Trojans coast past Cathedral on senior night

<p>The game of Cam Petty’s life is sending Center Grove into the postseason with a full head of steam.</p><p>Petty, the Trojans’ senior tight end, caught two first-half touchdown passes to get his team off to a fast start in what amounted to a surprisingly lopsided win over Class 5A No. 3 Cathedral, 34-7.</p><p>Winners of four consecutive games, Center Grove is 6-3 as it awaits its Oct. 26 sectional opener in Class 6A against Columbus North.</p><p>“(Petty) had a little inspiration tonight being senior night. He did a great job and is a great athlete,” Trojans coach Eric Moore said. “Sometimes it’s hard to get him the ball, but we found some spots tonight. I’m sure he had fun, and he ran like a gazelle down the sideline.”</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery<p>Both sidelines, actually.</p><p>Center Grove scored on the game’s second play when quarterback Jackson Moore rolled right on second-and-10 and found Petty wide open on the right side. The play resulted in a 65-yard touchdown and immediate momentum for the home squad.</p><p>“We’ve practiced that play all week,” said Petty, who finished with three receptions for 140 yards. “When I came out, the safety fell. And so when I broke off and caught it and turned back around, I saw no one and my main thought was to put my head down and run.”</p><p>The Trojans reached into their bag of tricks on the next offensive possession.</p><p>Facing fourth down, senior punter P.J. Buck tossed a short pass to Petty in front of the Cathedral bench. The senior again sprinted away from Irish defenders, this time from 54 yards out.</p><p>“The second (touchdown) we practiced for nine weeks,” Petty said. “It was good to see it finally work. Brian Gaffney, our long snapper, he had a huge block. I saw him come out of the corner of my eye and wipe someone out. That’s what really gave us the touchdown.”</p><p>Leading 20-0 at the half, the Trojans tacked on two more touchdowns on sophomore back Carson Steele’s second and third touchdown runs of the night. Steele’s trips to paydirt covered 42, 4 and 29 yards en route to 131 yards rushing.</p><p>Defensively, freshman end Caden Curry led the Trojans with seven tackles. Seniors Cade Lansdell and Gaffney had five apiece, with senior defensive back Matt Pence doing his part with four.</p><p>Cathedral (4-5), which opens sectional play on Friday against Plainfield in a game to be played at Southport, finished with 367 total yards compared to Center Grove’s 319. The Irish also ran 26 more offensive plays than the Trojans.</p><p>The Trojans’ 27-point victory was more points than what separated the teams over four previous games since the Week 9 series began in 2014. Those contests, the first three won by Center Grove, were decided by a total of 23 points.</p><p>Cathedral averted a shutout by scoring on a 2-yard touchdown run with 6:37 remaining in the fourth quarter. The last time an Irish squad was shut out was 2015, when the Trojans handed them a 7-0 loss.</p>