"As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly to the battle line to reach him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground." - 1 Samuel 17:48-49 I'll assume followers of a Jesuit school’s athletics to all be familiar with the story of David and Goliath. But, have you ever wondered how the story would have ended if David’s stone had not killed the giant, but had instead merely knocked him down? What if Goliath got to his hands and knees, spit out a tooth, shook his head to clear the cobwebs, and stood up, incredibly ticked off? Unfortunately, Brebeuf’s football team got to see that alternate ending first hand Friday night in their 4A Sectional 22 semifinal game against Chatard. The Braves, 3-7, but riding a two-game win streak and as healthy as they’d been all season, rightfully believed they had a ‘puncher’s chance’ against the heavily-favored Trojans, 9-2 and ranked #3 in 4A. So punch they did, matching the 17-time state champs blow for blow in the opening quarter. Keegan Bouwkamp had 126 passing yards and three touchdown passes, Carter Cosgrove was running away from blue-clad defenders like they were Wile E. Coyote, and it was a 21-20 game after Q1. Goliath had taken a shot to the noggin. Early into the second, after two straight Brebeuf defensive takeaways, it was starting to look like the Halloween stars might align for an historic upset. Then the giant got back up. Chatard outscored Brebeuf 42-6 over the second and third quarters, and what had looked like it might be a track meet ended with a running clock to shorten the proceedings and hasten the end of the first Braves losing season since 2016. Final score: 63-33, just about the exact same margin of victory that Chatard has enjoyed each of the other seven times they played Brebeuf in the sectionals. Brebeuf’s offense made measurable improvement from week five’s 37-6 loss at Chatard (4 first downs, 11 total yards) to Friday night (16 first downs, 285 yards) but Chatard has the great luxury of being able to hand the football to IndyStar City Player of the Year Danny Adams. Handing a football to Danny Adams and asking him to run with it is perhaps the best idea anybody’s had in Broad Ripple since converting the Vogue from a peephouse to a live music nightclub in 1977. Adams ran for 261 yards and four TD’s on 24 carries, most in that 42-point burst that separated the two teams. I’ll not recap the entire game here- see the attached scoring summary and stat sheet if you’re a rubber-necker at traffic accidents. Suffice to say that Matt Geske’s valiant football team, which was indeed hitting on all cylinders early on this night, and would likely have defeated North Central, Guerin or Lafayette Harrison, just didn’t have enough stones in the sack for Chatard, especially Playoff Chatard. Instead, let’s focus the spotlight on two stars which shone brightly in the Halloween evening on Brebeuf’s sidelines: Parker Maiers, the Braves senior LB/RB/gunner/bus driver/laundry attendant/training table sous chef, played his final game in a Brebeuf uniform, and few have worn it better. Parker led the team in rushing with 58 yards on 13 carries, most culminating in the kind of hits that evoke the sound effect graphics of the late-60’s Batman TV series: BAM! KAPOW! WHAAAP! CRUNCH! Maiers added 8 tackles, bringing his team-high season total to 81, his third year as Brebeuf’s leading tackler. Parker Maiers ends his Brebeuf career with 379 tackles, second on the all-time list behind only Jay Higgins’ 471. Maiers, team-leading receiver Edwin Watson (team-leading 618 yds/8 TDs on the season) and the rest of the seniors leave Brebeuf after a tough season, but with spirits unbroken. The Class of 2027, led by Bouwkamp, Cosgrove, WR Keivon Mattox and OL Krystian Oakley on offense, returns 64% of its scoring next year. On defense, it’s even better: 75% of their tackles return; basically every top tackler not named Maiers is a junior: Matthew Johnson, Nate Johnson, Eli Drake, Gabe Cox, and Cam Walters. The only name I didn’t mention? Josh Rogers, the team leader in sacks and tackles-for-loss, who is only a sophomore…just like the team’s leading rusher, Jasir King. Brebeuf football in 2026 will be more loaded than Brittany dancing with knives on Instagram. In the meantime, keep an eye on the Sectional 22 championship game between Roncalli and Chatard next week. If Chatard (a 3A school by enrollment) loses, they would slide back into the 3A tournament next season per the IHSAA success factor, meaning that Brebeuf’s 4A battlefield would have one less, uh, giant for the Braves to slay. And, as the kids say, that would indeed be a ‘slay.’ Go Braves!