Cathedral defeated Lawrence Central on the road Friday night, 33-13, to win the school’s 26th sectional football championship and advance in the 50th annual IHSAA State Tournament. The Class 6A second-ranked Irish will travel to Brownsburg for a regional rematch of a week two meeting between the two schools, which the fourth-ranked Bulldogs won 42-35.
On the first possession of the game, Cathedral’s Kyuss Gargett intercepted a Lawrence Central pass and returned it to the Bears’ 11-yard line. Three plays later, Danny O’Neil threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Jaron Tibbs. Lawrence Central answered with 10-play, 65-yard drive, culminating on Bryson Luter’s 26-yard score-tying completion to Jacob Franklin.
The Fighting Irish regained the lead on O’Neil’s 38-yard scoring run with 2:35 remaining in the first quarter. The defenses dominated the scoreless second period. Cathedral held LC to just six yards of offense and one first down, while the Bears sacked O’Neil three times leading to minus 16 yards rushing in the quarter.
Freshman Van Krisiloff kicked field goals from 35 and 25 yards in the third quarter to put the Irish ahead 20-7. Cathedral added fourth quarter rushing touchdowns of 9 yards by Carson Johnson and 12 yards by O’Neil to increase the lead to 33-7. Luter’s 55-yard scoring pass to Demarcus Cole in the final minute of the game concluded the scoring.
O’Neil completed 21 of 33 passes for 255 yards. Tibbs caught six passes for 126 yards. The Irish are now 6-0 in Class 6A sectional play, winning the sectional title all three years competing in the classification. Cathedral improved its record to 9-1, while Lawrence North leaves the tournament with a 5-6 mark.
Brownsburg, 10-1 on the season, advanced to the regional round with a 56-21 victory at Avon. The Irish and Bulldogs previously played four times in the tournament in the 1990’s with Cathedral winning all four Class 4A sectional meetings. The Fighting Irish will play for their first-ever 6A regional victory, while the Bulldogs are attempting to advance to the semi-state round of the tournament for the first time since 1985.