Nolan Catholic rallies past Midland Christian in its football season opener

It took Nolan Catholic just a little longer than anticipated to get its 2020 football season out of the gate. After a COVID cancellation in Week 1 and falling into an early hole Friday night to visiting Midland Christian, the Vikings came to life to storm back and dispatch the Mustangs, 38-21, at Doskacil Stadium.

Before even six minutes were off the clock and the Nolan offense had a chance to run its first offensive play, Midland Christian had rattled off 134 yards of offense on its first two drives and seemed to be on its way to a dominating night. Only a 62-yard Vincent Paige kickoff return had kept the Vikings close at 14-7.

But that’s when Nolan (1-0, 1-0 TAPPS Division I District 1) finally awoke, outscoring the Mustangs, 31-7, the rest of the way and holding the vaunted Midland Christian offense (which had rolled up 496 yards and six touchdowns in its season opener) to just 132 yards and one other score the rest of the game.

Nolan quarterback and Cornell commit Jimmy Taylor capped off an 82-yard drive with a 24-yard pass to Villanova commit Irene Ngabonziza to tie the game, then connected with Skyler Patterson on an 11-yard strike to take the lead after a bizarre exchange of two fumbles and an interception deep in Mustang territory.

The Vikings defense deserved equal credit. Pass rushers like Curlee Thomas kept the pressure on Midland quarterback Ryver Rodriguez while the secondary, led by Jackson Reed, put a halt to the Mustangs’ aerial plans. After the two opening drives, Rodriguez was just 6 of 23 for 38 yards passing.

Meanwhile, Nolan came out determined to run the ball in the second half. A hard-charging 12-play, 69-yard drive ended with an 8-yard run by Sergio Snider. Then, Midland (1-1, 0-1) countered with its only other big play of the night – a 64-yard scamper by Brad Evans that accounted for all but 68 yards the Mustangs managed the rest of the game.

That cut the lead back down to 26-21.

But the Vikings had an answer again, marching 54 yards in 10 plays that ended with a Kennon Polk 1-yard plunge. After Midland tried and failed on a desperation fourth-down play late in the game, Nolan’s Emeka Megwa punched in another score for the final margin.

Megwa, Polk and Snider combined for 39 carries for 183 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. Megwa and Snider added five catches for 57 yards while Taylor threw passes to six different receivers.

Nolan returns to conference play next week when it hosts Dallas Bishop Lynch Oct. 9.

This story was originally published October 3, 2020 at 12:43 AM.