Nolan Catholic shrugs off dismal first half to beat John Paul II in playoff rematch

To say that the Fort Worth Nolan Catholic football team started slowly on offense in its TAPPS Division I Regional game against Plano John Paul II would be an understatement.

The Vikings didn’t pick up a first down until the 17-second mark of the second quarter, but two late third quarter scores by the Nolan defense sparked the Vikings to a 32-17 win on Friday afternoon at Globe Life Park.

Nolan (7-0) advances to the state semifinals and will face Fort Worth All Saints (3-3) who beat Argyle Liberty Christian (2-7), 44-17, on Saturday at Globe Life Park. Nolan defeated All Saints, 41-27, in district play on Oct. 16.

Nolan trailed 10-5 at the half and had only managed to gain 7 yards of total offense before halftime, but the Vikings defense was playing lights out after allowing 10 first-quarter points to John Paul (3-4).

The Vikings were forced to boot the ball away twice to open the second half, but a 44-yard punt by Riley Riethman pinned John Paul at their own 2 yard line.

Two plays later J’Dan Burnett chased the quarterback out of the pocket in the end zone and punched the ball out. Vincent Paige pounced on it for a Nolan touchdown and the Vikings took their first lead at 13-10 after Emeka Megwa ran in the 2-point conversion try at the 6:06 mark of the third quarter.

“It was insane,” said senior linebacker Eric Franco of the fumble recovery in the end zone. “Our offense was struggling and we know that our defense is a really strong part of this team and it was nice that we could put some points on the board.”

The Nolan offense started to find some rhythm from that point. Behind the running of Megwa and a 36-yard pass from quarterback Jimmy Taylor to Irene Ngabonziza the Vikings moved from their own 41 to the Cardinal’s 3, but lost the ball on downs.

On the ensuing play a fumbled handoff by John Paul in the end zone was recovered by the Cardinals, but the safety upped Nolan’s lead to 15-10 with 1:38 left in the third.

The Vikings scored on three of their next four series to pull away. Taylor hit Saimone Davis with an 18-yard scoring pass and Sergio Snider punched it in from a yard out to give Nolan a 29-10 lead with 7:38 left in the game.

“We started slowly against Parish as well, but we just never quit,” said Taylor, whose team was playing in only its second game in the month of November. “It makes our job a little easier knowing that we have a defense that can stop almost anyone. It’s the best defense in the state and I’ll stand by that until the day I die.”

After missing a 31-yard field goal, Reithman nailed one from 30 yards out with 1:14 left.

The Nolan defense was on fire after the first quarter. John Paul picked up 101 yards in the first quarter to build a 10-0 lead.

Cardinals’ workhorse running back Grant Robinson darted up the middle for a 16-yard touchdown to cap John Paul’s opening, 70-yard drive to take a 7-0 lead with 8:07 left in the first quarter.

Robinson, who finished with 97 rushing yards on 28 carries, also helped set up a 31-yard field goal by Jackson Mata as time expired in the first quarter.

“We came in really prepared and we knew that he (Robinson) was a big part of their offense,” said Franco, who led the defense in containing Robinson. “We knew that he was going to make some big plays, but we just had to make bigger plays.”

From that point it was all Nolan. The Vikings allowed 77 yards of total offense in the first half and 164 total for the game.

If not for a 70-yard touchdown pass from Gabe Warren to Myles Parker on the game’s final snap, John Paul would have had 94 total yards of total offense with only 17 in the second half.

A bad punt snap by the Cardinals resulted in a Nolan safety to cut the lead to 10-2 with 5:22 left in the second quarter.

Three minutes later Nolan defensive back Gerald Lacy punched the ball away from a John Paul running back and Kaleb James recovered it at the Cardinals’ 31.

Nolan couldn’t pick up a first down and Reithman made it 10-5 with a 43-yard field goal with 1:24 to go before the break.

“I’m just happy and proud for these kids because they’ve been through heck, as we all have, during these times,” said Nolan coach David Beaudin. “It’s a special group of kids.”

This story was originally published November 27, 2020 at 7:08 PM.