing what St. Joseph’s Prep did over its next four games, beating Northeast (49-14), Bethlehem Freedom (42-14), Pine-Richland (37-0) and Harrisburg (40-20) to win the state title for the second time in three years.
“We’ve had a lot of guys, in school, out of school, joking around, whether they mean it or not, saying, ‘We’re not going to compete, we’re not good enough for that,’” Trainer said. “That’s a slap in the face. But this is a great shot. We have a great team this year and it’s definitely going to be a good one.”