North Side (1-1) at Carroll (2-0)
Prediction: Carroll wins 42-20
Carroll has been explosive on offense this year. The Chargers have scored a combined 90 points in the first half of their first two games. QB Jeff Becker is off to a great start with 546 passing yards, 8 TD, and is also the Chargers leading rusher with 110 yards. The best offense in the SAC will face a great North Side defense that gave Dwenger some fits early, with the Saints offense only able to put points on the board once in the first half. Something will have to give in this game. Either Carroll will be slowed down by the Legends defense, or North Side won’t be able to get off the field and Becker will be able to throw the ball all over the field. If the latter is true, then it will be up to QB Duce Taylor (706 yds, 54% comp, 6 TD) and the rest of the Legends offense to keep up with Carroll on the scoreboard. With that in mind, it’s hard to not to see Carroll pull away in this game.
Concordia (1-1) at Snider (0-2)
Prediction: Snider wins 13-6
This feels similar to last week’s Concorda-Homestead game. The Cadets will likely be out without quarterback Brandon Davis again, after missing last week’s game. Without Davis, the Cadet offense stalled out and committed plenty of turnovers in a 7-0 loss last Friday. Despite having a backup quarterback in week 2, star running back Amir Drew actually had fewer carries than he did in week 1. It will be interesting to see if he’s a bigger part of the offense this week. On the other side, we’ll have to see if Snider makes a change at quarterback from senior Deron Swanson to sophomore Luke Haupert. Neither has been able to lock down the starting job, but after Swanson struggled again last week, it could be Haupert’s turn to start. Both defenses should play very well, but we predict that Snider will come out on top for their first win of the year.
Homestead (1-1) at Bishop Luers (1-1)
Prediction: Homestead wins 28-6
For as much as the Homestead offense has struggled so far, this will be a nice game to get things working again. The Luers defense is allowing an average of 42 points so far, 84 in total. With the Spartans possessing weapons such as RB Braeden Hardwick (293 yds, 6.5 yds/car, 2 TD) and WR Jared Kistler (6 rec, 86 yds, 1 TD), this feels like the week that Homestead finally breaks through and gets it going on offense. That, combined with how well the healthy Spartan defense performed last Friday by shutting out the Cadets, should give Sparty a much needed tune-up before they face Dwenger next week.
Northrop (2-0) at Wayne (0-2)
Prediction: Northrop wins 27-19
These two teams have had completely different starts to their years. For Northrop, things couldn’t have been more picture-perfect, as they were able to pull off the upset at Homestead and win fairly comfortably over South Side, all while RB Damarius Cowen has become the most feared offensive player in the SAC with 485 yards, 7 yards per carry, and 7 TD. Meanwhile, Wayne has managed to dig themselves into a hole, with a blowout loss to Dwenger and shootout loss to Luers, and are desperate to get a win this week. No matter which way this one goes, streaks will be broken. If Wayne wins, they’ll get their first win since sectionals in 2018. If Northrop wins, they’ll start the season 3-0 for the first time since 1983, when they finished 9-2 with their only losses coming against two of the state champions that year, Bishop Dwenger and Penn.
South Side (0-2) at Bishop Dwenger (2-0)
Prediction: Dwenger wins 42-0
The Saints are just about to get into the meat of their schedule, but first they’ll have to take care of business against South Side. The Archers only have 136 total yards on offense right now and have scored a total of 7 points this year. As long as Dwenger keeps control of the ball and doesn’t make any major mistakes, they should get out of this game with a blowout victory.
