Football preview: Bergen Catholic (New Jersey) at Chaminade-Madonna

HOLLYWOOD, FLORIDA- There’s plenty of top tier high school football games going on around the Sunshine State, but something hits different about this one.

The Chaminade-Madonna Lions take on the Bergen Catholic Crusaders in South Florida. For the Lions, a chance to remain undefeated and in the hunt for a national championship still lay in front of them.

With impressive victories over St. Frances Academy and Cardinal Gibbons to start the season, the Lions’ offense has picked up where they left off from last year. Chaminade-Madonna quarterback Cedrick Bailey, a North Carolina State commitment, has completed 33-of-44 passes for 319 yards and five touchdowns.

The passing attack is fueled by the play of likely the most dynamic receiving corps in the country of Ohio State commitment and Miami (FL) commit Joshisa Trader. Smith leads the team in receiving yardage with 112 yards and two scores.

Surprisingly, it’s been the ground game that’s been powering the offense in the first couple of contests. Senior running back Davion ‘Bullet’ Gause leads the team in rushing as he’s rushed for 24 attempts, 245 yards and three touchdowns.

A pleasant surprise on offense has been the play of freshman running back Arwin Jackson, who has carried the rock 24 times for 131 yards.

On the defensive side of the ball, the team is led by Miami (FL) commitment Zaquan Patterson in the secondary and defensive end Zachary Crothers in the front seven. Lions’ strong safety Denzel Johnson leads all tacklers with 16 tackles with three going for a loss.

Don’t worry about the kicking game behind the play of senior Andrew Abu-Akel. The senior place kicker has gone 10-for-10 on extra points and has connected on both field goal attempts this season.

Bergen Catholic (New Jersey) heads into this game undefeated as well and they lean heavily on the play of their talented offensive line. Up front, offensive tackle Nyier Daniels, a Georgia commitment, paves the way on the line.

Daniels, 6-foot-8, 330 pounds, leads an offense that’s amassed just over 600 yards, but a lot of it has come through the air. Junior quarterback Dominic Campanile has completed 29-of-44 passes for 423 yards and five touchdowns. Campanile has offers from Akron, UMass and Western Michigan.

The quarterback’s top target through tue passing game is 4-star talent Quincy Porter. Porter is Campanile’s go-to-receiver as he has caught 10 passes for 229 yards and four touchdowns.

On defense, the Crusaders have only allowed 13 points so far behind stellar play of linebacker Christian Gonzalez, who leads the team with 13 tackles. Junior Ethan Cohall Jr. is the club’s lead tackler in the secondary, making 11 tackles, with 3.5 going for a loss.

ANDY’S PREDICTION: Chaminade-Madonna 38, Bergen Catholic 16

-- Andy Villamarzo | villamarzo@scorebooklive.com | @sblivefl