This won’t likely be an easy season. But it could be a significant one. Cathedral High School football will be young in 2026. The perennially strong program will be talented. There will be significant challenges. Improvement must happen – and fast – to be successful. That is the objective, and Bill Peebles believes the Irish are ready. “Do I like this team? Yes, they work hard. They respond well. They take coaching well,” he said. The Irish, perennially among Indiana’s top high school football programs, enter the 2026 season – Peebles’ ninth as the program’s head coach – amid significant roster turnover following a 7-4 2025 season in which they lost to New Palestine, 20-15, in Round 2 of the sectional playoff. They will face yet another difficult schedule with newcomers playing significant snaps. “It’s going to look like a very different team,” Peebles said. “We are facing a challenge. If we can pull this out, it will be a feather-in-a-cap year. If things don’t go well, it could be tough. We are not super deep. We have enough talent to compete, and we are playing incredibly good competition.” The Irish in 2026 will be young and talented along the defensive line, starting two strong sophomores. They will be young on the offensive line, too, and will start first-time starter junior Luke Finn at quarterback – with sophomore Emmett Knowles also expect to play at quarterback. Finn played four games in 2025, throwing for 204 yards and two touchdowns. “We’ll see how that plays out,” Peebles said. “There are a lot of new faces. We graduated a lot of good players last year.” Which means Irish football enters 2026 in something of a transition. The Irish have been a pass-oriented team offensively in recent seasons, with Peebles saying the run game – with running back Xavier Dangerfield considered one of the state’s top running backs – will be key in 2026. Dangerfield rushed for 604 yards and four touchdowns on 111 carries last season. Also key offensively: Senior wide receiver Evan Johnson, who caught 18 passes for 166 yards last season. “We're going to have to run the ball really well and use the run game to set up the pass game,” Peebles said. “There have been years that we have had to use the pass to set up the run. This is a year that we have to use the run to set up the pass.” Added Peebles of running well, “It’s not a matter of ‘want.’ We're going to have to.” Also key for the Irish in 2026: Likely starting left tackle Phillip Brown III and senior offensive guard/three-year starter Beau Annikan, who missed the end of the season and postseason last season with an injury. “Those two guys are difference-makers,” Peebles said. “When they’re both playing and playing well, our offensive line is pretty good. If we miss one of them, it’s different. It’s that important that both are on the field for us.” Health also will be critical, with the Peebles saying the Irish may not be able to successfully play through as many key injuries as they did the past two seasons. Leaders and key contributors such as Dangerfield, Annikan and tight end Owen Peterson must remain healthy. Dangerfield missed all but six games last season with a hamstring injury, with Peterson sustaining a broken leg in Week 2 and likely to return midseason. “If Owen comes back healthy, if Xavier stays healthy, we have a chance to be pretty good,” Peebles said. “If they don't, there's a big drop off.” A strong linebacker corps that features senior Marcus Shannon – “a great leader on our team,” Peebles said – will lead the defense, as well senior safety Caden Nelson, junior cornerback Timmy Onghetich and senior outside linebacker Parker Scott. “I think the defense will be our strength if the young guys up front can hold their own,” Peebles said. “If they can’t, it could be rough.” A major factor again for the Irish: A difficult schedule of which Peebles said, “It’s either going to prepare us or end us.” The Irish open the season at Ben Davis on August 21, play host to Chicago (Ill.) Loyola August 28, then visit Cincinnati (Ohio) St. Xavier September 4 before playing host to Chatard September 11. “We have to coach every one of them up,” Peebles said. “We have had a good summer when it comes to growth and getting guys ready. The question is, ‘Are they going to be good enough against elite competition?’ We have been working our tails off all summer, and we will continue to work our tails off. “There are challenges. If everybody stays healthy, if we get guys back, if our youth grows up quickly, we have a chance to have a pretty good football team this year, but we definitely have to stay healthy. “We can't have our Top 2 or 3 guys out going into the playoffs like the last two years or it will be an early exit like it has been the last two years.”