GAMEDAY CENTRAL
WEEK 9 – CRUSADER STADIUM, UNIVERSITY OF MARY HARDIN BAYLOR
Eagle Football 70
Prosper Walnut Grove 35
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Electric quarterback Donte Lewis ‘24 (verbal Kansas St. baseball) bewitched, bothered, and bewildered for seven, count ‘em, seven touchdowns and 445 enthralling yards. His tag-team partner in detonation Johann Cardenas ‘24 (verbal Vanderbilt) bullied and bolted for 196 rushing yards with three scores plus 46 yards receiving.
The offensive extravaganza churned a school record for points and an eighth consecutive win to start the season for the second straight campaign – the sort of easy living to make Miles Davis sit up, salivate, and savor in a forceful and aggressive cool school kind of way.
TURNING POINT
Cardenas set the tone in an assaulting first half, punishing Walnut Grove for three touchdowns around a pair of payoff throws from Lewis to receiving deluxe Luke Edgecomb ‘24 (10-154 yards, four TD) and a bludgeoning 35-7 count.
Out of the halftime, Eagle Football feasted on five consecutive trips to the end zone, le plat de résistance featuring Lewis turning on the jets on a mesmerizing length-of-the-field scoring scamper for the latest and longest splurge of his 37 touchdown season.
FRIDAY NIGHT FIVE
1. Lewis (22-27, 292 passing yards, six TD) carries a swagger and charisma that compels, orchestrating action with propulsive adrenaline jolts. Intense. Fierce focus with sheer freedom. Think Denzel Washington’s high-octane righteous attitude as revenging angel Robert McCall.
In the whipsawing second period, Lewis retreated with a shotgun snap, darted up in the pocket to the right, slid to the left behind continuing protection, sprinted back right, and rifled 34 yards to Edgecomb nearing the right pylon for their second scoring combo of the half.
2. Lewis routinely left Walnut Grove flustered and startled, numbed and stunned like a duck who’s been awakened in the middle of a dream about wet bread.
After a goal line interception from Aron Valentine’24 for his fifth takeaway of the season, Lewis again exuded a bit of born-not-made talent. Escaping pressure out of the end zone, he motored up the middle, navigated the right sideline after a 20-yard romp, sliced through tacklers moving laterally to midfield, and crossed to the left sideline to cruise unmolested for a sensational 91-yard scoring spree. And conjuring the image of Maximus echoing a resounding Are you not entertained?
In a word, yes.
3. Lewis’s third touchdown fling with Edgecomb was yet another ab fab ad-lib beauty. The Eagles’ leading receiver moved in motion left from right and roamed the sideline before creating an opening in the corner of the end zone. Lewis bounced in the pocket scanning his options, then burst left to avoid harassment and whipped a precision dart against his body past two defenders for Edgecomb’s 13th touchdown snag of 2023.
4. Cardenas carved Walnut Grove for 68 yards on the opening drive. His fourth touch in a crisp five-play trip for points was a gash up the middle breaking through a tackler in the second tier and then exploding to the left sideline for a 48-yard touchdown.
5. The hip-hop Eagles offense plastered points on five straight second-half possessions and 10 of their 12 for the game. Lewis’s 18-yard connection with receiver Logan Branting ‘25 came immediately following Valentine’s 75-yard kickoff return. Lewis closed the scoring fest with a touch throw to receiver Larry Benton III ‘24 who has seemingly burned isolation coverage on each of his eight touchdown receptions.
VENI VIDI VICIOUS
Bone-crushing linebackers Cooper Davis ‘25 (part of 21 tackles), Tyler Day ‘24 (18), and John Carr ‘25 (14) fueled a salty defense that trapped Walnut Grove in less space than a coach-class middle seat.
St. Thomas was commanding in the first half stuffing, turning the ball over on fourth down three times along with Day’s first interception of the season.
Coming into Week 9, Eagle Football had allowed a single solitary competitive touchdown in a four-game stretch that included planting Plano John Paul II 49-3 (35-0 halftime) and San Antonio Central Catholic 49-20 (28-6 halftime) plus the gnarly second-half shutout at Kinkaid.
ROCK AND ROLL HIGH SCHOOL
Cardenas continues his grand return after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in October 2022. In six scintillating starts, the Humvee running back has romped and stomped, battered, and bolted for 1,105 yards with 13 touchdowns, averaging a mammoth 10 yards a carry. Along with his seek-and-destroy carnage of Walnut Grove, the irrepressible Cardenas has gorged opponents for 178, 206, 159, 201, and 165 yards with another 248 yards receiving.
RAVE ON
Offensive coordinator Matt Hudson adheres to the adage that roughly half a dozen explosive opportunities are available per game and elite outfits must capitalize on the vast majority to achieve championship-contending status.
Simple can be sophisticated. The Eagles required but 42 plays to post their first 63 points.
While the highlights are myriad, what’s perhaps most impressive is Lewis’s command of the offense. His maturity is seen in a great understanding of protection and coverages. He’s an accurate down-the-field thrower with the confidence to respond immediately to a broken play without risking the ball in jeopardy.
In addition to the secret sauce Lewis poured all over Walnut Grove, Lewis has scorching breakaway touchdowns of 82, 81, 75, 69, 65, 61, 47, 46, 33, 31, and 31 yards plus rambling gains of 52, 49, 48, 37, and 35 yards. He owns a whomping worth of scoring throws for 77, 75, 72, 68, 63, 52, 50, 48, 41, 35, and 33 yards.
Lewis was turnover-free for the seventh game and has a 27-2 TD-to-interception ratio (53-9 in his two-year Eagle career) with the only takeaways this season in Week 4.
To steal lyrics from the bygone rock & roll ages, Lewis is a gridworld wizard.
Ain’t seen nothing like him in any amusement hall
How do you think he does it? I don’t know!
What makes him so good?
Through seven games, Lewis is completing a sizzling 71% (127-178) for 1,925 yards. His emphatic 141.5 rating includes an outrageous 16 yards per completion. He’s rushed for 809 yards and a stunning 19 yards per carry.
Also in the assault are 77, 75, 48, 46, 41, 31, and 23-yard touchdown gusts from Cardenas with 52, 45, 39, 36, and 24-yard scampers. Keenan Bonner ‘24 ripped 61 and 37-yard scoring surges among his three touchdowns against St. John’s. Edgecomb is averaging 16 yards per catch and 112 yards per game while Benton is good for 19 yards a reception.
SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT
The Eagles are adhering to the once-upon-a-time Barry Switzer credo of quick hang-a-half-hundred school of Boomer Sooner domination.
St. Thomas has now racked at least 49 points in six of its eight triumphs. Outside the 28-13 verdict over Kinkaid that involved a 21-0 second-half breakout, the Eagle Football is pumping 49 points per game with liberal substitution in three of the previous five weeks.
The Eagles are also 2-0 in their immediate goal of recapturing kingpin superiority in a district St. Thomas has dominated since 2018 with a 23-2 record.
ROCKIN’ THE FILLMORE
The neutral site victory of 2023 raised Rich McGuire’s record to 50-24 in his seventh season as head coach.
McGuire has guided Eagle Football to 21 regular season wins in its previous 22 games and 17 victories in its previous 18 games in the friendly confines of Hotze Field in Granger Stadium. The consecutive 8-0 starts are the strongest opening streaks since 2013 when St. Thomas staged an undefeated regular season, the program’s first since 1939. And since 2021, McGuire is 15-1 in the non-district with 11 straight knocks.
PREGAME PICS
POSTGAME PICS
¡UNO!, ¡DOS!, ¡TRÉ!
The slam dance was streamed by KPRC 2 as part of its Big Game Coverage.
The match-up with Walnut Grove was part of what the UIL calls an outlaw schedule for a school in its first year before joining a district for the 2024-25 academic year.
Cardenas was ranked in the preseason among the state’s top 100 football recruits and vividly showcased in the 64th edition of Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, a prelude to his remarkable return from the ACL injury.
BIG BAM BOOM
St. Thomas is the Week 10 no. 1 private in Texas by Texas Football (eighth straight poll in the top spot), the no. 1 TAPPS in the state by MaxPreps, and the no. 1 private in Greater Houston by the Houston Chronicle and Houston VYPE.
COVERING ALL THE BASES
Lewis was featured in the Hank Aaron Invitational, a showcase game at Truist Park in Atlanta in July capping two weeks of competition, coaching, and evaluation at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Vero Beach, Florida.
Lewis was among an elite group of 44 players invited for the exclusive event, powered by the MLB-MLBPA Youth Development Foundation and in partnership with USA Baseball. Lewis then verbally committed to continue his student-athlete career at Kansas St.
PREVIOUSLY
GAMEDAY CENTRAL || Undefeated State No. 1 Private Eagle Football Cruises to Homecoming Win for 7-0
GAMEDAY CENTRAL || Undefeated State No. 1 Private Eagle Football Roars in District Opener for 6-0
GAMEDAY CENTRAL || Undefeated State No. 1 Private Eagle Football Storms to 5-0 Start
GAMEDAY CENTRAL || Undefeated State No. 1 Private Eagle Football Dominates for 4-0 Start
GAMEDAY CENTRAL || Eagle Football Enjoys Electric Season-Opening Explosion
UPCOMING
The Eagles’ third home date in four weeks will be the clash that once routinely determined at least a share of the district crown.
St. Thomas Senior Night continues the long-standing rivalry with St. Pius X. Eagle Football has owned the recent renewals, averaging 47 points per game in stacking five straight victories and collecting 10 of the previous 11 meetings.
From 2012-15, the Eagles seized four straight showdowns with the district title at stake by a combined score of 144-62.
In 2022, dual-threat dynamo Lewis ran for 163 yards with three touchdowns, threw for 218 yards and a fourth TD as the Eagles crushed SPX 49-24.
In 2021, the Eagles exploded for 37 unanswered points through the first three periods. Jake Wright ‘22 (Pittsburg St.) rifled for 362 yards with four touchdowns, two to the peerless Cameron Price ‘22 (Yale), as St. Thomas burned and buried SPX 37-14 for the Eagles’ 18th district win in 19 games.
In 2018, quarterback Peyton Matocha ‘19 (Miami) flashed a dazzling display of talent, skill, precision, will, and want with seven touchdowns including four in the third quarter when Eagle Football rallied to stake authority. The shock and awe 52-49 shootout reclaimed the district crown.
Eagle Fight Never Dies!
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