A rough road trip for Neuqua
INDIANAPOLIS - Things started well enough for Neuqua Valley in Friday's showdown with Cathedral at the University of Indianapolis.
The Wildcats recovered a Cathedral fumble on the opening kickoff and scored six plays later on quarterback Joey Ippolito's 1-yard keeper to take a 7-0 lead. After twice trading touchdowns, Neuqua led 21-20 with 45 seconds left in the half.
Then everything fell apart for the Wildcats. Cathedral - ranked first in Class 4A of Indiana's five-class system - had 6 interceptions on the night, scored five straight touchdowns over a 16-minute span, rolled up 521 yards of offense and ran away with a 63-34 win.
"You're trying to go win a ballgame and you're putting it out there," said Neuqua coach Bryan Wells, whose team aired it out 44 times in playing catch-up.
"You have to give credit to Cathedral for getting some of those interceptions."
Early, it looked like Neuqua (2-4) might ruin Cathedral's homecoming. Cathedral (6-1) tied the game at 7 on its first drive, but Ippolito scored again from a yard away to give the Wildcats a 14-7 lead. The Irish came right back again, with do-everything quarterback Kofi Hughes scoring on a 21-yard burst for the first of his five TDs.
Speedster Robert Herzberger's 99-yard kick return gave the lead right back to Neuqua at 21-20. It was Hughes again, though, needing just 21 seconds to find Stevie Wilson for a 26-yard TD, giving the Irish a 28-21 halftime lead.
"Every time we got some momentum, they took it right back," Wells said.
The Wildcats had possession to start the third quarter, but the drive ended three plays later, when Cathedral secured its fourth interception. The Irish scored 67 seconds later on Wilson's 20-yard end-around scamper down the right sideline, taking a 35-21 lead. From there the onslaught was on. The Wildcats gained just 19 yards on the ground in the second half and 68 for the game.
"The third quarter we did a tremendous job of being mentally focused and it allowed us to extend ourselves," said Cathedral coach Rick Streiff.
Neuqua overcame 3 interceptions in the first half by forcing a pair of Cathedral fumbles and getting the big return from Herzberger.
"We did some nice things on special (teams)," Wells said. "Outside of the interceptions, I felt like our offense did some good things at times. We're going to go back to work on Monday and go get St. Charles North."