NEW PALESTINE — As the stakes rise, so does the play of New Palestine’s defense.
They weren’t playing poorly before the postseason, but since the first round of the sectional tournament the defensive side of the ball for the New Palestine football team has turned it up a few notches.
A defensive average of 15.31 points per game is 48th in the state and ranks ninth in Class 4A, but that number has been dwindling since the team has played games with the season on the line.
In four tournament games the first-team defense has not given up a touchdown.
They had shutouts in sectional first-round and semifinal victories.
The junior varsity defense gave up a touchdown in the sectional championship game.
In last week’s 39-6 regional title win over Mooresville, the Pioneers points came on two field goals.
Credit it a lot to practice and film study, but also maturation of a young team. New Palestine graduated a number of seniors from last year’s club that spent much of the season ranked No. 1 in Class 4A. This year’s group has a lot of sophomores and juniors and even plays a freshman in linebacker Mason Oglesby.
“It really goes back to a consistency thing,” New Palestine defensive coordinator Scott McMurray said. “We knew with the inexperience we were going to have on both sides of the ball, in particularly on defense, it was going to be a consistency thing. What you have to do as a coach in practice is do the drills to develop that consistency going forward.
“They’ve been doing it on a regular basis week in and week out and when we got to that first Greenfield-Central game (a 21-14 Week 6 win) that was a big test. From that point forward it clicked that we can play with these teams.”
They have also gotten healthier.
All-state defensive tackle Michael Thacker missed six weeks before returning for the regular-season finale at Delta. Brady Armstrong, Mason Hiatt and Caden Jacobia, defensive backs and the team’s co-leaders in interceptions with three each, have all missed games. Armstrong and Hiatt have been out multiple games. Defensive lineman Brock Brownfield didn’t play until the first Greenfield-Central game.
“Our sophomores have really stepped up a lot,” senior defensive back Micah Clark said, noting the extra work on the underclassmen when players were out. “It’s helped now that everyone is back healthy.”
Only Clark, linebacker Alex Guhl and leading tackler Garret Ranes are listed as 13-game participants among the team’s defensive statistical leaders.
“We finally have everybody playing now,” McMurray said. “In our last regular season game against Delta, we actually had the guys we thought were going to be starters on the D-line all there, our linebackers, all there, and our DBs.”
What has been extra impressive during the playoff run has been the styles of offenses they’ve had to stop, most notably in the last three games against quality opponents.
In a 35-0 semifinal win over No. 4 Greenfield-Central, the Dragons stopped the Cougars high-powered Wishbone offense, which had six 40-plus scoring games. Even with the shutout, G-C’s offense still ranks No. 10 in Class 4A at 35 points per game.
“After playing Greenfield, a very run-heavy team, that was a big week for our defense,” Hiatt said. “After that week and doing real well against them, there have been high expectations from there on out. When our defense plays well our offense feeds off that.”
In a 42-6 win over Mt. Vernon in the sectional title game, the task was to try to slow down Marauder standout running back Joliba Brogan, who had 250 yards and four touchdowns in a 63-39 New Pal regular-season win in Week 4. Brogan had the lone Marauder score late in the game, but finished with just 66 yards on 12 carries.
Last week it was Mooresville star quarterback Hogan Denny, who was a 1,000-yard rusher and 2,000-yard passer. He had accounted for 39 touchdowns, 23 by air and 16 on the ground. In last week’s game at New Palestine, Denny was 10 of 31 for 82 passing yards and two interceptions. He had eight rushes for seven yards. New Palestine recorded two sacks and 8.5 tackles for loss.
The defense has had to prepare for significantly different plans each week and they’ve accepted all the challenges.
“There’s more focus. We have had to play three teams (New Castle, Greenfield-Central and Mt. Vernon) twice,” Armstrong said. “We’ve got more film on them and have been more focused into our reports, taken what our coaches are telling us to do, and executing and following our keys.”
The biggest challenge of all will come this week against No. 1 East Central, which boasts one of the leading candidates for Mr. Football in running back Josh Ringer.
The senior back has 50 touchdowns, averages 11.2 yards per carry and has 2,512 rushing yards (193.2 per game) on the season. The Trojans have the state’s highest scoring offense, 49.9 points per game.
“With a player like Ringer, he’s going to make plays,” McMurray said. “The key is keeping those plays to a minimum.”
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Friday’s Class 4A Semi-State Games
7 p.m. – No. 11 NorthWood (11-2) at No. 10 Leo (11-2)
7 p.m. – No. 3 New Palestine (11-2) at No. 1 East Central (13-0)
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Game Capsule
No. 3 New Palestine (11-2) at No. 1 East Central (13-0)
Kickoff: 7 p.m.
Coaches: Kyle Ralph 127-13 in 11th year at New Palestine. Jake Meiners, 55-9 in 5th year at East Central
Recent history: Friday’s semi-state matchup will be the first time the two teams have played.
Sagarin ratings: New Palestine, 94.13, 9th overall, 2nd in 4A. East Central, 101.84, 3rd overall, 1st in 4A
Players to watch: New Palestine — RB/LS Grayson Thomas, OL/DL Ian Moore, OL/DL Brock Brownfield, RB/WR Kyler Kropp, DL/OL Michael Thacker, QB Gavin Neal, LB Josh Ranes, LB Garrett Ranes, WR/S Cameron Rollyson, DB/WR Mason Hiatt, WR/LB Mason Oglesby, WR Ty Mitchell, DB Caden Jacobia, DB/KR Micah Clark, P/K Jake Wells. East Central – RB/SS Josh Ringer, WR/RB Ryan Brotherton, QB Cole Burton, LB Brayden Rouse, LB/RB Dylan Maxwell, DE/TE Eli Ertel, LB Alex Kuhn.
What to look for: The teams boast two of the state’s top running backs. East Central’s Ringer has scored 50 touchdowns this season and averages 193.2 yards per game. New Pal’s Thomas has 33 scores and averages 173.8 yards per contest. Both are coming off 5-TD games in regional wins. After giving up double-digit points the first six weeks of the season, New Palestine’s defense has given up seven or less the last seven games and hasn’t had a TD scored on the first-team defense in the postseason. East Central has given up more than seven points just twice all year and has six shutouts. They lead the state in margin of victory (43.5) and points per game (49.9) and are No. 3 in scoring defense (6.4).
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2023 Hancock County Football Statistical Leaders
PASSING
Name,School;G;C;A;YDS;PCT;Y/G;TD;INT;RAT
Mason Meyer, Mt. Vernon;6;21;36;387;.583;64.5;4;1;120.9
Dallas Freeman, Greenfield-Central;11;113;182;1444;.621;131.3;19;8;103.4
Gavin Neal, New Palestine;13;79;138;1434;.572;110.3;14;8;102.7
Elijah Edon, Eastern Hancock;13;161;256;2077;.629;159.8;17;7;99.0
Luke Ertel, Mt. Vernon;7;88;148;1181;.595;168.7;10;3;99.0
Tyler Etherington, Mt. Vernon;12;23;56;379;.411;31.6;5;3;71.9
RUSHING
Name, School;G;CAR;YDS;AVG;Y/G;TD
Grayson Thomas, New Palestine;13;328;2259;6.9;173.8;33
Joliba Brogan, Mt. Vernon;12;229;1733;7.6;144.4;21
Mark Kube, Eastern Hancock;13;249;1746;7.0;134.3;28
Braylen Benavente, Greenfield-Central;8;130;598;4.6;74.8;1
Dallas Freeman, Greenfield-Central;11;115;761;6.6;69.2;8
RECEIVING
Name, School;G;REC;YDS;AVG;Y/G;TD
Kirk Knecht, Greenfield-Central;11;41;705;17.2;64.1;10
Kyler Kropp, New Palestine;13;37;773;20.9;59.5;9
Tre Jones, Mt. Vernon;12;40;683;17.1;56.9;8
Eli Manship, Eastern Hancock;12;46;605;13.2;50.4;3
Chris Edmonds, Mt. Vernon;10;19;418;22.0;41.8;3
TACKLES
Name, School;G;S;A;T;T/G;TFL
Cameron Volz, Eastern Hancock;13;83;35;118;9.1;2.0
Jake Hinton, Greenfield-Central;11;71;27;98;8.9;20.0
Garrett Ranes, New Palestine;13;67;33;100;7.7;16.5
Gabe Johnson, Eastern Hancock;13;69;31;100;7.7;10.5
Ayden Trueblood, Eastern Hancock;13;51;45;96;7.4;6.0
SACKS
Name, School;G;S;S/G
Michael Thacker, New Palestine;7;7.0;1.0
Shawn Taylor, Mt. Vernon;12;7.0;0.6
Evan Wheeler, Eastern Hancock;13;6.5;0.5
Zaidyn Ramsey-Fox, Mt. Vernon;11;4.5;0.4
Payton Foley, Greenfield-Central;11;4.5;0.4
Jake Hinton, Greenfield-Central;11;4.5;0.4
INTERCEPTIONS
Name, School;G;I;I/G
Dylan Bowman, Eastern Hancock;11;4;0.4
Kirk Knecht, Greenfield-Central;11;4;0.4
Brady Armstrong, New Palestine;10;3;0.3
Mason Hiatt, New Palestine;11;3;0.3
Caden Jacobia, New Palestine;12;3;0.3
Caiden Willis, Eastern Hancock;13;3;0.2
PUNTING
Name, School;P;YDS;AVE
Aaron Redmon, Eastern Hancock;22;796;36.2
Cooper Hinton, Greenfield-Central;6;204;34.0
Jake Wells, New Palestine;26;849;32.7
John Duncan, Mt. Vernon;36;1090;30.3
Aaron Lee, Greenfield-Central;8;198;24.8
RETURN YARDS
Name, School;K;P;T
Tre Jones, Mt. Vernon;765;62;827
Cameron Volz, Eastern Hancock;316;158;474
Kirk Knecht, Greenfield-Central;240;30;270
Cooper Hinton, Greenfield-Central;226;0;226
Kyler Kropp, New Palestine;212;0;212
SCORING
Name, School;G;TD;CONV;S;K;TP;P/G
Grayson Thomas, New Palestine;13;33;0;0;0;198;15.2
Mark Kube, Eastern Hancock;13;28;0;0;0;168;12.9
Joliba Brogan, Mt. Vernon;12;22;0;0;0;132;11.0
Kyler Kropp, New Palestine;13;20;0;0;0;120;9.2
Kirk Knecht, Greenfield-Central;11;13;4;0;0;82;7.5
