NEW CASTLE — New Palestine scored touchdowns on its first four possessions and had a running clock [after having 35-point or larger lead] most of the second half in Friday’s Hoosier Heritage Conference clinching 44-6 victory over New Castle at Neal Field Friday.
Ranked No. 1 in Class 4A, the Dragons won their 25th straight conference game, and claimed their third straight league title and 12th in the last 15 seasons.
Since head coach Kyle Ralph took over in 2013, the Dragons are 80-2 in HHC games.
“It’s unreal,” senior linebacker Alex Guhl said of being part of the program’s third straight HHC title. “It’s always a main goal, win the conference and show our dominance every single year. Doing it with this group, the people I’ve grown up with and known my whole life, and in my senior year, means a little more. It’s more personal.”
“If we can take care of business [against Delta at home next week] that’s 10 out of 12 [unbeaten conference seasons], that’s pretty good,” Ralph said. “It’s something this program is extremely proud of. It’s one of our major goals and we need to take care of business next week and finish it the right way.
“Ten conference championships in 12 years is something to be extremely proud of. I don’t care who you are or where you’re from, that’s tough to do, especially with the good teams our conference has had over the course of those years … Everybody in our conference has had a team that is a major challenge and has had a great run, it’s impressive and we want to go out and finish the job the right way next week.”
For the Dragons there was a little more at stake than claiming another championship.
They were coming off a subpar performance a week ago in a win at Shelbyville. They won the game, but Ralph wasn’t happy with how his team played.
That wasn’t the case at New Castle Friday. His Dragons got off to a great start on both sides of the ball.
Following Caden Jacobia’s 44-yard kickoff return to start the game, the Dragons went 45 yards in four plays, all Josh Ranes rushes, to take a 7-0 lead. The final run was a 9-yarder at the 10:09 mark.
Ranes, as a linebacker, had a tackle for a four-yard loss on New Castle’s first play. The Trojans initial series was a three-and-out.
The Dragons got great field position again, this time after a poor New Castle punt. Starting from the Trojan 40, the Dragons again needed just four plays to score, two of them were passes from Jacob Davis to Cameron Rollyson totaling 32 yards. The final play was a 4-yard touchdown run by Jacobia.
New Palestine’s third possession started on the New Castle 31. It followed a failed fourth-down conversion.
After an incomplete pass, Ranes accumulated the 31 yards on five running plays. The score came on a 1-yard run.
It was 21-0 at the end of the first quarter, and stealing a possession on a successful onside kick, the Dragons made it 28-0 when Davis connected with Austin McMahan on a 3-yard touchdown pass with still 10:27 remaining in the first half.
“We talked about it all week long, start fast, start fast because last week we started a little bit slow,” Guhl said. “We weren’t as prepared and locked in [against Shelbyville], but we came out this week and took care of business fast like we’re supposed to.”
“It started with our boys taking some tough coaching [last] Saturday,” Ralph added. “We got on those guys pretty hard. They did not play up to their standards and did not play up to our standards [at Shelbyville] and we were hard on them because of that. We demand a lot out of our guys and their teammates demand a lot out of them and they demand a lot out of themselves and we fell short of the mark last Friday and that was disappointing.
“…They took tough coaching, they took a lot of adversity, they answered the challenges we put in front of them, and we came out with a nice performance.”
On a fourth down from the New Palestine 14, New Castle got on the board with a pass from quarterback Carson Bell placed perfectly on a fade pattern to wide receiver Neil McMartin, cutting the Dragons lead to 28-6 with 7:49 to go until halftime.
New Palestine answered right back with Ranes’ third touchdown run of the night, a 3-yarder.
Right before the half, kicker Jake Wells — set up after a Aalijah Lissade interception — blasted a 40-yard field goal that had plenty of distance to give New Pal a 38-6 halftime lead.
The final score of the night came on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Davis to freshman tight end Sam Hirschy. It was Hirschy’s first varsity reception.
New Palestine (7-0, 6-0) finishes the regular season Friday at home against Delta (4-4, 2-4). New Castle (4-4, 3-3) travels to No. 10 Greenfield-Central (6-2, 4-2).
–
New Palestine 44, New Castle 6
New Palestine (7-0, 6-0);21;17;6;0;-;44
New Castle (4-4, 3-3);0;6;0;0;-;6
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
NP – Josh Ranes 9 run (Jake Wells kick), 10:09
NP – Caden Jacobia 4 run (Wells kick), 7:05
NP – Ranes 1 run (Wells kick), 2:30
2nd Quarter
NP – Austin McMahan 3 pass from Jacob Davis (Wells kick), 10:27
NC – Neil McMartin 14 pass from Carson Bell (PAT failed), 7:49
NP – Ranes 3 run (Wells kick), 4:11
NP – Wells 40 FG, :03.0
3rd Quarter
NP – Sam Hirschy 25 pass from Davis (kick blocked), 7:34
