The First Baptist Saints will challenge the Rio Hondo Prep Kares at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with First Baptist sitting on four straight wins and Rio Hondo Prep on six.
First Baptist is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They took their matchup on Friday with ease, bagging a 56-12 victory over Mercy Culture Prep. With the Saints ahead 49-6 at the half, the game was all but over already.
Dylan Jones
| 09/26/25 vs Mercy Culture Prep | 306 |
| 09/12/25 @ Covenant | 284 |
| 09/04/25 @ Grace Community | 277 |
| 08/30/24 vs Buckeye | 269 |
| 08/29/25 vs Bishop Lynch | 265 |
First Baptist's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Dylan Jones led the charge by throwing for 306 yards and four touchdowns while completing 73.3% of his passes, and also punching in one TD on the ground. Those 306 passing yards gave Jones a new career-high. Jonah Murphy was another key rusher, rushing for 100 yards and one score on only six carries.
Wins are hard to come by when you can't run the rock, something First Baptist proved: they limited Mercy Culture Prep to a paltry 1.1 yards per carry. The team can thank George Anagnostis for the heroic effort on defense: he. First Baptist didn't have any issues in that department, having averaged 14.8.
First Baptist didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Micah Foster and Willy Everly. Anagnostis was another major factor on D, picking up 1.5 sacks and making eight total tackles (2.0 for loss).
Meanwhile, Rio Hondo Prep humbled St. Anthony with a 52-17 victory. Considering the Kares have won four contests by more than 28 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
First Baptist better keep an eye on Noah Penunuri. He was instrumental in Rio Hondo Prep's win, rushing for 117 yards and a pair of touchdowns on only six carries. Penunuri's longest rush was for an impressive 65 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total. Another player making a difference was Deven Gomez, who rushed for 74 yards and one TD.
First Baptist's win bumped their record up to 4-1. As for Rio Hondo Prep, their victory bumped their record up to 6-0.
The upcoming matchup will be a clash of competing strengths. First Baptist has relied on air attacks this season and has averaged 272 passing yards per game. Rio Hondo Prep, on the other hand, has relied on a stout run game: they average 252.5 rushing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
