It was far from pretty, but Cathedral was able to defeat Warren Central 28-21 on the road in a big win before the playoffs. How could it be without your starting quarterback and running back? 

From top to bottom, the Irish knew everybody would need to step up to secure a win. 

“Coach Peebles was saying it all week,” senior running back Jimmy Pappas said. “It wasn’t about ‘next man up,’ it was about everybody upping their game, as a team. I feel like we did that tonight in all aspects of the game.” 

Pappas most notably stepped up with three touchdowns, including the go-ahead plunge with just over two minutes left in the game and a nearly 70-yard sprint to regain control of the lead midway through the third quarter. 

“O-Line had a great day,” Pappas said. “It was a battle back and forth, but we were able to secure it at the end.”

Defensively for the Irish, junior linebacker Marcus Shannon was able to come up big with a first-quarter interception to set the tone of the match. He would also secure one of the Cathedral’s many sacks throughout the night. Senior lineman Will Pugh led the way with two sacks on the night. 

Despite the impressive efforts, the Warrior offense would not back down after a slow start in the first half. 

Sophomore quarterback Jack Quillen found junior target Mykell Tanner late in the first half to get the Warrior offense ignited, and would start the second half by capping off a 7-plus minute drive with a five-yard scamper into the endzone. 

After Pappas retook the lead with the aforementioned 70-yard sprint, a Jerimy Finch strip sack would lead to Quillen’s third score of the night as the sophomore found Zechariah Wallace on a beautiful fade down the sideline to knot the score up at 21. 

As Cathedral took over the game with its bully-ball ground attack, they clinched the win with an Alex Couch pass break-up on fourth down as Quillen and company attempted a game-tying drive late in the fourth quarter. 

The Irish will enjoy the week off as they look to get healthy in preparation for their sectional-opening game against Anderson, while the Warriors will look to re-focus themselves on Perry Meridian after dropping three straight games to end the season. 

“We’re going to face a lot of good teams in the playoffs,” Pappas said. “This win will hopefully up that mentality, and give us a good run at state to bring it home this year.”