INDIANAPOLIS – In a championship rematch that demanded every ounce of resilience from two heavyweight programs, No. 1 Cathedral emerged victorious in a 24-21 thriller over No. 2 New Palestine.
The top-ranked Irish withstood a furious second-half rally from the defending 5A-champion Dragons to claim the IHSAA Class 5A Sectional 13 championship Friday night at Howard Longshore Stadium. Cathedral stamped its 28th sectional title and secured the 800th win in program history, becoming the first Indiana high school football program to reach the milestone on the same night.
The Irish established early control on their home field, opening the championship game with a 10-play, 66-yard scoring drive. Junior running back Tell’i McCollough capped the opening drive with a 2-yard touchdown, taking a direct snap into the end zone to give Cathedral an early 6-0 lead. McCollough added 33 rushing yards on seven carries and scored the eighth rushing TD of his junior season.
Cathedral’s special teams controlled the field position, which ultimately played a pivotal role once a punt pinned New Pal inside its own 1-yard line. The Irish defense forced a three-and-out, then the Dragons’ ensuing punt was shanked out of bounds.
The Irish attacked the perimeter as junior quarterback Luke Finn threw a quick pass to senior receiver Evan Johnson, who then burst past defenders and raced past the pylon for a 15-yard touchdown. The Irish successfully converted the two-point attempt on a pass to senior tight end Owen Peterson to extend the lead to 14-0 with under five minutes left in the first half.
It built into a chippy affair, with a dozen penalties negating explosive plays and disrupting possessions on both sides. Cathedral’s unsuccessful two-point attempt, missed chip shot, along with a lost fumble near the goal line kept New Palestine within striking distance. The issue for the Dragons was that striking distance became a three possession deficit once junior kicker Rohan Fahey added a 38-yard field goal to give Cathedral a commanding 17-0 lead before halftime.
“This is a resilient, tough, hard-nosed team,” Cathedral head coach Bill Peebles said. “They did enough to win, and we beat a very good, very talented, and very well-coached New Pal team.”
New Palestine needed halftime to regroup and took just 90 seconds to respond out of the break and seize momentum in the sectional title game. Junior quarterback Rhys Ragan reared back in the pocket and launched a 65-yard touchdown strike to senior receiver Cael Butler to breathe some fire into the Dragons’ sideline and cut the deficit to 17-7. Butler finished with a game-high seven receptions for 111 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
The momentum carried into the Dragons’ defense as sophomore safety Xavier Harmon picked off a pass from Cathedral’s sophomore quarterback Emmett Knowles to set up New Pal with favorable field position near midfield. The Dragons leaned on their rushing attack and methodically marched into the red zone behind junior running back Logan Parks, who repeatedly broke through the Irish defensive front. Parks finished the drive with a 4-yard touchdown, his 19th this season, to trim the deficit to 17-14 midway through the third quarter.
“They hit the big play, then we had the turnover down there on the goal line,” Peebles said after the game. “We kind of put ourselves in a bad position. We’ve been pretty good with turnovers all year, but the two turnovers today almost cost us the game.”
With the sectional championship hanging in the balance, the Irish needed to answer New Pal’s suddenly steamrolling offense. Johnson ran a dig route and hauled in a contested 12-yard catch to convert a critical third-and-9 for the Irish. Senior running back Xavier Dangerfield moved the chains past midfield on consecutive carries. Finn hit Johnson on a quick slant, who then broke through the initial tackle and raced 40 yards into the end zone, restoring the cushion at 24-14. Johnson was instrumental for the Irish, finishing with five highlight-reel receptions for 99 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Dangerfield continued to grind out an excellent outing, finishing with 114 rushing yards on 23 carries. Indianapolis’ City Offensive Player of the Year, put together his fourth-straight 100-yard performance while adding another chapter to his senior campaign by cementing his second straight 1,000-yard season and rising into seventh on Cathedral’s all-time rushing list.
With its season against the ropes, New Palestine refused to surrender. Pinned deep in its own territory, the Dragons put together one final desperation drive. Senior receiver Landon Maddox ignited the drive with an impressive 35-yard diving reception to give the offense some breathing room. After avoiding a sack and scrambling for a first down, Ragans delivered his second touchdown pass to Butler in the back of the end zone with just 18 seconds remaining.
New Palestine fought down from three scores to within three points, setting up a decisive onside kick for one final opportunity to potentially keep the sectional championship alive. Cathedral recovered the ensuing kick, allowing the Irish to secure the 800th win in program history in victory formation, having never trailed against the defending champs.
“You have to survive the games (that) you don’t play great,” Peebles said. “We picked a bad team to not play great against, because they’re a really good team, and we survived it.”
Top-ranked Cathedral visits No. 8 Plainfield for the IHSAA 5A Regional Championship next Friday, with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m.
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