Archbishop Alter High School and Stephen T. Badin high schools are rivals when it comes to athletics, but the two Greater Catholic

League coed schools are area leaders when it comes to incorporating faith and football. Both programs offer players weekly opportunities to encounter Christ.

“Every Thursday after school, the football team meets in the chapel, and we have a short prayer service prior to our walk-through practice before the big game on Friday,” said John Ruff, Alter’s lay team chaplain. Ruff served as an assistant coach the previous five seasons and will focus on the chaplain role for 2025. “It’s a time of reflection and slowing down a little bit and thinking about how our faith plays into what we’re doing at the school with football.”

Badin Head Coach Nick Yordy said the Rams’ focal moment comes hours before kickoff, in the form of a team Mass.

“That’s a very serious time for us,” Yordy said. “It’s really just a point in the week, five hours before a game, where I am in there with the team, our priest is there, and we all just reflect on what we have to do. For me especially, it’s a culminating point to the week where [football-wise] there’s nothing we can do now except say some prayers and hopefully we go out and perform well and get a win.”

ALTER’S STARS

Ruff, who also teaches theology at Alter, has worked to create a program that goes beyond the prayer services.

“In the last couple years, there’s been more of an emphasis on connecting sports and virtue; sports and living a life of integrity, which can only be found in Christ Jesus,” Ruff said. “So, in addition to the prayer services, we focus on one or two virtues a season. … The prayer service is structured around Scripture readings … [with] the lay homily focusing more on how that reading connects with the virtue, and then different ways [the athletes] can live out the virtues in their lives.”

Ruff said that they are going to keep that same format, focusing on various virtues, but adding an additional step.

“This year, we’re going to incorporate ownership of acting on those virtues by setting goals every week for the players,” he said.

Alter’s virtues for 2025 are humility and respect. Ruff is working with teachers and staff at the high school to incentivize students. On the field, players can earn brown star decals to go on their gold helmets. This year, if a teacher “catches” a student doing a good deed that coincides with the virtues they’re working on, the player may be rewarded with a white decal for his helmet as well.

BADIN BLENDING TRADITIONS

Badin’s traditions, aside from the Mass, include pregame team prayer with the coaches and, just before the team runs through the banner, a special moment of prayer just for the players. There’s also the important presence of school and team chaplain, Father Ed Pratt.

Yordy said Father Pratt is a welcome presence, not only leading prayers, but also being a witness by spending time with the team. He is often seen on the field during pregame warmups, giving encouragement and high fives to players.

This year, Badin will play its home games at the high school for the first time in its 60-year history, thanks to the construction of a new multisport stadium, the Matandy SportsPlex. The state-of-the-art facility will no doubt be a boost to the Rams’ track, soccer, and football programs, but Yordy said a Marian grotto will be an important part as well.

“One part of that project that is not yet completed … [will be] a grotto for Mary … down by the school. We will incorporate [a stop there] into our pregame traditions.”

Whether it’s through helmet decals, moments of prayer, or a moment of reflection at a Marian grotto, the Rams and the Knights are proving that football can be more than a game—it can be a path to virtue, unity, and a deeper encounter with Christ.

This article appeared in the August 2025 edition of The Catholic Telegraph Magazine. For your complimentary subscription, click here.