YORKTOWN — New Palestine had more than enough big plays for the big game.
In Friday’s 41-7 Class 4A Sectional 21 semifinal win over Yorktown (7-4), the top-ranked Dragons had seven plays of 30 yards or more and four others over 20.
Just two of the plays went for scores, but six were crucial in drives that started at the New Palestine 27-yard line or deeper.
“Any time you run the ball that explosively it’s crippling,” New Palestine head coach Kyle Ralph said. “You don’t expect to run the ball that way all the time, but when you’re ripping off those massive chunk plays it can be really demoralizing [to a defense]. In one run you can flip the field entirely.”
On Friday, Caden Jacobia took the opening kickoff 78 yards to the Tigers 8. Two plays later Josh Ranes scored the first of his three touchdowns on a 2-yard run.
“I thought we started fast and came out focused,” Ralph said. “I thought they prepared really well all week, it was one of our better weeks of practice, and it showed in the game.”
No Dragon had a bigger day than Ranes. He, unofficially, ran for 262 yards on 15 carries.
He had four of the 30-plus yard plays, including a 33-yard touchdown run early in the second half to give the Dragons a 34-0 lead. In the first half alone, he had runs of 57, 37, 20, 26 and 60.
Jacobia had a 30-yard run to set up his 2-yard touchdown run that gave New Palestine a 28-0 lead with 2:31 left until halftime. It was the biggest play of the drive that started on the Dragon 20. Ranes had a 26-yarder during the series.
Following Ranes’ second-half touchdown run, the longest offensive score of the night, Connor Jacobia put the game into running-clock mode with the longest scoring play of the night, a 40-yard interception return for a touchdown. It was Connor Jacobia’s Hancock County-best fourth interception of the season.
The Dragons had three interceptions.
Caden Jacobia stopped Yorktown’s best first-half scoring attempt with an interception at the New Palestine 2. It led to a 98-yard scoring drive. Aided by a 57-yard run by Ranes, quarterback Jacob Davis scored on an 11-yard rush to give the Dragons a 14-0 first-quarter lead.
“The offensive line did a great job and had a good week [of practice]. We put them absolutely through the ringer this week with a lot of hard stuff to handle,” Ralph said of the group that included his freshman son Kaeden Ralph (6-1, 208), who was making his first start of the season.
“It starts with those guys up front on the offensive line. They were paving the way with some massive holes. Our tight ends did an outstanding job for us. It’s tough sometimes when you have to take the air out of the ball a little bit, but when you run the ball the way we did that’s going to happen.”
Aalijah Lissade had an interception on the last play of the first half. It was the second interception of the season for both Caden Jacobia and Lissade.
The Dragons defensive line of Michael Thacker, Brock Brownfield and Abe Walling put a lot of pressure on Yorktown quarterback Sam Tokar. Brownfield and Thacker had two sacks each and Walling added a tackle for loss.
“We had a hard decision to make in our defensive gameplan this week,” Ralph said. “We like to pressure people, blitz and be the aggressor. This week, we were not that. We thought we could win with our front three — Abe, Mike and Brock. We did not put a lot of pressure on and I was really pleased with the amount of pressure and sacks they got with rushing just three people and they’re blocking us with five or six.
“It was a huge deal to get heat on like that with only three and dropping seven or eight on most plays. That was a massive boost for our defense.”
With the win, New Palestine (10-0) will play host to Pendleton Heights (6-5) in the sectional championship next Friday at Kelso Stadium. The Arabians knocked off No. 8 Greenfield-Central 31-21 in the other semifinal game.
The Dragons, winners of three straight sectional championships, will try to make it four in a row for the first time in school history. They have won 14 sectional championships and eight in the last 11 years.
The game will be the second meeting of the season between the Dragons and Arabians. New Palestine won 56-17 at Pendleton Heights in a Hoosier Heritage Conference regular season game on Sept. 20.
It is their first postseason meeting since 2013, Ralph’s first season as the Dragons coach. New Palestine won a 62-40 shootout.
–
New Palestine 41, Yorktown 7
New Palestine (10-0);14;14;13;0;-;41
Yorktown (7-3);0;0;7;0;-;7
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
NP – Josh Ranes 2 run (Jake Wells kick), 11:12
NP – Jacob Davis 11 run (Wells kick), 1:09
2nd Quarter
NP – Ranes 4 run (kick failed), 8:50
NP – Caden Jacobia 2 run (Ranes run), 2:31
3rd Quarter
NP – Ranes 33 run (kick failed), 7:45
NP – Connor Jacobia 40 interception return (Evan Walker kick), 6:51
Y – Wilson Webster 13 run (Drake Ford kick), 1:02
