…Woodward Academy visits St Pius X in an out of region, top ten, matchup.

These two teams are not strangers historically. They have met at least once every decade since the 1960s, and very few teams have had as much success versus St Pius as Woodward has. The War Eagles lead the all-time series 14-4-2. Last season, the two met twice, with Woodward winning 42-21 in the regular season. Thirteen weeks later, St Pius ended Woodward Academy’s season via a 28-21 victory in the state semifinals.

The War Eagles enter this contest 1-0 after last week’s victory over Decatur 34-7. They won that ballgame without the services of one of the most electrifying players in the country, SR RB Elijah Holyfield. Evander’s son did not play due to an undisclosed injury; and his status for this matchup is still in the air. The impact of Holyfield cannot be over stated. In 2014 he put up tremendous numbers: 1735 yards rushing/ 25 rush touchdowns/ 27 receptions/ 289 receiving yards/ 3 receiving touchdowns/ three kick-off returns for touchdown. On opening night last season, he scored all seven of his teams touchdowns in a 45-13 victory over Decatur. The next week, in a 21-20 loss to a stout Lovett defense, he went for 260 on the ground. Holyfield verbally committed to the University of Georgia on September 4th.

Woodward is led by fifth year Head Coach John Hunt, who sports a 36-14 record. Coach Hunt spent much of his career under the leadership of Steve Spurrier, whom he served under at Florida, Washington (NFL) and South Carolina. In 2014, he was the Georgia Football Coach of the Year in 4A.

Meanwhile, the Golden Lions come into this ballgame at 0-1, after their loss last week to Blessed Trinity 17-6. For St Pius, success is all about the system; and returning guys that came up through that system, to run it at the varsity level. They return QB Reed Egan and another 15 players who started or played prominently in the 2014 AAAA title game against Buford. Ransom Klinger (1,074 all-purpose yards) and Grant Holloman are just two of the names that helped lead St. Pius to more than 4,000 yards rushing last season.

Head Coach Paul Standard once played for the legend George Maloof, who is the all-time wins leader at SPX with 162. Currently, Coach Standard sits in second place; only 33 wins from the first head man in SPX history. He is 129-45 in 15 seasons at his alma mater.

Both teams lost incredibly important players from 2014.

Woodward graduated Arrington Farrar to Stanford and Jes Sutherland to Samford. SPX lost Dalton Wilson and Thomas O’Leary.

Yet each still has good depth, playoff experience and should expect to be top ten teams throughout 2015.