Cathedral defeated Warren Central in high school football Friday night, 28-21, in the final game of the regular season for both teams. The Fighting Irish never trailed but needed Jimmy Pappas’ third rushing touchdown of the night and a fourth-down defensive stop in the closing minutes to earn the victory. The Irish grabbed the lead, 7-0, late in the first quarter on Pappas’ 18-yard touchdown run. With less than three minutes left in the first half, Luke Finn tossed a 7-yard scoring pass to Landon Hughes, making it 14-0. The Warriors responded with a 14-play, 80-yard drive that ended when Jack Quillen threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Keysean Willlams-Jarrett, narrowing the margin to 14-7 at the intermission. Warren Central took the second half kickoff and marched 67 yards in 10 plays to tie the score on Quillen’s 6-yard touchdown run. On the next play from scrimmage, Pappas answered with a 69-yard TD run putting Cathedral back on top 21-14. Quillen’s 28-yard scoring pass to Zech Wallace later in the third quarter evened the game at 21 all. In the fourth period, the Fighting Irish started what would be the game-winning drive at their own 30-yard line with 7:45 remaining. Pappas carried the ball nine of the next 12 plays and finished the Irish march with a 10-yard touchdown run, carrying tacklers into the end zone with 2:33 to play. The Warriors then moved the ball to the Irish 46-yard line, but Parker Scott intercepted Quillen’s fourth-down pass to seal the win. Pappas carried the ball on 38 of Cathedral’s 59 offensive plays for 241 yards. In doing so, he surpassed the 1,000-yard career rushing milestone. The Fighting Irish defense held Warren Central to just 11 yards rushing and sacked the quarterback nine times. The Irish finish the regular season with a 6-3 record, while the Warriors fall to 5-4 following their third consecutive loss. Cathedral has a first-round bye in the Indiana High School Athletic Association football state tournament which begins next week. The Irish will return to action on October 31st at Anderson against the 1-8 Indians. Cathedral is 3-0 all-time against Anderson including sectional wins in 2013 and 2014.