By Nolan Ruth
X – @RealNolanRuth
ARLINGTON— Since 2021, the organization Global Football has collaborated with the Catholic Dioceses of Fort Worth and Dallas to provide a unique experience for Catholic school football teams with a day long event of multiple games known as the Catholic Bowl. In 2025, the event grew to a triple header held at Choctaw Stadium in Arlington.
In the first game, St. Edmund out of Eunice, Louisiana easily took down Muenster Sacred Heart 55-6, followed by Bishop McGuinness out of Oklahoma City taking down Dallas Bishop Lynch in a 35-28 thriller. The primetime night cap paired two teams from opposite sides of the DFW metroplex as the Plano John Paul II Cardinals faced the Fort Worth Nolan Catholic Vikings.
Things started very well for John Paul II as they jumped out to an early lead that carried them throughout the game, ultimately leading to a 38-21 victory for the Cardinals.
Things started fast as Amir Weems took the opening kickoff back 102 yards for a touchdown to give John Paul II the early 7-0 lead. Nolan then took over on offense and struggled early on. The Vikings ultimately went the entire first half without picking up a first down.
After the first defensive stop for the Cardinals, Ethan Patterson extended the lead with a one yard touchdown run in the first quarter. From there, the defenses took over. Neither team was able to cross midfield in the second quarter until the very last minute when John Paul II got a big play on a pass from Cade Lynch to Braden Harbour, setting up a 29-yard field goal from Jett Jackson as time expired to make it 17-0 at the half.
Lynch was the key player for the Cardinals after completing 15 of 19 for 140 yards and a touchdown, adding 71 yards on 15 carries and two touchdowns on the ground.
To open the half, it was Nolan’s turn to create some fireworks. Houston Hartung dropped back and delivered a perfect pass deep to Aaron Morales who was several steps behind the secondary for a 66-yard scoring play to get the Vikings on the board.
Hartung only completed 7 of 21 through the air, but those few completions went for 178 yards and two touchdowns.
The Nolan defense then made a stop, but a fumble deep in its own territory gave the Cardinals the ball in the redzone. Lynch then connected with Harbour again from 17 yards out to extend the lead to 24-7.
However, the Vikings would not go away quietly. Another big passing play by Hartung set up Jimmy Suter to punch it in on the ground from five yards out to make it a ten point game at 24-14 at the end of the third quarter.
Lynch put the John Paul II offense on his back, and on the opening play of the first quarter he took it upon himself to run the ball through the Nolan defense, scoring from 27 yards away. The Vikings punched right back with another big pass from Hartung to Nick Koelzer to make it 31-21.
Just when Nolan needed a big defensive play, they got one from John David Mattox when he came up with a key interception. It appeared the Vikings were going in to make it a three point game. Then the Cardinals returned the favor as Austin Patterson came up with a key interception in the redzone to keep Nolan at arms length.
The John Paul II offense proceeded to masterfully drive down the field and put the game away with a six yard keeper by Lynch to bring the final score to 38-21.
Nolan falls to 1-2 on the young season after the loss and will be on the road next week to face Fort Worth Southwest Christian; while the win improves John Paul II to 2-1 and a nice bounce back after falling last week. They will travel to Addison next week to take on Greenhill.
