This was a memorable, successful season. That’s nothing new for Cathedral High School football, which yet again made a deep postseason run in 2023 and remained one of Indiana’s premier high school football programs “We’re definitely in a healthy spot,” Irish football coach Bill Peebles said. The Irish, who have won 14 Indiana state championships, finished the 2023 season 8-4 with all four losses to top teams in the state. They finished No. 4 in the Class 6A Indiana Football Coaches Association rankings and lost to Ben Davis, 27-24, in a Class 6A regional playoff. The Irish’s four losses came to Ben Davis (No. 2 6A), Bishop Chatard (No. 1 3A), Center Grove (No. 1 6A) and Brownsburg (No. 3 6A). Ben Davis won the Class 6A state title and beat Center Grove in the semistate round after beating Brownsburg in a sectional semifinal. Chatard won the Class 3A state title. “The three best teams in the state this year, we saw them all at one point or another,” Peebles said. “We were competitive and just fell short in all three situations.” The Irish won the Class 6A, Section 6 title with a 20-3 victory over Lawrence North. “We play a pretty remarkable schedule,” Peebles said. “Everybody gets up for us and we play a really tough schedule. Fans come out, they're great environments, and we had that against Ben Davis.” The Irish, after trailing 17-7 at halftime to Ben Davis, twice rallied in the fourth quarter to tie the score 17-17 and 24-24 with senior quarterback Danny O’Neil passing 25 yards to senior tight end Zach Meeks for the first of those touchdown and senior Keith Long rushing for one yard for the second. “From a fan’s perspective, it was probably a lot of fun to watch,” Peebles said. “Our kids really competed. Ben Davis is just a really quality deep group of kids and they’re well-coached.” Added Peebles, “As we hit the playoffs, we got better each week. The losses that we experienced, the bumps in the road that we hit, made us better each week. I think we were playing our best football at the end of the season.” The Irish have won sectional titles every season but one since 2006 and have won regional titles every season since 2020, winning Class 5A regional titles in 2020-21 and Class 6A regional titles the past two seasons. They won Class 5A state titles in 2021, losing in the semistate round in Class 6A in 2022. The 2023 Irish senior class finished as the second-winningest senior class in school history, a game behind the 2022 senior class. “A very successful group of, of young men, very good leaders,” Peebles said. “Our captains this year were remarkable: Excellent leaders, excellent role models, all very good students. Our senior class in general was, was very good and an easy group of kids to coach and root for.” O’Neil passed for 2,068 yards with 31 touchdowns and 10 interceptions as a senior, finishing his career with a school-record 99 touchdown passes. “He has blown up the record book,” Peebles said. “He has won more games at quarterback than any player in Cathedral history. He has been a great leader and a great person. He carries a 4.2 GPA, and he’s everything he was billed to be and more because he is a good person. I was blessed to coach him.” Meeks, who will attend Miami (Ohio) University) and who Peebles said “had a great season” and was a “great leader,” served as a captain and caught 39 passes for 431 yards and nine touchdowns. Offensive lineman and senior captain William Neale started the first half of the season at right tackle and the second half of the season at right guard after starting at center as a junior. “He could literally play ever [offensive line] position,” Peebles said of Neale. Senior middle linebacker and captain Oscar Kirch led the Irish in tackles, with Peebles calling him “the overall quarterback of the defense.” Defensive end Jackson Weingart, the fifth senior captain, will attend West Point. “Those five guys were outstanding all year,” Peebles said. Peebles said the captains and the entire senior class led and set a tone for a program that remains strong. That strength should continue moving forward with the continued goal of making improvements necessary to not only compete for the Class 6A state title but to win it. “One thing we need to take a look at in the offseason is, ‘All right, we’re here in 6A and this is where it looks like we’re going to stay for a while,’’’ he said. “ ‘What are the things we have to do as a program to win in 6A football?’ We know that we're right there. We're competitive. “We're as good as any team in the state, but our path is difficult because of our location. We have to figure that out.”