Catholic Bowl: Muenster Sacred Heart Catholic pulls away late to beat Plano John Paul II

Geo Cadena makes two FGs in 4th in the finale of Catholic Bowl III in Frisco

FRISCO, TEXAS - Senior kicker Geo Cadena hit a pair of field goals in the fourth quarter to help lift Muenster Sacred Heart Catholic to a 27-21 win over Plano John Paul II on Saturday night at The Star.

The senior gave his team a victory in their second trip to the Catholic Bowl — this was the third edition — of the event that has brought Catholic schools from Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas together.

Cadena immediately felt the nerves and energy when he walked on the turf field that the Dallas Cowboys use during the week for practice. The backdrop for kicking — he punts and kicks — is also a little different with walls not far from the goal posts compared to most outdoor games.

Add in having a new holder, Cadena readily admits he had nerves. He had a field goal attempt blocked in the first half that would’ve given the Tigers the lead.

When he got a chance for redemption, he delivered.

“It didn’t bring me down, I just thought about the next field goal and nailed it,” Cadena said. “It feels good. The energy they brought coming back. … You hear the stands over there being loud and I’m doing this for my coach.

"At the beginning of the game, I wasn’t doing good on my punts. I brought my game back up. I’m ready to go to the locker room and celebrate.”

Sacred Heart got the first of Cadena’s two field goals with 7:30 left in the contest. That drive was aided by a pass interference call on JPII, which moved the ball to its 30-yard line.

The drive for the Tigers stalled out at the 15, and then Cadena delivered a 32-yard field goal.

Six seconds later, the momentum stayed with Sacred Heart — part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth and a school that was established in 1890 near the Oklahoma border.

Cadena’s kickoff was fumbled by JPII and recovered by John Dill at the 30-yard line.

The drive fizzled out near the red zone, but Cadena hit a 33-yard field goal with 4:21 left to play, making it 27-21.

“We thought about not kicking the second field goal, but they have a really good kicker,” Sacred Heart coach Dale Schilling said of John Paul II's Jacob Carlson, who has booted two game-winning field goals in the first two weeks of the season. “If we kick it and Geo makes, it forces them to make a touchdown.”

The Tigers — ranked No. 10 in the TAPPS Division IV rankings this week — took advantage of a late miscue by the Cardinals.

JPII quarterback Ryan Zabbia threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to Blake McKenna with less than two minutes left, but a holding call on the play negated what would’ve been the game-tying score and possible go-ahead point-after-attempt.

Instead, the Cardinals (2-1) went backward from there with the holding call and then a sack. A last-ditch pass attempt on 4th-and-29 fell incomplete and the Tigers (3-0) prevailed.

The game was a back-and-forth contest from the start.

JPII struck first on a 6-yard run by senior D.J. Taylor in the first quarter.

The Tigers tied it at 7-7 at the 9:18 mark in the second quarter on a 1-yard run by quarterback Zach Hennigan. It was set up by a 38-yard gain by Gus Ganzon — that was aided by a 15-yard late hit call to move the ball to the 5. JPII fumbled the kickoff return and the Tigers drove down but that was when Cadena’s first field attempt was blocked to keep the game at 7-7.

Zabbia connected with McKenna for a 33-yard touchdown with 59 seconds left in the first half. The Tigers answered when Hennigan ran for a 34-yard score with 5 seconds left. A facemask penalty on the Cardinals with 12 seconds left moved the ball from midfield to the 34.

The back-and-forth battle continued in the second half.

Senior Dominick Anderson ran for a 5-yard touchdown on the opening drive of the third quarter to give the Cardinals the lead back with 8:04 to play in the third.

On the next possession, Hennigan threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Gage Campbell on a play-action play on fourth down to tie the game up at 21.

That led to the heroics of Cadena in the fourth.

The contest was played on Saturday, but it was a two-day event for the players and coaches. They met at St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church on Friday and took part in a barbecue dinner that was preceded by mass.

The event is run by the Global Football Foundation founder and president Patrick Steenberge — who played quarterback at Notre Dame. Incidentally, he became the starter in 1971, replacing a graduated Joe Thiesmann.

“I told him (Steenberge) this is the best thing in my coaching carer to come be a part of this,” Schilling said. “It is good for our school, community, parish and the kids …everything. It is my favorite thing I have done. They roll out the red carpet for us.

"I already asked if I get to come back. Last year was a nail-biter as well. We look forward to it and hopefully we can.”

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ST. EDMUND (LOUISIANA) 40, FORT WORTH NOLAN CATHOLIC (TEXAS) 24

For the second year in a row, the Blue Jays from Eunice, Louisiana, came to the Dallas area and left with a win at the Catholic Bowl III.

Sophomore Ke’Von Johnson scored four touchdowns as St. Edmund bounced back from a Week 1 loss and posted a win against Nolan Catholic. Last year, the Blue Jays won, 40-14, against Plano John Paul II.

Johnson had two scores in the first quarter, which helped the Blue Jays take a 14-3 lead over the Vikings (0-3).

The Vikings got on the board with three seconds left in the first half on a short run from junior quarterback Carter Devero.

Johnson’s third score came less than three minutes into the second half and gave the visitors some breathing room. Nolan Catholic got into the St. Edmund red zone, but turned it over on downs.

However, when the Vikings got the ball again, they got in the red zone when Devero hit sophomore Jake Werline for a score with 10:45 left in the game.

Less than three minutes later, the comeback was over.

Johnson added his fourth touchdown run at the 10:09 mark and the Blue Jays took a turnover and turned it into an Aiden Stelly touchdown run to take a 34-17 lead with 7:40 left.

Devero added his second touchdown run with less than six minutes left and Stelly added his second with a minute left to account for the final score.