New Palestine head coach Kyle Ralph talks with his players at halftime of their game against Westfield, Friday, Aug. 19, 2022.
Tom Russo | The Daily Reporter
NEW PALESTINE — The season opener was an eye opener.
New Palestine may have moved back to Class 4A, but proved it can still play with the bigger kids.
Against Westfield, the Class 6A runners-up the last two years, New Palestine — from its 16-play, 80-yard scoring drive on the game’s opening series — was in control most of the night in a 42-28 victory at Kelso Stadium Friday.
“They were down one of their better players, a Division I receiver-defensive back, but our kids just played tough,” New Palestine head coach Kyle Ralph said. “They played hard. We are pretty much playing guys three ways, with special teams, (offense and defense).”
“We started running out of gas in the third quarter. A lot of our offensive linemen don’t have to play both ways, so we put the game on a good offensive line’s back and they delivered. We took the air out of the ball, pounded away and got rewarded with a huge win.”
Junior running back Grayson Thomas scored three touchdowns and rushed for 181 yards. Senior quarterback Daniel Tippit IV, a transfer from Warren Central, made big plays on defense and special teams, too, to help lead the Dragons to an impressive start to the 2022 season.
Thomas finished off the game’s opening drive with a 26-yard touchdown run. Straight up the middle, untouched, the talented back wrapped up a drive that took 5:28 off the clock.
“That was a huge series. It was all about momentum, especially that early in the game,” Thomas said. “I am going to have to buy (my offensive line) breakfast in the morning.”
Thomas’s second and third touchdowns both gave the Dragons 21-point leads.
Westfield had the ball to open the second half. Quarterback Cole Ballard fumbled on the first play. It was recovered by New Pal linebacker Eli Hook.
Three plays later, Thomas scored on a 5-yard run.
After Westfield cut it to 14, 28-14 on a Ballard to Patrick Schramm 21-yard pass, the Dragons put together another 80-yard drive. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Thomas scored on a 1-yard run.
Westfield answered the second-half scores, but the Dragon damage had been done.
With the Dragons leading 7-0 early in the second quarter, Tippitt, as a defensive back, made an open field tackle on Ballard on a fourth-and-one at the Dragons 15.
The 5-feet, 9-inch, 145-pound quarterback/defensive back/punter wrapped up the 6-2, 211 Ballard to put the ball back in the Dragons’ hands.
Three series later, New Palestine was back in the end zone.
Kyler Kropp scored on an 18-yard run to extend the first-half lead to 14-0 with 3:10 remaining in the second quarter.
Westfield took the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown, but the Dragons had their own big special teams play waiting in the wings.
On a fake punt on fourth-and-seven from Westfield’s 44, Tippit, as the Dragons punter, found standout wide receiver Isaiah Thacker for a touchdown to extend the home team’s lead to 21-7 with only 1:39 left until halftime.
Tippit finished 9 of 16 for 150 yards with one touchdown.
Before finishing the season with seven Hoosier Heritage Conference games, the Dragons have another big test next week. New Palestine plays host to Class 5A No. 2 Decatur Central. The Dragons and Hawks have some history. New Palestine beat Decatur Central to win the Class 5A state championship in 2018. Last year, in a regular season game, the Hawks beat the Dragons 31-29.
