GOD’S WILL
ON THE SOCCER FIELD

“A Divine Ruling”: One HP Parent Explains the Loss

According to longtime Highland Park parent and self-appointed “Prayer Captain” Cara Pierce, the UIL’s decision to strip HP of its boys’ soccer state championship wasn’t a bureaucratic mistake or academic mishap...

It was God’s plan.

“The Lord sometimes speaks through sunsets, sometimes through scripture, and sometimes through a unanimous UIL State Executive Committee ruling,” Pierce said in an emotional Instagram Live filmed inside her parked Lexus at the Trader Joe’s on Greenville.

Her son, who reportedly earned a 69 in pre-calculus (“rounded up spiritually, not mathematically,” she clarified), was deemed academically ineligible by Highland Park ISD, invalidating the team’s 2–0 victory over Liberty Hill in the state title game.

“God told me: ‘Cara, this is not defeat. This is character development.’”

Pierce insists she felt divine intervention the moment UIL committee member Mike Motheral announced that pre-calculus “does not count as an honors course at Highland Park.”

“The spirit moved in that room,” she said. “I felt it in my Lululemons.”

Despite submitting new documents “as recently as yesterday,” including:

• A notarized tutor email from someone named Tiffany
• A highlighted Bible verse (“Matthew 7:7 — seek, and ye shall find… exemptions”)
• A printed letter from former state Sen. Florence Shapiro, which Pierce called “prophetic in tone”

the UIL upheld its ruling. Liberty Hill remains the sole state champion.

“We didn’t lose. We were humbled.”

“Scripture tells us the last shall be first,” Pierce explained. “And in this case, the first shall be retroactively last. But spiritually, we remain first.”

She believes the ruling will strengthen her son’s emotional resilience, improve college essay potential across the district, and “teach the boys that doing your homework sometimes matters, even if you’re very, very good at soccer.”

She added: “This is how the Lord works. Through storms. Through trials. Through pre-calculus grades. And through administrators who refuse to round up.”

“A championship is temporary. Character is forever.”

According to Pierce, Highland Park should celebrate, not despair.

“This is a victory of the spirit. A pruning season. A righteous recalibration. What’s a trophy compared to the glory of humility?” she said, while casually referencing her son’s club recruitment videos and upcoming showcase in Frisco.

“Besides, Liberty Hill needed this.”

Pierce concluded gracefully.

“Let them have this one. We are a giving community. We’re basically missionaries.”

When asked if she would file another appeal, she smiled mysteriously and said only:

“If the Lord calls me to.”