Coming into Friday night’s matchup both Catholic High and St. Thomas More enter the game with 1-1 records to start the season. This star studded matchup kicked off with the Cougars using their rushing attack to get down the field but turn the ball over on a turnover on downs as Oklahoma State commit Jayden Vessell picks up a sack to get the ball for Catholic High. The Bears take advantage of this and march down the field with a great mix of passing and rushing. The drive was capped off with a 12 yard touchdown pass from Camden Estep to Gregory Williams Jr to put the Bears up 7-0 midway through the first. The Cougars get the ball back but punt and pin Catholic High at their own yard line. But that didn’t stop the Bears as they went 99 yards to score with a huge 56 yard rushing touchdown from senior Jayden Miles to give the Bears a 14-0 lead late in the first.
St. Thomas More showed hints of how strong their running game could be. In this drive we saw why, as 3 different running backs as well as quarterback Grayson Hemnard all had carries. Senior running back Landyn Craft finishes the drive to cut the lead to 14-7 to start the second quarter. The Bears start their 3rd drive of the game with big throws from Camden Estep but are halted in St. Thomas More territory as the defense makes a fourth down stop to get the ball back. Both teams traded punts on their next possessions. But St. Thomas More was ready to tie the game. As they make a crucial 4th and 4 conversion. With Hemnard finding Bennett Stelly a play later for a touchdown to tie the game at 14 with little to go left in the second quarter. The little time left didn’t stop Catholic as they had a strong kickoff return and Camden Estep led his team down the field to find Stanford commit Jude Chamberlain wide open in the end zone for 6 and go up 21-14 to go into the half with the lead.
To start the 3rd quarter both defenses came out strong by forcing 3 and outs on each team’s opening drive of the second half. But the slow offensive start could only last so long as the Bears drove down the field with a strong passing attack as Camden Estep found Jude Chamberlain for the second time tonight for a passing touchdown to extend the lead to 14 and make it 28-14 Catholic. St Thomas More did not let this 14 point lead stand long as senior running back Owen Bailey used his quick speed and strength to run for a 53 yard touchdown to bring the Cougars right back within a touchdown making 28-21 Catholic. The Bears offense was not done yet as they drove down the field once again tonight, but the Cougars had other plans as they made a huge stop on their own 20 yard line on 4th and short to get the ball back and end the 3rd quarter with momentum.
St Thomas More came out firing to start the 4th quarter as Grayson Hemnard was spreading the ball out to the entire offense including showing what he could with his legs. To end the drive Grayson Hemnard finds his favorite target of the night Jared Quoyeser who makes a spectacular catch for a touchdown to bring this game to 28-28 with 9 minutes left in the game. Catholic needed points on this drive and they did just that as Jayden Miles took over with his athleticism and strength getting them inside the 5 until Camden Estep put his head down and ran into the end zone to grab a rushing touchdown himself to give the Bears a 35-28 lead with 6:25 left in the game.
Catholic’s offense did their job and so did Catholic’s defense as they went out and forced a punt to get the ball back as Estep found Jayden Miles again for a 38 yard passing touchdown to bring the game to 42-28. But the Cougars were not done yet. Hemnard drives down the field and finds Jared Quoyseser for 2 yard TD to cut the deficit down to 7. Here is where the madness starts as Landyn Craft recovers the onside kick for STM with less than a minute to go in the game to give the Cougars one last chance. Bennett Stelly makes an incredible 30 yard catch to bring them inside the redzone. And Hemnard finds Quoyseser for a 6 yard touchdown which brings the game to 42-41 Catholic. The St Thomas More Cougars go for two with 3 seconds left on the clock. Hemnard drops back and finds Jared Quoyseser yet again to win the game 43-42 in incredible fashion. Both Quarterbacks ended the night with great stats lines but Grayson Hemnard was the star of the show tonight in a game of the year candidate going 20/36 passing with 226 yards and four TDS.