The Center Grove Trojans will face off against the Cathedral Fighting Irish at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with Center Grove sitting on six straight victories and Cathedral on three.
Center Grove is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Indiana's top teams: Lawrence Central, who was ranked 16th at the time (Center Grove was ranked second). The Trojans claimed a resounding 36-0 win over the Bears. The Trojans might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won three matchups by 28 points or more this season.
Center Grove found their leader in sophomore Kobe Cherry, who picked up two sacks and made nine total tackles (3.0 for loss). Owen Oliver also deserves some recognition as he punched in his first rushing touchdown of the season.
Center Grove was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 200 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 200 rushing yards every time they've taken the field this season.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Center Grove's defense and their seven sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Cameron Linder and Cherry, who racked up four sacks between them. The game marked Cherry's first with multiple sacks this season. Center Grove got some further help from Trew Paxson: he picked up a sack and made nine total tackles.
Meanwhile, even if it wasn't a dominant performance, Cathedral beat Trotwood-Madison 32-28 on Friday.
Cathedral's victory bumped their record up to 4-2. As for Center Grove, their win bumped their record up to 6-0.
Center Grove came up short against Cathedral in their previous meeting back in October of 2024, falling 49-45. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of the Fighting Irish's Xavier Dangerfield, who rushed for 196 yards and three touchdowns. Now that the Trojans know the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps