NEW PALESTINE — For the second time in three weeks, New Palestine left little doubt in the outcome of its Friday night high school football encounter with New Castle.
Two weeks ago, the Dragons clinched a share of the Hoosier Heritage Conference title with a 35-7 win over the Trojans at Kelso Stadium.
On Friday, back at Kelso Stadium, the Dragons won their eighth straight game and earned a spot in the Class 4A Sectional 22 semifinals with a 63-0 victory over the Trojans.
The Dragons scored on eight of nine possessions.
Defensively, they held New Castle to only two first downs, both in the first half. One came on a pass interference penalty, the other came on an 11-yard pass play. It was followed by a 10-yard loss on a sack by sophomore Cameron Rollyson, who was part of three sacks on the night.
The New Palestine second-team defense added a score late in the game, too.
“All in all, those guys played well,” New Palestine head coach Kyle Ralph said of his defensive unit. “From the upfront guys all the way to the backers to the secondary, it was a good night for them. Those things have to continue. Great defense is what wins in the playoffs. The weather can derail offenses in a moment’s notice. If you have a great defense, you’ve always got a chance in Indiana in the playoffs. Hopefully ours keeps getting better. Tonight I think they really showed what they can do.”
New Palestine’s offense highlighted some of the usual suspects as well as some newcomers.
Freshman Mason Oglesby scored the first touchdown, a 12-yard reception, after a short pass from quarterback Gavin Neal.
Senior receiver Micah Clark scored on a seven-yard run, his first touchdown of the season, on the second to last play of the first quarter for a 21-0 New Palestine lead.
Veteran Kyler Kropp was on the receiving end of a 16-yard touchdown strike for a 14-0 lead.
In the second quarter, Grayson Thomas scored twice. He crossed the goal line from 1-yard out for a 28-0 lead and later had a seven-yard score to push the game into running-clock rules for the second half.
Neal and Kropp connected one more time in the second half, on a 10-yard score, to increase the New Pal advantage to 42-0.
The backups and the defense added the remaining touchdowns. Malachi Haines scored on a 1-yard run. On a fourth-and-nine play, second-team quarterback Bryan Caldwell broke free for a 34-yard touchdown run. The final touchdown came on a scoop and score from 15 yards away by senior linebacker Liam Fuller.
Jake Wells hit all seven of his PATs. Mallori Johnson was 2 of 2 on her tries.
“Right now, at playoff time, there’s no holding back from anything,” Ralph said of his team’s offensive performance. “You do what makes your team win and you put your players in a position to be successful. Make the machine work. Tonight all those guys got lots of different touches in a lot of different and unique ways, it shows we have a bunch of weapons and we’re not just a one- or two-man show. Everyone knows about Grayson and Kropp, but we’ve got a lot of other kids that can hurt you and I think that was on display tonight and that was great to see.”
Thomas finished, unofficially, with 19 carries for 135 yards. Neal was 8 of 13 for 108 yards and three touchdowns, completing passes to four different receivers.
When the Dragons played the Trojans two weeks ago, Ralph wasn’t particularly pleased with his club’s performance. They won the game, but they turned the ball over multiple times and didn’t play the kind of game he wanted to see in Week 8 of the regular season.
“I thought are guys played a lot better (against New Castle) tonight,” Ralph said. “They played with a lot more heart and a lot more passion than the first time around. It’s playoff football, those are mandatory at this point. If you don’t win your season is over. It’s absolutely critical that you play this game the way it’s meant to be played and it’s got to be played from the heart. The first time around we were missing that, this time we weren’t.”
The Dragons will have another rematch in the semifinal round. The No. 3 Dragons will host No. 4 Greenfield-Central next Friday. The Cougars advanced with a 27-17 win over No. 12 Pendleton Heights Friday.
–
New Palestine 63, New Castle 0
New Castle (1-9);0;0;0;0;-;0
New Palestine (8-2);21;14;7;21;-;63
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
NP – Mason Oglesby 12 pass from Gavin Neal (Jake Wells kick), 8:59
NP – Kyler Kropp 16 pass from Neal (Wells kick), 4:51
NP – Micah Clark 8 run (Wells kick) :15.8
2nd Quarter
NP – Thomas 1 run (Wells kick), 3:21
NP – Thomas 7 run (Wells kick), :47.8
3rd Quarter
NP – Kropp 10 pass from Neal (Wells kick), 3:37
4th Quarter
NP – Malachi Haines 1 run (Wells kick), 9:39
NP – Bryan Caldwell 34 run (Mallori Johnson kick) 3:47
NP – Liam Fuller 15 fumble return (Johnson kick) 1:49
