ROOTED. RELEVANT. RESTLESS.

St. Thomas has enjoyed a long and visible athletic history with team success predicated on developing the total student-athlete holistically. Achievement is without compromising academic standards or mission priorities. No objectives arrive at the expense of remaining true to the strengths of its Catholic Basilian bedrock and the teaching of goodness, discipline, and knowledge.

Scholar-athletes comprise nearly 70% of the St. Thomas enrollment and are encouraged to integrate into the campus community, nurturing meaningful relationships with peers and an identity beyond the realm of sport. That dynamic ethos more than a century in the making made a continued involvement with the Catholic Bowl event a prime opportunity to be seized - engaging in a cultural exchange that salutes genuine religious identity while celebrating faith, freedom, and football.

Catholic Bowl II was a joint venture presented at the state-of-the-art indoor facility of the Dallas Cowboys that included two other rising TAPPS powers and St. Edmund of Eunice, Louisiana. The marquee match-making was the genius of Patrick Steenberge, the founder and president of Global Football, a company that arranges for high schools and small colleges around the United States to play internationally. His supremely optimistic vision and exhausting due diligence with a small group of stakeholders brought the deal together for a second consecutive year.

The Saturday tripleheader commemorated the 21st anniversary of the horrific 9/11 terrorist attacks that killed 2,977 people and injured thousands at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Lives were lost and millions forever changed by the deadliest terrorist act in world history. The Catholic Bowl was designed to climax a series of distinctive activities and recognitions held to mark the occasion.

One of the partners of Catholic Bowl II was the Serve Like A Saint program, a grassroots faith-based initiative dedicated to embracing meaningful ways to serve in marginalized communities. Patrons were treated to an exhibition of exclusive art from Bart Forbes, one of America’s most renowned illustrators and gallery artists, specializing in original compositions of iconic sports figures and moments.

St. Thomas President Fr. James Murphy, CSB was a con-celebrant of the Friday night Mass for the participating teams at St. Martin De Porres Catholic Church in Prosper. The traveling parties then shared a Friday night dinner with an opportunity to connect outside their usual inner circles. The journey to young adulthood is a place begging to be explored.

Once the gridworld took center stage at the Ford Field at The Star in Frisco, St. Thomas turned ravenous and relentless in blasting Fort Worth Nolan Catholic 45-28 with a verdict not as close as the final margin might suggest.

Robust running back Johann Cardenas ’24 battered and bolted for 189 yards with four rushing touchdowns and added a fifth on a flip from charismatic quarterback Donte Lewis ’24. Eagle Football rolled past 40 points in its third consecutive runaway rout and racked up four turnovers for the second straight week in staking its first 3-0 start since 2015.

The dominant Catholic Bowl performance proved a satisfying encore to the last-second pulse-pounding 38-31 triumph over Plano John Paul II in the inaugural 2021 showcase.

The Eagles closed the first half flexing for an 87-yard march with Cardenas converting a pair of third downs, first a screen catch-and-run worth 20 yards, then a 14-yard blast to set up a Lewis payoff to Preston Bowman ’23 that raised the count to 28-7 at the break.

After Eagle Football recovered a fumbled kickoff to start the third quarter, the rampage runner took the second snap and dodged, ducked, and dashed away for 28 yards for his fourth score and an insurmountable 35-7 advantage.

The Cardenas Extravaganza featured repeated end zone residence, cashing in from short range following an explosive 47-yard connection from Lewis (19-38 for 265 yards) to receiver Larry Benton ’24 for 7-0 in the first quarter. On the next St. Thomas possession, Cardenas collected a quick toss from Lewis in the left flat and expertly cut to the sideline for a 48-yard mad dash to give the Eagles the lead for good. He then crashed the right side of Nolan Catholic in the second period for 21-7 with 9:49 remaining before halftime.

Cardenas represented certain success in every high-leverage situation. Late in the third quarter, he stamped his career-best night with an emphatic exclamation - accelerating into breakaway gear and overmatching the final two tacklers deep in the Nolan secondary to finish a 60-yard lightning bolt score. Unbridled euphoria soon had its new poster man-child.

The Eagle defense delivered a strong dose of Armageddon Time to rival any production involving Anne Hathaway, Jeremy Strong, and Anthony Hopkins. The four takeaways enabled St. Thomas to feast on field position deep into the third quarter when the outcome was being decided.

Eagle Football forced four punts in Nolan’s first five possessions. In the second period, linebacker Jack Ward ’23 (10 tackles) ripped his first interception of the season followed by safety Caleb Davis ’23 stripping a Nolan ball carrier breaking to the end zone with recovery at the St. Thomas 13-yard line.

St. Thomas has now met Nolan Catholic eight times - the first seven in the playoffs - and owns a string of matchups previously dominated by suffocating defense with six victories. St. Edmund opened the Saturday tripleheader with a 40-14 victory over Plano John Paul II. The expanded slate for 2022 included Muenster Sacred Heart defeating four-time TAPPS IV state champion Shiner St. Paul 30-20 in a rematch of the 2021 state title game.

From its founding in 1900, the leaders of St. Thomas have believed that vigorous athletic competition plays a perfect parlay to the educational mission of the institution. The fervor of Eagle Athletics is to inspire and facilitate all its scholarathletes to embrace championship-caliber pursuits with steadfast resolve, to triumph in character as well as spirit regardless of the scoreboard results.

Catholic Bowl II offered yet another glimpse of Eagles performing with integrity, intelligence, and balance - a life lesson that lasts long beyond the deserved, but ephemeral elation of victory.