WEST PALM BEACH – Luigi de Cardenas has the heart of a lion in more ways than one.

As an emerging leader for Cardinal Newman, the senior has found a way to impact games on both offense and defense. Numbers are not everything, but a player’s level of presence on the field sure does.

The senior linebacker/running back had four tackles on defense, while adding six carries for 25+ yards and a game-icing 2-yard touchdown run on offense at the 6:12 mark of the fourth quarter against St. John Paul II. Four of his carries were inside the opposition’s 30-yard line as he muscled his way to get the Crusaders a 25-6 lead over the Eagles.

When the final buzzer sounded, Cardinal Newman (3-1) scored a 25-12 win over St. John Paul II (2-2). Our MVP of Week 5 was a significant reason why the outcome turned out the way it did.

“Luigi is a great teammate. He does his best to get his job done at linebacker,” Cardinal Newman junior Denzel Williams said of de Cardenas.

“I would say he was doing a pretty good job at stopping the run, as well as all of our linebackers,” Williams continued. “Although running back isn’t his main position, he got the job done in that spot as well. He had a few pretty good runs, as well as a pretty nice touchdown on his senior night. I congratulate him on winning MVP of this week. He deserves it.”

Cardinal Newman sophomore quarterback Joe Thomas chimed in as well.

“Luigi definitely had a heck of a game, which was well deserved,” Thomas said. “He‘s one of the hardest workers on our team and it definitely showed on Friday.”

PHOTO CREDITS: Keith Forde