Cathedral’s defense forced five turnovers and Irish quarterback Nathan McCahill threw four touchdown passes as the top-ranked Fighting Irish defeated sixth-rated Decatur Central Friday night, 42-7, to win the Class 5-A Sectional 13 championship. Cathedral will host fourth-ranked Whiteland in the regional round of the football state tournament next Friday at Arsenal Tech’s Howard Longshore Stadium.
The Irish received the opening kickoff, but were forced to punt after failing to gain a first down. Two plays later, Zane Hill intercepted a Peyton Horsley pass and returned it 41 yards to the Decatur Central 30-yard line. Following a Jake Langdon 25-yard run, McCahill tossed a 10-yard scoring pass to Brennan Wooten. The score remained 6-0 when a two-point conversion attempt failed.
The Hawks fumbled on their next possession and the Irish recovered at the Decatur Central 49-yard line. McCahill completed a 34-yard pass to Parker Spellacy to set up a 15-yard Langdon touchdown run. In the final seconds of the first quarter, Cam Jordan caught a 50-yard scoring pass from McCahill to make Irish lead 20-0.
The Hawks scored midway through the second quarter on Horsley's 47-yard TD pass to Javon Tracy. Cathedral countered with a 3-yard Langdon scoring run and a 17-yard McCahill touchdown strike to Michael Page, giving the Irish a 35-7 lead at halftime. Page caught a 77-yard scoring pass with 8:39 remaining in the fourth quarter to trigger the Mercy Rule, and a running clock, for the remainder of the game.
McCahill completed 9 of 14 passes for 232 yards. His four scoring passes give him 32 for the season, making him the second Cathedral player in school history to throw for more than 30 touchdowns in a season. The Irish defense held Decatur Central to 48 rushing yards on 22 attempts.
The sectional title is Cathedral’s 24th in school history. Whiteland defeated two-time defending Class 5-A state champion New Palestine, 48-13, Friday night to win Sectional 14 and improve its record to 9-1. The Irish have won all five previous tournament meetings with the Warriors, including regional victories in 2006, 2013, and 2014.