Class 5-A top-ranked Cathedral roared back in the second half Friday night to erase a 14-point deficit at Class 6-A seventh-ranked Brownsburg, but the Bulldogs and penalties proved to be too much as the Irish lost their first football game of the season 37-26.
Brownsburg jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the opening quarter on Clay Chase’s 46-yard field goal and Ben Easters’ 23-yard touchdown pass to Ryus Moore. Cathedral’s Charlie Brady blocked a Bulldog punt late in the first half, which teammate Richie Hegarty fell on it at the Brownsburg five-yard line. Two plays later, quarterback Orin Edwards sneaked into the end zone from the one-yard line to close the gap to 10-6. The Bulldogs blocked the Stuart Gomez point after kick. Chase’s 35-yard field goal with one second remaining in the half made the score 13-6 at the intermission.
Brownsburg began the second half with an eight-play, 65-yard drive, culminating in Easters’ 22-yard touchdown pass to Thomas Reis to make the score 20-6. The Irish offense, with some help from the defense, then scored 20 unanswered points. Edwards ended a six-play, 70-yard drive with an 11-yard scoring run to narrow the margin to 20-13. Following a Dorion Collins interception, Daylen Hall scored on a 38-yard run to tie the game 20-20. On the next Irish possession, Chon’Dre Cissell ran 22 yards for a touchdown to give Cathedral a 26-20 lead.
Brownsburg regained the lead early in the fourth quarter on another Easters to Reis touchdown pass. Easters threw his fourth touchdown of the night on the following possession and Chase added a 48-yard field goal in the closing minutes for the final score.
Cissell led the Cathedral rushing attack with 90 yards on 13 carries. In doing so, he moved into tenth place on the school’s all-time career rushing list with 1,823 yards. Brownsburg’s Donnie Marcus led all rushers with 183 yards on 34 carries. The two teams combined for 23 penalties totaling 205 yards.
Cathedral hosts Cincinnati Elder at Marian University next Friday. The Panthers opened the season with a 31-0 win over Gahanna Lincoln. The Irish have previously played Elder four times, winning the first meeting in 1930, but losing the last three games between the two schools with the last being played in 2003.