Cathedral Slips Past Roncalli 20-13

By Damani Dickerson

For VYPE Magazine

For the Cathedral Irish Friday night it wasn’t how you started but how you finished. 

Class 4A No. 2 Cathedral (8-3) extended their season another week and advanced to the Sectional 14 finals after defeating No. 8 Roncalli (7-4) in the VYPE Football Game of the Week 20-13.

“They’re a great football team. I believe they out played us. They had a great game plan. They out coached us,” Cathedral head coach Rick Streiff said about the Rebels. “We made a lot of mistakes. They played extremely well. We were very fortunate.”

Behind big plays and the big arm of VYPE MVP senior quarterback Corey Babb the Irish ended the Rebels season for the fifth time in the last six years overcoming four turnovers and early poor play in front a packed house at Rebel stadium.

Cathedral opened the game with four early first quarter fumbles, losing two of them. On their initial play from scrimmage Babb mishandled the snap and Roncalli senior defensive lineman Tanner Avery recovered on the Irish 3 yard line.

Three plays later Rebels senior quarterback Danny Rojas scored on a two yard touchdown up the middle on third-and-goal to give them an early 7-0 lead.

Later in the first quarter the Irish offense got settled and scored their first touchdown when Babb found junior tight end Luke Cureton on third down from the Rebel 20 with 1:30 left to play in the quarter. A bobbled snap and missed extra point attempt left Cathedral behind 7-6.

With 27 seconds left in the first half Roncalli regained the lead on a 3-yard touchdown run by junior running back Dylan Evans. The play was set up by a 44-yard bomb from Rojas to junior receiver Andrew Spista that was blanketed by Irish senior defensive back Drake Myers. The Rebels extra point attempt hit the left upright putting Roncalli ahead 13-7.

Babb responded on the ensuing possession from his own 20.

He went up top and hit senior tight end Anthony Corsaro with a deep 65-yard pass down the right sideline. Two plays later with seven seconds left on the clock he rolled left and connected with junior receiver Wyatt Wood in the corner of the end zone to tie the game 13-13 at halftime.    

“Our defense has played great all year long. They created turnovers in the first half. They gave us opportunities to put some points on the board and grab a lead,” Roncalli head coach Bruce Scifres said. “Unfortunately they hit a couple big strikes on us to put points of their own on the board.”

In the second half both defenses stood their ground. The only other score came late in the fourth quarter with 4:51 left in regulation.

On third down, Babb rolled left after being flushed out of the pocket and found sophomore receiver Terry McLaurin for a 65-yard touchdown pass that put the Irish up for good.

“We knew they were going to be coming hard. I saw them coming off the back side, so I stepped up and saw a young guy open down field and just put it out there,” Babb said about his last touchdown pass. “That made up for a lot of sloppy series we had. That was big for us.”   

Babb finished 11-of-22 for 172 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions.

“We came out in the first half and we were turning the ball over and couldn’t hang on to it,” Babb said. “It feels good to be able to move on because we truly didn’t deserve to win.”

Scoring Summary

                                    1^st   2^nd   3^rd   4^th    Final

Cathedral High School      6     7      0     7       20 

Roncalli High School         7     6      0     0       13

Game Summary

First Quarter

R - Danny Rojas 2 run (Drew Oehrle kick)

C - Luke Cureton 20 pass from Cory Babb (kick failed)

Second Quarter

R - Dylan Evans 3 run (kick failed)

C - Wyatt Wood 15 pass from Babb (Drake Myers kick)

Fourth Quarter

C - Terry McLaurin 65 pass from Babb (Myers kick)