Preview: Cathedral vs. Chatard

SOUTHPORT, Ind. (WISH) - In the yearly battle between who most would call the two biggest parochial football powerhouses in Central Indiana, Cathedral takes on Chatard. This one should have a great atmosphere, especially given the history between the two schools.

Chatard comes into this week with a pretty good resume: 3-0, ranked No. 1 in both 3A polls, and coming off a double overtime win against one of their other biggest rivals —Roncalli — last week. Cathedral will be their toughest test so far, and is often their toughest test of the entire year. You can bet they will be hyped up for this one.

The Trojans have not defeated the Irish in seven years. Let’s put that into perspective, since the last time Chatard got a win over Cathedral they have won four state titles, five semi-state titles, and seven regionals. Aside from winning a state title, this is probably the biggest game of the year for the Chatard kids.

Cathedral is currently sitting at first in the media poll and second in the coaches’ poll in 4A. With a 1-2 record some people may be surprised by this. As Cathedral has been doing over the last several years, they play an extremely tough regular season schedule. Because of this, as a two-loss team, they still have a lot of respect by the voters. The Irish lost by 3 points in week one at Ben Davis, a team that is currently second in both of the 5A polls. This past week they lost to St. Xavier, traditionally one of Cincinnati’s strongest football programs, by just 6. Neither of those are bad losses to say the least. Their lone win so far in 2012 was 14-7 at Warren Central, who happens to be in the top five of both 5A polls. This Cathedral team is probably just as good as the past few who have won three state titles in the past four years. They might even be better. One thing is for sure, they don’t want to be known as the team who snapped the school’s winning streak against rival Chatard.