Bishop Guilfoyle, Richland football to battle Saturday night
Wheeler: Rams on schedule at right time
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An argument can be made that the top two small-school District 6 schools over the past decade-plus will meet at Mansion Park on Saturday night at 7 when Bishop Guilfoyle Academy hosts Richland.
Since 2014, the Marauders have won eight District 6 titles (one in 2A, seven in 1A) and the Rams have captured five 2A titles since 2012.
"It's at the right time for us," Bishop Guilfoyle coach Justin Wheeler said. "We had a good summer. The first game was what it was, but you want to see and test yourself against the best teams in the area. Richland is that every year. Between the two of us, we have combined for D6 titles quite frequently, and it will be a great challenge and really test a bunch of guys that need to be tested. It's early enough in the season that no matter what happens, we'll hopefully be able to correct it and get better from it."
The Marauders and Rams are both coming off games where they struggled at times.
Bishop Guilfoyle led Penns Valley by just two points at halftime, and Richland survived with a 21-6 win over Central Cambria.
"I really liked our intensity on the football field," Richland coach Brandon Bailey said. "Our kids played hard. We have a lot of work to do this week in practice cleaning some things up, but I thought it was a good first game. We're really looking forward to the matchup on Saturday."
Despite fielding a team with plenty of new starters, Bishop Guilfoyle's players remained composed at halftime before dominating the second half.
"I did love how calm and positive the team was, even at halftime," Wheeler said. "We were not happy as a coaching staff, but we went in at halftime and they were calm and wanted to talk through things. We challenged them in the second half to try and shut them out defensively and to score every time we got the ball. We did both of those things."
The Marauders are hoping to get back their top running back and tackler from last season, Taurean Consiglio, who missed the first game due to an injury.
"We hope he's back," Wheeler said. "He did not play Friday night, but we'll see how this week at practice goes. The minute he gets the all-clear from his doctor, we're going to try and rotate him in. He's going to be a huge part of our offense. He makes it harder to focus on one kid when he comes back."
Jake Kissell, who had 20 sacks as a defensive end last season and was named to the all-state team, filled in at running back and rushed for more than 230 yards.
"He bailed us out Friday night, and I think he'll do that a lot for us," Wheeler said. "He's 6-foot-2, 220 (pounds), and he's the fastest kid on the team. He played quarterback, tailback, tight end, defensive end and linebacker for us in the game. He was covering some of their best kids all game. As a coach, we have a kid that's so versatile and we can ask him to do anything. He also has an incredible football IQ and understands why we're asking him to do different things."
Bailey praised BG's depth.
"They are a really strong football team," Bailey said. "They are the defending state champions. I think they have a strong, athletic offensive and defensive line. They have a lot of good kids in skill positions on both sides of the ball. It will be a tremendous challenge."
Richland also has depth at many positions, including wide receiver, where Arnold Mugerwa began his junior year with six catches and 104 yards against Central Cambria.
"They are well-coached and big," Wheeler said. "Any time you have a Division I 6-foot-5 receiver with a bunch of big-time offers, you are going to have a pretty good offense that poses some problems."
The teams last met in 2022 when Bishop Guilfoyle beat the Rams in the District 6 Class 2A semifinals on its way to a District 6 championship.
"Our kids know it's a big game," Bailey said. "You don't know how that's going to turn out. Our games with BG over the years have been really good football games with high-intensity type environments. I don't expect anything different this coming Saturday. There have been years we got the best of them, and there have been years they got the best of us."