Top-ranked Irish too much for Whiteland football

<p>INDIANAPOLIS</p><p>Whiteland’s pursuit of the second football semistate berth in school history ran into a brick wall Friday night.</p><p>A really, really fast brick wall.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery<p>Top-ranked Cathedral, heavily favored to win its 13th state championship and first in six years, handed the fourth-ranked Warriors a 39-6 loss in a Class 5A regional game played at Arsenal Tech.</p><p>Whiteland’s season ends with a 9-2 record.</p><p>“Their athleticism was tough to deal with, that’s for sure. On both sides of the ball,” Warriors coach Darrin Fisher said. “We got some one-on-ones on the perimeter with their guys on the corners, and all the credit goes to Cathedral. They made the plays on the perimeter, and they beat us on the line of scrimmage as well.”</p><p>The Irish produced points on their first four offensive series to take a comfortable 25-0 lead at halftime. Cathedral rolled up 271 yards over the first two periods to the Warriors’ 39.</p><p>Whiteland didn’t pick up its first first down until an 11-yard run by senior Chase Valentine with 3:20 left in the second quarter. Valentine finished with 68 yards rushing on 18 carries after entering the game with 1,820 yards on the ground.</p><p>Cathedral took the opening kickoff and proceeded to march 74 yards in seven plays to open the scoring, quarterback Nathan McCahill connecting with Camden Jordan on a 1-yard pass at 8:45 of the first. The Irish defense stifled the Warriors on the ensuing series, then left it up to the offense, which this time went 82 yards to paydirt in a dozen plays.</p><p>Senior running back Jake Langdon did the honors, bulling in from a yard out to make it 15-0 late in the opening quarter. McCahill’s 9-yard timing throw to Jordan at 10:39 of the second pushed the Irish lead to 22-0; a 40-yard field goal by Cathedral junior Ben Gomez at 3:51 of the second concluded the scoring before intermission.</p><p>A 33-yard TD run by Langdon and Tazz Garrett’s 1-yard score made it a 39-0 game early in the fourth period, making it so the remainder of the game played out with a running clock.</p><p>Warrior teams had been bounced from the postseason by Cathedral five times between 2006 and 2014 — three regional losses and two in sectional title games — with the Irish outscoring Whiteland, 201-63.</p><p>“Disappointment is part of life. It happens. And we all have to deal with it. I guess I’m not going to remember this season tonight,” Fisher said. “I’m going to remember this season for all the things that happened prior, and that’s what I want our players to do. We came over here tonight expecting to perform well, and we got beat by a better football team.”</p><p>Whiteland averted a shutout on a 5-yard run up the middle by quarterback Brant Kunz with 54.7 seconds remaining. The junior said the score gave his program a momentum push in the right direction while preparing for the 2021 season.</p><p>“I think this is a great stepping stone for us,” Kunz said. “Last season, obviously, we didn’t end the way we wanted against New Pal. It showed us what we had to do in the weight room, and it really helped. This is also going to help us get over that next hump.”</p>