By Andrew Smith
For The Daily Reporter
NEW PALESTINE — The New Palestine football team had another workmanlike effort in a 35-7 Senior Night victory over New Castle Friday night, clinching a piece of their ninth Hoosier Heritage Conference title in 11 years.
Grayson Thomas ran for 206 yards and five touchdowns to lead the Dragons, who are now 6-2 overall and 6-0 in HHC play, while Gavin Neal tallied 189 yards of total offense in the contest.
But while the Dragons were happy with the victory, they left unsatisfied with the way they got there. After scoring touchdowns on their first two drives, they had three turnovers in their final five possessions, one of which led to the Trojans’ lone score.
“(New Castle) did a nice job tonight,” NP coach Kyle Ralph said of the Trojans’ defense. “They’ve had a solid defense all year long. But we played terrible. We made really poor choices with the football. We were not protecting the football, which is something we’ve been doing a good job of. It was a major step in the wrong direction of that. They had a good scheme. We thought we had answers to it, but we hit none of the guaranteed touchdowns we thought we had.”
The Dragons used the running game with Thomas early to push the ball down the field. Thomas’ 16-yard run touched off a 10-play, 57-yard drive to start the game. He capped it with a 2-yard plunge. After forcing a three-and-out, the Dragons went to work again, with Thomas’ 15-yard run and a 13-yard pass to Mason Hiatt setting up an 11-yard TD run by Thomas. After turning the ball over on downs on the New Castle 25 — a drive that featured a 39-yard run by Thomas — the Dragons forced a punt and quickly scored, with Thomas capping it with a 3-yard run on fourth down.
That put NP up 21-0 at halftime. An interception by Desmond Palmer set up a short field and a fourth Thomas TD in the third quarter.
NP turned the ball over on its next two possessions. A fumble by Thomas was scooped up by New Castle’s Landon Semler and returned 30 yards to the Dragons’ 8. Three plays later, Semler caught a 4-yard TD from Tylin Thrine to put the Trojans on the board.
NP eventually added a score on an 81-yard fourth-quarter drive that was keyed by a run of 20 yards by Thomas and a 21-yard pass to Ty Mitchell. Thomas finished it with a 1-yard carry.
New Castle was held to 164 yards of total offense, including 55 yards rushing. The Dragons sacked Trojans QB Tyson Lewis six times.
But while the Dragons are happy with the victory, they believe they have much to work on as they head to Delta next week looking to finish off an unbeaten conference slate, as Ralph cited missed alignments and coverages on defense.
“There’s a lot to work on. There are a couple of things to be happy about, but it’s Week 8,” Ralph said. “We’re supposed to be in playoff condition. That felt like Week 1 or Week 2 all over again. It’s October. It’s unacceptable. We’ve got to do a better job with our kids and our plans. That was a really disappointing game going into what should be hopefully, us peaking. We fell off the opposite side of the mountain tonight and that’s disappointing.”
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New Palestine 35, New Castle 7
New Castle (1-7, 0-6);0;0;7;0;-;7
New Palestine (6-2, 6-0);14;7;7;7;-;35
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
NP – Grayson Thomas 2 run (Jake Wells kick), 8:29
NP – Thomas 1 run (Wells kick), 4:57
2nd Quarter
NP – Thomas 3 run (Wells kick), 6:01
3rd Quarter
NP – Thomas 3 run (Wells kick), 6:40
NC – Landon Semler 4 pass from Tylin Thrine (Owen Barrett kick), 2:24
4th Quarter
NP – Thomas 1 run (Wells kick), 6:40
