District 1 4A Championship Bishop Shanahan at Pope John Paul II Preview

Tagged under: District 1, News, pfn, Playoffs

Willie McGonigle | November 6, 2025

The Who: Bishop Shanahan Eagles at Pope John Paul II Golden Panthers

The What: District 1 4A Championship

Where: Pope John Paul II High School, 181 Rittenhouse Rd, Royersford, PA

When: Friday, November 7, 7 pm.

For Updates on X, follow: @williepafn

The Last Meeting: The Eagles and Golden Panthers last met back on September 12, also at PJP, with the Golden Panthers forcing four Eagle turnovers on their way to a 28-21 victory.

When the Golden Panthers have the ball: Even though he’s just a Sophomore, T.J. Dozier has taken control of the high-power Golden Panthers offense. In 11 games, Dozier has thrown for 1567 yards and a completion percentage of 62. He’s also thrown 15 touchdowns compared to just 4 interceptions. Dylan Skarbek is the team’s leading rusher with 645 yards on 99 carries and 6 touchdowns. Kassidy Jackson is second on the team with 592 yards rushing, but is the team’s leader in rushing touchdowns with 9. Brandon DeAngelo is the team’s leader in receptions and receiving yards with 57 catches for 663 yards and 6 touchdowns. Skarbek and Eric Green were second on the team with four receiving touchdowns apiece.

When the Eagles are on Defense: The Eagles are a dangerous team on the defensive side of the ball, forcing their opponents into committing 24 turnovers. In their victory over the Interboro Bucs last week, the Eagles’ defense only gave up 129 yards of total offense.  Anthony Aquila is a force at the Safety position for the Eagles’ defense. Aquilia is joined in the defensive backfield by Danny Keenan. Brian Whelan, Michael Cleary, and Lachlan Sherwin are terrors up front.

When the Eagles are on Offense: On offense, the Eagles have a true weapon at the QB position in Aquila, who has burned teams with both his arm and legs this season and plays much bigger than his listed 5’11 175 frame indicates. Nate Bracken is a force at RB. Aidan Civitella has 7 receiving touchdowns for the Eagles so far this season.

When the Golden Panthers are on Defense: Defensively, the Golden Panthers are led by Sean McNally, who is the team leader in tackles with 90.  Joey DiGiacomo and Julian Betts are tied for the team lead in sacks with 5.5 each. Griffin Kacerski is right by them with 5 sacks.  The secondary is as dangerous as they come, with DeAngelo having  8 interceptions, Zahid Edwards Boone (4), Green (3), Cole Ateek (2), and Skarbek (1) all also lurking back there.

Things to Keep an Eye on/Keys to Victory:

While the Golden Panthers have some great Sr leadership, they have many Sophomores who are key contributors. It will be interesting to watch and see how the young guys handle the pressure of a District Championship Game.

In their last meeting, the Eagles turned the ball over four times. In order to be victorious this time around, the Eagles will need to eliminate those mistakes.

In their last meeting, Anthony Aquila gave the Golden Panthers defense all types of trouble. Let’s see what adjustments the Golden Panthers’ defense makes to stop Aquila.

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