Cardinal O’Hara Claims First District 12 Championship in School History

Tagged under: District 12, Gameday Hub, News, pfn, Playoffs

Willie McGonigle | November 16, 2025

Cardinal O’Hara has been playing football since 1965, and in their storied history, they have won two Philadelphia City Titles in 1973 and 1979, but that was before the Philadelphia Catholic League joined the PIAA. On Saturday morning at Northeast High School, the 2025 version of the Lions put their names in the school’s history book, defeating West Philadelphia 34-6 to win their first-ever District 12 4A Championship.

The Head Coach of the 1979 City Championship team was Bob Ewing, the grandfather of current head coach Mike Ewing. Mike Ewing talked to his team all week about the history of O’Hara football. “We spoke to the kids all week about joining history and making our own history with the first District Title. I’m happy for the kids; they put in the work.” Ewing said, and when asked about what it meant to him personally, adding to the history of O’Hara Football, which his family has been such a huge part of Ewing responded saying “ It means a great deal to my family, especially because O’Hara gave myself and our staff a chance to lead this program back to where the football alumni expects it to be. I wish grandpop was able to see this, he would be ecstatic to see O’Hara with another City title.”

From the start the Lions leaned on their Big Cats up front in the form Davonte Ferrigon, Stephen Thomas, Chris Whitton, Tristan Laing, Jayden King Grant, Musa Bangura, along with tight ends Jackson Mitros, Landon Waller and fullback Bradley Markun-Rentos to pave the way for their over 1700-yard rusher Amahj Gowans to his thing and that he did getting the Lions on the board 3:21 into the game with his 5-yard touchdown run putting the Lions up 6-0.

With under two minutes left in the first half, the Lions added on to their lead with Gowans getting his second touchdown on the day, this time he rumbled his way in from four yards out, putting the Lions up 13-0 at halftime.

In the third quarter, the Lions extended their lead to 20-0 when John Welde found Gowans with not a single defender in his area and the duo connected for a 20-yard touchdown. Gowans finished the game with 195 yards rushing, drawing praise from Ewing, who said, “Amahj is special, he continues to power our offense.”

The Speedboys did cut into the Lions’ lead in the fourth quarter when Xavier Howard connected with Akir Archer for a 50-yard touchdown. But that was the closest they got to the Lions. Welde added a rushing touchdown and a passing touchdown to Braylon Harris to cap the scoring and send the Lions to their PIAA 4A Quarterfinals, where they will meet the District 2 Champion North Pocono

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