WASHINGTON, D.C - Catholic football fell to Wilkes in its final home contest as it celebrated 26 seniors prior to the contest. Elijah Jules led the way for Wilkes (6-3, 4-1) with five touchdowns in a 40-15 win over Catholic (4-5, 2-3). 

The Colonels totaled 431 yards of offense in the win with 226 coming on the ground. Jules ran 27 times for 183 yards and five scores in a dominant performance. Wilkes took a 26-0 lead into the halftime break before scoring late in the third quarter to extend the lead to 33-0. The Cardinals outscored Wilkes 15-7 in the final quarter with touchdown catches by Nathan Miscichowski and Sam Cornacchione. 

John Whelan relieved Joey Gulbin who left the game with an injury and completed 14-22 passes for 116 yards and two scores. Both Cardinal scoring drives spanned 12 plays with Whelan finding Miscichowski from four yards out on a beautiful play fake and catch in the back of the end zone on the first of the two early in the fourth quarter. 

After Catholic took over with 8:36 remaining, the Cardinals went 83 yards in 12 plays as Whelan found Cornacchione for the score. A 25-yard gain on a screen pass from Whelan to Zach Williams on 3rd-and-10 kept the drive alive before Whelan scrambled for 29 yards on 3rd-and-16 three plays later. A few minutes later, Whelan found Cornacchione for a 13-yard score on 4th-and-goal. Whelan hit Malachi Hansen on the two-point try to make it 40-15. 

The Cardinals sacked Wilkes quarterback Xavier Powell three times on the day with Sean Holt finishing with a full sack while Sean Finan, William Cavallaro, Samuel Dumas, and Lawson Haylock each had half a sack. Michael Hopkins and Tyler Donnelly each made eight tackles in the losing effort. Holt took over the team lead with five sacks on the season. 

Catholic will finish out the 2024 campaign at Juniata on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.