St. Edmund pulls away for impressive win over John Paul II in Catholic Bowl

FRISCO, Texas – St. Edmund represented Louisiana quite well Saturday afternoon at the second Annual Catholic Bowl at the Ford Center.

John Paul II of Texas jumped out to an early 14-6 lead over the Blue Jays but St. Edmuns dominated the rest of the way to fly home to Eunice with a 40-14 victory.

The momentum flipped the Jays’ way in an instant.

On the ensuing kickoff after trailing by eight, the Blue Jays answered with a 81-yard Kickoff return for a touchdown by Taylor Daire. The extra point conversion failed but the Blue Jays took the lead for the first time before the half when Kane west found Blake Moran from six yards to make it 18-12.

St. Edmund’s defense stayed stout in the second half as the offense took over late. Daire’s one-yard touchdown with 2:51 to go in the third quarter made it 25-14. Daire scored his final touchdown in a 10-yard scamper and tacked on a two-point conversion pass to Kevon Johnson to extend the Jays lead to 33-14.

Johnson was the workhorse for St. Edmund with 36 carried for 231 yards.

Fittingly, the defense tallied the final St. Edmund score. Blake Summerlin recovered a Cardinals fumble forced by Copeland Miller on the Cardinals quarterback Ryan Zabbia and took the ball nine yards to the end zone. Summerlin, the Blue Jays kicker as well, added the extra point kick to cap the scoring.

“Its an unbelievable experience we only have 150 kids in our school, it,s like David facing Goliath,” St. Edmund head coach James Shiver said. “We came out here we did our job we knew we could play with John Paul II and we executed our plan and got it done.”

John Paul II (0-3) struck first when Justin Blancaflor broke free for a 51-yard run midway through the first quarter. A short time later the Blue Jays answered when Daire scored from three yards out.

Daire ran in a three-yard touchdown to draw the Jays back within a point at 7-6.

“The game was pretty awesome and was excited to bring St. Edmund to Texas very excited to be here,” said Daire. “We were excited to play in this building which is the Dallas Cowboys Training Facility.”

Zabbia hit Blake McKenna with the longest scoring play of the game, a 79-yard touchdown pass midway through the second quarter before St. Edmund took over.

Both teams turned the ball over five times but the only Louisiana school in the six team event found a path to victory.

This game will be one that the kids will never forget,” Shiver noted. “We made a few mistakes in the game and we found a way to win. We got lucky with the lead at half 18-14. We came out in the second half and executed our plan.”

St. Edmund (1-1) will next face Westminster Christian Academy on Friday night in Eunice.