WASHINGTON, D.C.  – The Catholic football once again plays in front of a home crowd on Saturday afternoon against Franklin and Marshall at 1 pm on Cardinal Stadium. This will be the second consecutive season the Cardinals square off against the Diplomats. 

DIII SERIES HISTORY: Catholic leads 7-4

This is a series that dates all the way back to a 22-7 F&M victory on October 4, 1930 before a 67-year break before another match up between the two programs. The Cardinals rattled off five consecutive victories over the Diplomats from 1997-2001.

Before last season's contest, the programs had not met since 2009 as the teams split four games from 2002-2009. The Diplomats came away with a 42-7 victory over the Cardinals last season in which they had 368 yards of offense while holding the Cardinals to just 174.

LAST TIME OUT

Catholic is coming off a 38-35 defeat against Carnegie Mellon in a shootout that went back-and-forth between the two teams but ultimately resulted in a win for the Tartans. The 35 points was the most scored by the Cardinals offense since week 10 of the 2024 season.

On the defensive side of the ball, Billy Turner continued to be a force early in his career with a team-leading 13 tackles with a sack, forced fumble and fumble recovery. Evan Chromy also got in the mix with a season-high 12 tackles and Jsai Smith was strong on the back end with seven tackles and three pass breakups. Conor Jennings and Sean Finan both also added strip sacks.

The Cardinals got big contributions from the receiver room against the Tartans as Bobby Hartman, Wade Farrar and Roman Landamia all had career-highs in catches and yards while the team totaled for 254 yards through the air. 

STANDOUT SOPHOMORES

Sophomore quarterback Brady McBride put together the strongest game of his career last week against Carnegie Mellon with a career-high 254 passing yards and five touchdowns through the air. He became the first Catholic quarterback to throw for five touchdowns in a game since 2024 when John Whelan did so against Juniata. 

Wade Farrar also put together an impressive output last week against Carnegie Mellon as he had seven receptions for 78 yards and four touchdowns. He became the first Catholic player with four touchdowns catches in a game since 2016 when Lucas Morley did so. Bobby Hartman hauled in seven passes for 118 yards last week and leads the team with 10 catches for 146 yards on the season thus far. 

CONFERENCE LEADERS

McBride enters the weekend as the Landmark leader in passing touchdowns on the season with six, which also ranks ninth in the country. He sits at third in the conference in passing yards with 402 over the first two games. 

Hartman comes in tied for the conference lead in receptions and tops the Landmark in receiving yards this season. Farrar's four touchdown catches leads the conference and is second in the nation so far this season. 

Turner enters the week as the leading tackler in the Landmark this season with 22 with Chromy in the top five as well with 18. Turner is also 26th in the country in total tackles in the early stages of the season.

SCOUTING THE DIPLOMATS

F&M is coming off two convincing victories to begin the season against Lebanon Valley and Westminster (Pa.) by scores of 31-7 and 45-8 respectively. Coming off a Centennial Conference championship last season, the Diplomats were picked to finish third in the Centennial preseason poll this season and are currently receiving votes in the AFCA Coaches Poll.

Nick Aravides was named the Centennial Conference Defensive Player of the Week for F&M after an eight tackle performance along with an interception in the 45-8 victory. The bulk of the Diplomats offense has come on the ground this season as they have averaged 242 rushing yards in the first two games. Anthony Valdez leads the team in rushing thus far with 105 but F&M utilizes its quarterbacks in the run game as well with 186 yards coming from that position. 

A NEW REGIME

2026 marks the beginning of a new era for Catholic football as Head Coach Kory David will take the reins of the program in his first season as a head coach. David joins Catholic after spending the previous two seasons as the Defensive Coordinator and Linebackers Coach at Eastern University. During the 2025 season, David coordinated a defense that led the MAC Freedom in scoring, rushing, passing and total defense, helping the program earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Playoffs with the first MAC Championship in program history. The Eagles came away with a 28-24 victory over Franklin and Marshall to advance to the Sweet 16 which was the first postseason victory for the program. David along with the rest of the Eastern staff was named the 2025 MAC Coaching Staff of the Year after putting together a 10-2 season.

David also brings along two new coordinators with him in Shawn Glosek and Drew Ehrlich who both come to the district from Washington and Jefferson. Both coaches helped the Presidents to an 8-3 record last season with a PAC championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. 

PRESEASON POLL

The Cardinals were picked to finish fifth in the Landmark in this season's preseason poll, earning 14 points coming in front of Moravian and Juniata. 

The reigning three-time conference champion Susquehanna were picked to once again win the Landmark crown, capturing 34 points in the poll and four of the possible six first place votes. Lycoming finished second in the poll and received two first place votes while Wilkes rounded out the top three with 29 points.