Indianapolis Cathedral held on to defeat Cincinnati St. Xavier in high school football Friday night, 25-22, in a wild game at Arlington Middle School. The victory is just the third for the Irish in 20 meetings with the Bombers. Cathedral improves its overall record to 5-0 for the first time since the 2000 season.
St. Xavier scored on its first possession when Brian McCaughey completed a 12-yard touchdown pass to Penn State recruit Liam Clifford. Trailing for only the second time this season, Cathedral marched 60 yards in nine plays, concluding with Nathan McCahill connecting on a 19-yard scoring pass to Cam Jordan. Jake Langdon’s two-point conversion run put the Irish ahead 8-7 in the first quarter.
Early in the second quarter, McCahill flipped the ball forward to Jordan on an end around 5-yard scoring pass to give the Irish a 15-7 lead. With less that 30 seconds left in the half, Gabe DuBois intercepted a McCahill third-down pass and returned it 23 yards for a Bomber touchdown. A successful two-point conversion tied the score, 15-15, at the intermission.
Ben Gomez kicked a 33-yard field goal in the third quarter to put Cathedral back in the lead. Jake Langdon’s 5-yard touchdown run capped a 16-play, seven-minute, 80-yard drive, making the margin 25-15 with 9:36 remaining in the game. St. Xavier responded with Ryan Nolan throwing a 43-yard TD pass to Clifford, closing the deficit to 25-22 and setting a frenetic finish.
With the Irish driving and less than three minutes to play, Dubois recovered a Jordan fumble at the St. Xavier 10-yard line. Two plays later, Jeff Utzinger intercepted a Nolan pass and returned it to the Bombers’ 11-yard line. After three plays, two for negative yardage, and a penalty, DuBois returned an Irish punt to the St. X 24-yard line, giving the Bombers one last chance with 1:49 to play.
Three quick Nolan completions moved the ball to midfield before Cathedral’s Dominic Seibal sacked him for an 11-yard loss. Two plays later, Anthony Kwiatkowski appeared to have ended the game when he intercepted a Nolan pass. However, a roughing the passer penalty gave St. Xavier two more plays from the Irish 47-yard line. After an incomplete pass, Hudson Miller and Farrell Henderson sacked Nolan to end the game and preserve the victory.
McCahill completed 15 of 23 passes for 201 yards. Jordan caught six passes for 78 yards. His two scoring catches tie Luke Sanders’ school record for the most touchdown receptions in an Irish career with 23. The Irish defense held St. Xavier to just 27 yards rushing on 27 attempts and sacked two ST. X quarterbacks a total of six times.
Cathedral hosts reigning Division II (second largest class) Ohio state champion Cincinnati La Salle next Friday at Arlington. The Lancers enter the game with a 3-1 record, losing only to St. Xavier this season. The Irish have won all three previous meetings with La Salle including the most recent one in 2007, 7-6.