WASHINGTON, D.C. - Catholic football defeated Juniata 34-20 on Saturday afternoon to win its third-straight game and finish 5-5 for the season. The win marks the third year in-a-row that Catholic finished .500 or better, the first time they've accomplished such a feat since 2000 when the Cardinals posted a seventh-straight season of .500 or better ball.
Prior to Saturday's contest,
Mike Gutelius and his program honored 16 seniors, including signal-caller
Madden Lowe who threw for 368 yards and three scores in the victory while adding a touchdown on the ground. The nation's leader in completions per game, Lowe upped that number with 37 completions on the day. With those 37 completions, Lowe replaces himself in third all-time in Catholic single-season history with 304 completions in 2023. Lowe also moved into eighth-place in single-season passing yardage and in a tie for sixth for passing touchdowns, finishing the year with 2,651 and 24 respectively.
Also honored prior to Saturday's game was
Preston Jeffrey who put a tremendous cap to his Catholic career, catching eight passes for 95 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Jeffrey will finish his career with 189 catches for 2,576 yards and 29 touchdowns. Jeffrey became the first receiver since Lucas Morley in 2016 to post 10 or more receiving touchdowns in a season.
Senior running back
Zach Williams made it a three-headed attack of veterans on offense, toting the rock 14 times for 91 yards behind a veteran line that included seniors
Javier Oliver and
Connor James. Williams finished the year wth 648 yards on 130 carries with four touchdowns. His 203 receiving yards put him over 850 yards from scrimmage for the year.
Luke Brautigan had five tackles and a sack while
Jack Dolan recorded a TFL on Senior Day.
Michael Hopkins had eight tackles and 3.5 TFLs for Catholic while freshman
Conor Jennings got into the backfield for a pair of sacks and three TFLs. Landmark Conference-leader
Carson Henry added another TFL to his total while also leading Catholic with nine tackles.
Jack Baldridge came away with his first career interception in the winning effort.
Catholic scored on its opening drive after
Malachi Hansen returned the opening kick for 52 yards, setting Catholic up at the Juniata 37. After a swing pass to Williams gained 24 yards, Lowe found Jeffrey for the first score of the game just two plays later. Joey Menke broke out of the backfield for a 55-yard score to tie the game at 7-7 with 4:20 left in the first for Juniata.
Leading 10-7 in the second quarter, Catholic forced a punt and took over on its own 20. Back-to-back 15-plus yard plays set up a first-and-10 from the 35 where Lowe found Jeffrey for their second touchdown connection of the game. Catholic led 17-7, but Juniata had an answer late in the first half as Noah Wright found Makih Hunt for a five-yard score just ninety seconds before halftime. Catholic moved down the field, getting into Juniata territory on a 26-yard completion to Hansen.
Connor Gill kicked a 36-yard field goal at the halftime buzzer to send Catholic into the locker room leading 20-13.
After a scoreless third quarter, Catholic scored twice in the fourth, leading 34-13 before Juniata added a late touchdown to shave the deficit to 14. A 28-yard punt from deep in Juniata territory gave Catholic great field position with 12:25 left to play. Williams picked up five yards on a fourth-and-one to keep the drive alive before Lowe found
Cade Chrebet for an eight-yard score, the first of the sophomore running back's career.
Another short punt gave Catholic great field position at the Juniata 45 with 8:06 to play. Lowe found
John Maynes for a 16-yard pickup into the red zone before Lowe ran it in from 13 yards out.
Catholic completes its first season in the Landmark Conference at 5-5 overall and 3-3 in conference play.
