Cathedral rolls over Whiteland 48-14 in 4A regional

The Cathedral football team had a rough start to its season, dropping four of its first five games and averaging fewer than 14 points in those losses.

After Cathedral's 48-14 drubbing of Whiteland in Friday's Class 5A regional at Tech to make its ninth straight semistate appearance, it's safe to say the No. 7 Irish have found their way.

Cathedral amassed 551 yards of offense — split almost evenly between rushing and passing — while holding the Warriors to 219 yards, most of which came well after the game had been decided. In four tournament games, the Irish are scoring an average of 56.5 points.

Cathedral (7-5) will travel to No. 2 Bloomington South for next Friday's semistate. With a win there, the Irish will be playing for their fifth consecutive state title.

The victory also means Cathedral will move up in class next year to 6A, the state's largest football class. The Irish were a 4A school in 2012 but moved up to 5A last year because of the IHSAA tournament success factor, in which teams can move up a class as quickly as every two years based on postseason success.

"Our offensive line is really starting to play well together," said Cathedral coach Rick Streiff. "We struggled early in the season, but it's starting to come into play right now."

The game started well enough for No. 11 Whiteland. The Warriors opened with a 50-yard kickoff return by Brandon Patterson into Irish territory. It ended up being one of their few meaningful highlights of the night.

Cathedral led 21-0 at the half and was up 27-0 before Whiteland scored midway through the third quarter. Whiteland (8-4), a run-heavy team that entered the game with more than 3,500 rushing yards and a 7.3 yard-per-carry average, had just 46 yards on 27 rushing plays in the first half for a 1.8-yard average against the dominant Cathedral defense.

Since 2006, Whiteland coach Darrin Fisher's second season, the Irish have ended the Warriors' season five times, including a 56-28 loss in last year's regional.

"What we thought we'd be able to do is grind the ball down the field," Fisher said. "We wanted to use clock and keep their offense off the field, but more importantly that was our best way to score. You can't have lost-yardage plays. We missed some cutoff blocks on the backside. Part of that was scheme on their part. They did a great job. Against a good football team, all the mistakes you make are magnified."

Cathedral quarterback Max Bortenschlager looked for big plays to his receivers down the field. He finished 13-of-19 for 277 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. That complemented a strong rushing attack by Cathedral's bruising runners Evan Christopher (seven carries, 123 yards and one touchdown) and Caleb Cross (19 carries, 79 yards, 2 TDs). Senior receiver Evan Whigham added three catches for 109 yards and two scores.

"We knew Whiteland would come out and fight and hit us and they came out and played pretty well," Christopher said. "But I knew our run game would take over at some point because our line blocks really well."

Cathedral 48, Whiteland 14

C – Caleb Cross 5 run (Mitch Gerbers kick)

C – James Schulz 37 pass from Max Bortenschlager (Gerbers kick)

C – Malcolm Dotson 62 run (Gerbers kick)

C – Evan Christopher 54 run (kick failed)

W – Shaw Cloud 2 run (Jacob Ballain kick)

C – Cross 5 run (Gerbers kick)

C – Evan Whigham 51 pass from Bortenschlager (Gerbers kick)

C – Whigham 44 pass from Bortenschlager (Gerbers kick)

W – Cloud 32 run (Ballain kick)

Rushing—Whiteland: Shaw Cloud 23-100, Jace Carpenter 6-22, Anthony Schantz 3-4, Brandon Patterson 6-(-9), Chris Richardson 5-56, Brandon Benson 2-5, Ryan Hammond 1-1, Brian Spangler 1-6. Cathedral: Caleb Cross 19-79, Evan Christopher 7-123, Malcolm Dotson 3-51, Max Bortenschlager 3-(-10), Tony Johnson 8-29, David Salvas 1-2.

Passing— Whiteland: Carpenter 1-6-0 34 Cathedral: Bortenschlager 13-19-0 277, Quincy Keller 0-1-0 0.

Receiving— Whiteland: Cloud 1-34. Cathedral: Evan Whigham 3-109, Luke Sanders 3-24, Dotson 2-53, Christopher 1-10, Cross 2-30, James Schulz 2-51.