Big third quarter sends CC back to state finals
For the first time in two full seasons, the Knights trailed. But as usual, Central Catholic was not shaken. Nathan Baird's blog
"We knew this was a good team coming in; we knew they were going to bring their 'A' game," CC senior receiver and kicker Niall Noonan said. "Our main thing tonight was, 'think about the next play,' and that's what we did."
Behind another dominant third quarter, Central Catholic pulled away for a 42-14 victory over Churubusco to repeat as Class A semistate champion and earn a return trip to Lucas Oil Stadium for the state championship game.
The top-ranked Knights get a rematch with Fountain Central, which they defeated 52-0 in last year's title game.
"You work from June when we start lifting weights, and you go through two-a-days, you go through hardships," CC senior linebacker Devin Morgan said. "We just came together and it feels great to get where you want to go."
Brad Schrader rushed for 120 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the second half. The Knights executed three third-quarter touchdown drives of 50 or more yards, pulling away from a 14-8 halftime lead and keeping the ball away from Mathewson (37 carries, 182 yards).
The Knights have outscored opponents 215-7 in the third quarter.
"We knew they score a lot of points in the third quarter, and we tried to stop it, and unfortunately we couldn't and they got ahead of us," said Mathewson, who caught a 15-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter and threw a 9-yard TD pass in the fourth.
Cody Christopher's 2-yard touchdown run with 35.9 seconds left in the first half gave the Knights a six-point lead. The momentum carried over to the start of the second half, where Schrader's 26-yard touchdown run capped a four-play, 65-yard scoring drive.
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