There will be a different name at the top of Indiana Class 5A this season.
No. 9 Indianapolis Cathedral knocked off No. 17 New Palestine 24-21 on Friday night in the Class 5A Sectional 13 championship game at Howard Longshore Stadium on the campus of Arsenal Tech High School, ending the Dragons’ title defense and keeping the Fighting Irish’s season alive.
The win pushes Cathedral into next week’s regional championship round and shuts the door on New Palestine’s bid for a third straight state title across two classifications. It also gives Cathedral a little payback after the same opponent ended its championship run a year ago.
These two programs met in the same sectional title game last November, when New Palestine pulled out a 20-15 win and rode that result all the way to the 2025 Class 5A state championship. This time, Cathedral flipped the script and took the five-point decision for itself.
The rankings reflected how tight the matchup was. Cathedral came in at No. 9 in the High School On SI Indiana Top 25, with New Palestine sitting at No. 17.
But this wasn’t just about numbers next to a team name. These are two of the state’s most decorated programs, and their recent postseason meetings have had real weight in the championship picture. According to New Palestine’s athletic department, the winner of the last three Class 5A playoff games between the schools - in 2019, 2021 and 2025 - went on to win the state title.
For New Palestine, the loss ends another strong postseason run for a program that has been a fixture in Indiana’s title chase. The Dragons came into the playoffs as the defending Class 5A champions after winning the Class 4A crown in 2024. They had also captured five straight sectional championships under head coach Kyle Ralph.
Friday’s defeat snapped a 12-game postseason winning streak that dated to 2024 and ended a run of 14 straight sectional tournament wins that stretched back to 2021.
New Palestine had reached the sectional final after a 53-35 win over Pendleton Heights in the previous round. In that game, Logan Parks ran for 211 yards and four touchdowns, while Rhys Ragan completed 13 of 16 passes for 249 yards and three scores.
That surge wasn’t enough to carry over against Cathedral, which closed the door and survived with the three-point victory.
Cathedral will play in the Class 5A regional championship round on Friday, November 13, against the winner of the Sectional 14 final between Plainfield and Terre Haute South.
The Class 5A state championship game is set for Saturday, November 28, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
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