In his fourth year as an assistant football coach, religion teacher Mr. Matt Cannaday helped lead the Fighting Irish to their second State championship in a row. The team played at Lucas Oil Stadium and defeated Zionsville 34-14.

“This year was fun because the current seniors were the first players I ever coached,” Cannaday said. “It was kind of the culmination of watching these guys grow as a team and become not just better players, but better men. We graduated a lot of great seniors last year, and our current Senior Class took the reins and set the tone of the season very early on. ”

This year felt dissimilar to Cannaday compared to last year’s season because of his relationship with the current seniors. Cannaday said, “From my perspective, it felt different personally because this was the class I started with. But on the field, our team was just as loose and confident as last year and went out there and had fun.”

The team’s brotherhood and the school’s family atmosphere as a whole greatly contributed to this State championship win. “Trusting that the guy next to you will be there is kind of what the whole team and program is about, which we did really well this year,” Cannaday said.

Although many key players are graduating, this does not necessarily mean that the win streak will end anytime soon. Cannaday said, “This is a really good Senior class; however, we have a lot of new and young talent coming up. Some of our sophomores and juniors helped guide the team this year which will help them next year when they transition into full-time players and leaders.”