Brady Allen, Joe Strickland meet for 3A title, apartment bragging rights

Today, Purdue recruits Brady Allen and Joe Strickland are rivals, as their Gibson Southern and Brebeuf teams square off at Lucas Oil Stadium for Indiana's Class 3A championship.

Tomorrow, they'll essentially be teammates.

And roommates.

Allen and Strickland will both enroll at Purdue in January, and decided some time ago that they'd live together when they do.

"We actually made a bet," Allen joked, "that whoever wins gets to put their medal or their ring on the kitchen counter. He said that was fair, so I said, 'All right, let's do it.'"

This is the outcome both players have hoped for throughout the season, as they began talking about the possibility as soon as Strickland committed during the summer, months after Allen got Purdue's 2022 class started the spring prior. The two players — and their families — had communicated prior, as well.

When the high school season kicked off, Allen sent a message to all of Purdue's commitments at that time wishing them well in their games.

"After that," Allen said, "I said. 'Joe, I'll see you Week 15.'"

This will be the only time the two play against one another before they're on opposite sides of the line of scrimmage during Purdue's practices starting this spring.

"It'll be the only time I can actually hit him for the next four or five years," Strickland joked.

That'll be the goal, at least.

"He's 6-5, 6-6 and people don't think he can run like that, but if you actually watch the game, he's run circles around kids before," Strickland said of Allen. "He has a big arm and he's really accurate, but if our DBs can do a good job on their receivers, I think our D-line is good enough to get back there. But he's a good quarterback, obviously. Hopefully we can disrupt him."

Not only is Allen vs. Strickland a point of interest about this game, but it may also be the game's signature matchup. Not just Strickland, but Brebeuf whole defense's ability to affect Allen, who's thrown for 53 touchdowns and nearly 4,000 yards this season.

"Their D-line is able to put a lot of pressure on the quarterback and their corners and safeties in the back half are pretty athletic," Allen said. "We have to be smart with the ball and know when to throw it away and when to check it down. That'll be big for us."

The 3A title game kicks off at 3:30 p.m. in Indy and will be broadcast at IHSAATV.org.

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