Indianapolis Cathedral defeated Cincinnati La Salle, 37-28, in a hard-fought high school football game Friday night at Arlington Middle School. The Class 5A top-ranked Fighting Irish improve their record to 6-0 with the victory, while the Lancers fall to 3-2 heading into the final week of Ohio’s six-game regular season.
Cathedral’s first touchdown, a 3-yard Nathan McCahill pass to Parker Spellacy, followed a blocked La Salle punt, which the Irish recovered at the 5-yard line. McCahill’s second scoring pass was for two yards to Cam Jordan, giving Cathedral a 14-0 first-quarter lead. It was Jordan’s 24th career TD reception, breaking the school record of 23 previously held by Luke Sanders.
La Salle’s Zach Branham cut the Irish lead in half on a 4-yard second-quarter TD run, only to have McCahill answerthree playes later with a 15-yard scoring dash to make the halftime lead 21-7. La Salle quickly narrowed the gap in the third quarter as Mason Luensman kicked a 28-yard field goal and Branham scored on a 19-yard run. His two-point conversion run made the score 21-18.
Cathedral momentarily increased its advantage to two possessions on Jake Langdon’s 9-yard touchdown run. However, following a missed point-after kick, La Salle’s BJ Ross returned the ensuing kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown to pull the Lancers to within two points, 27-25.
The Fighting Irish then marched 75 yards in 13 plays, finishing with McCahill tossing a shuffle pass to David Perry who ran seven yards for the game-clinching score in the final quarter. Luensman’s 34-yard field goal and a Ben Gomez 20-yard Irish field goal concluded the scoring in the final six minutes.
Cathedral gained 215 yards on the ground, with Langdon and McCahill each running for more than 100 yards, while the Irish defense limited the Lancers to just 52 yards rushing. Cathedral has not allowed an opponent to total more than 100 yards on the ground in its last four games.
Cathedral hosts a third straight opponent from the Greater Catholic League South next Friday when Cincinnati Elder (3-2) visits Arlington. The Panthers finished the 2019 season as the state runner-up in Ohio's Division I (largest class) tournament. Elder defeated the Fighting Irish at home, 38-31, in overtime last season. The Panthers have won five of the six previous meetings between the two schools with the only Cathedral win coming in the 1930 season.