Pope John Paul II’s Jaguars begin the season tonight by traveling to Biloxi, Miss. to take on the St. Patrick Catholic High School Fighting Irish.

PJP enters tonight’s action following a 13-0 loss against Lakeshore High in the Newman Jamboree.

“I think they’re a good school,” PJP coach Mark Jeanmard said. “They have a new coach (Joe Rocconi). The philosophy has changed. They went from the double-wing to the spread, but they still run the ball.”

Pope John Paul II’s Calvin Durel puts pressure on Metairie Park Country Day’s quarterback Matt LeCorgne during a three-way scrimmage held at PJP Aug. 19. (File Photo by Chris Kinkaid)

The Fighting Irish played their opener last week and suffered a 26-14 loss against Pass Christian. St. Patrick is in its fourth year of existence. It formed when rivals St. John of Gulfport and Mercy Cross of Biloxi combined to form the school.

First-year coach Joe Rocconi said Pope John Paul II is a very talented opponent.

“They’re very-well coached, the kids play hard, they have a bunch of kids and coach Jeanmard does a good job. We need to improve the things we didn’t do well last week.”

Last year’s match up went to PJP 28-20.

Offensively, Pope John Paul II runs a double wing. The unit struggled last week against a very athletic Lakeshore club.

“I think it’s tremendous. To coach (Larry) Route’s credit, they have a very athletic team even though they don’t have any seniors,” Jeanmard said.

Junior running back Quinn Fiore was the team’s leading rusher with nine carries for 35 yards.

Sean Bruhn completed 4-of-6 passes for 60 yards and two interceptions. PJP wideout Brandon Colvin posted two catches for 45 yards. Bruhn also punted twice, registering kicks of 55 and 35 yards.

Defensively, the Jaguars are a 4-4 club. The group did a good job of containing a very fast Titans’ offense last Friday.

Guy Sergi had an interception during the loss.

Jeanmard said Sergi is a big factor for them.

“He’s been playing cornerback, but he can also play outside linebacker,” Jeanmard said. “He’s one of the captains and he’s a very good athlete.”

For St. Patrick, the Fighting Irish run a spread offense with senior Peyton Letard at quarterback. Last week, Letard threw a 15-yard pass to wide receiver Matt Blank, which made it 20-14 by halftime.

The running back is sophomore Austin Watts. He got the Irish on the board last week with a 75-yard kickoff return, which trimmed the deficit to 14-7.

The other receivers are Bradley Simons, Eric Granberry, Zach Waldrop and Ayen Davis.

Defensively, coach Rocconi said his group did well.

“They played aggressive,” Rocconi said. “They were on the field too long because our offense struggled.”

Waldrop, a back, had a good game. He had an interception, tipped pass and a fumble recovery.

Rocconi said linebacker Ian Magandy along with Callum Steff also had good games.