San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
‘Feeling dangerous’
Holy Cross’ Battles throws four touchdown passes to collect MVP trophy
Channeling Baker Mayfield, Holy Cross quarterback Jordan Battles had a great feeling going into Saturday’s San Antonio Sports All-Star Game.
Battles completed 12 of 16 passes for 221 yards and four touchdowns and rushed 10 times for 66 yards, leading Team Gold to a 4431 victory over Team Black at Heroes Stadium.
“I woke this morning feeling dangerous,” said Battles, who earned game MVP honors with his performance. “I told myself I was I was going to win this MVP. This is as much their (my teammates) award as it is mine.”
Such excellence was typical for Battles the previous two seasons as Brandeis’ starting quarterback.
He led Brandeis to state quarterfinal appearances in 2018 and 2019 before he transferred to Judson. After the UIL didn’t approve his eligibility for varsity athletics at Judson, Battles enrolled at Holy Cross, where his father, Shaun, once starred as a running back and where he once was a ball boy.
Battles was happy to put it all behind him.
“It was a crazy, crazy ride — go
ing through COVID and the transfer and everything,” Battles said. “It all settled down at the end. I’m just glad I came out here and was able to have fun playing football.”
Battles also reunited with his former coach at Brandeis, David Branscom, who coached Team Gold.
“The thing that makes him great is he’s such a competitor,” Branscom said. “No one is ever going to scare him in any manner. He’s just built different in that sense, so having that kind of guy on your team, it makes others better.”
Battles helped lead a comeback charge as Team Gold scored 44 straight points after trailing 17-0 in the first quarter.
It began when Southside’s Caleb Camarillo snagged a 60-yard scoring pass from Battles with 1:05 left to pull Team Gold within 17-7 in the first quarter.
“We put that play in Monday,” Camarillo said. “We’ve been practicing, practicing, practicing it. As soon as the play was called, I saw the safeties split way out wide. I gave him a look and (Battles) looked right back at me, and we knew it was going to happen.”
Team Gold recovered a fumble on Team Black’s 36-yard-line on the next drive.
Battles connected with Antonian’s Bryon Armstrong for a 17yard score to make it 17-13 after a blocked extra point.
Team Gold converted a blocked punt on the next drive into a 26-yard scoring catch by Madison’s Royal Kyle from Battles midway through the second quarter to take the lead for the first time.
Brennan’s Jonathan Swisher made a 23-yard field goal with 8 seconds left in the second quarter to extend Team Gold’s lead to 23-17.
Harlan quarterback Kannon Williams scored on a 4-yard keeper for Team Gold in the third quarter’s only score.
Battles capped his big game with a 63-yard pass to LEE’s Jeremiah Shelton on the first play of the fourth quarter to put Team Gold ahead 37-17. En’Dreas Spriggs of Harlan caught a 21-yard scoring pass from Antonian’s Zachary Schwalen to extend Team Gold’s lead to 44-17.
Team Black jumped ahead early
with a 20-yard field goal by Reagan’s Nicholas Hernandez that capped the game’s first drive.
After Clemens’ Max DiDomenico picked off Battles, it led to a 1-yard scoring run by Wagner’s L.J. Butler and a 10-0 lead at the 6:12 mark of the first quarter. Butler had a 28-yard gain and Seguin’s Marques Washington added a 12-yard run along the way.
A fumble recovery by Reagan’s Pryce Yates led to Team Black’s next score, a 35-yard catch by Marshall’s Dylan Cooper, who snagged a deflected pass by La Vernia’s Gage Lowry intended for Clemens’ Andrew Edwards.
Butler, a four-year starter with Thunderbirds, finished with 98 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries.
“In all-star games there are a lot of great players, so it can go either way,” Butler said. “We go up and the momentum changed, and we just couldn’t get the momentum back.”