Before the regular season started both New Palestine head coach Kyle Ralph and Greenfield-Central head coach Travis Nolting said, due to the way the IHSAA set up Class 4A Sectional 21, to advance in the state tournament you would have to win the Hoosier Heritage Conference twice.
The teams that finished in the top six positions in the HHC were all in Sectional 21, along with Richmond and Beech Grove. The non-conference teams and HHC schools Mt. Vernon and New Castle were eliminated last week.
Undefeated conference champion New Palestine, runner-up Greenfield-Central, third-place Yorktown and fifth-place Pendleton Heights are left to battle it out this week in the semifinals and next week for the sectional championship.
No. 1 ranked New Palestine (9-0) travels to Yorktown (7-3) while No. 8 Greenfield-Central (8-2) visits Pendleton Heights (5-5).
Both games are regular-season rematches. The Dragons won at Yorktown on Sept. 6, 41-13. The Cougars won, at home, against the Arabians Sept. 13, 28-14.
New Palestine has already knocked out one HHC opponent, Mt. Vernon, 28-14 last week at Kelso Stadium.
Greenfield-Central’s lone losses are to New Palestine and Yorktown. New Palestine and Pendleton Heights have both beaten Yorktown.
“Playing the same teams over and over like this is really hard,” Ralph said after last week’s win over Mt. Vernon. “Beating a team twice is really hard. You give your best effort to win the first game and now you have to find something else in your tank to win the second one. Especially, because we kind of have a target on our back, you’re going to take a bunch of crazy stuff to try to win and that stuff is hard to handle at times.
“It comes down to executing and playing with great effort. We don’t need to do anything heroic, we just need to play the game of football the right way.”
To win last year’s sectional, New Palestine beat three conference foes for the second time, New Castle, Greenfield-Central and Mt. Vernon.
It’s the third straight year and fifth time in Nolting’s six years at G-C that the Cougars and Arabians have had postseason rematches.
Pendleton Heights won both games in 2019 and 2020. Greenfield-Central won both games in 2022 and 2023.
Greenfield-Central has won six straight in the series, but the last four have been relatively close.
In 2023, G-C had to rally from a first-half deficit to defeat the Arabians 43-38 in a regular season matchup, the last time the two teams played in Pendleton. In the postseason game last year, G-C won 27-17.
In 2022, after the Cougars won big in the regular season, 35-0, the Arabians proved that it is tough to beat a team twice, but the Cougars did it, 34-28.
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Sectional Semifinals
Friday Night’s Football Schedule
Class 4A Sectional 21
7 p.m. – Class 4A No. 1 New Palestine (9-0) at Yorktown (7-3)
7 p.m. – Class 4A No. 8 Greenfield-Central (8-2) at Pendleton Heights (5-5)
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Game Capsules
Class 4A No. 1 New Palestine (9-0) at Yorktown (7-3)
Kickoff: 7 p.m.
Coaches: Kyle Ralph, 136-14 in 12th year at New Palestine; Mike Wilhelm, 112-106 in 20th year at Yorktown.
Recent history: New Palestine has dominated the series, winning 24 of 29 meetings. Dragons won a Week 3 regular season game at Yorktown 41-13.
Sagarin ratings (last season): New Palestine 89.67, 9th overall, 1st in 4A. Yorktown, 67.21, 77th overall, 20th in 4A.
Players to watch: New Palestine —DL Michael Thacker, OL/DL Brock Brownfield, QB Jacob Davis, TE/LB Garrett Ranes, LB/RB Josh Ranes, LB Alex Guhl, DB Connor Jacobia, WR/DB Cameron Rollyson, WR Austin McMahan, K Jake Wells, DB Desmond Palmer; Yorktown – QB Sam Tokar, RB/S Wilson Webster, WR/KR/FS Ephraim Daugherty, WR/S Cole Perdue, TE/DE Julian McKay, QB/CB/RB Noah Long, LB Jacob Cheek, MLB Matthew West.
What to look for: The Dragons should be ready to go after last week’s scare from Mt. Vernon, a team they had beat handily during the regular season. New Pal won by four touchdowns at Yorktown in early September to begin a run to another undefeated Hoosier Heritage Conference season. Look for a bounce back performance from a Dragon offense that was not as efficient as usual against the Marauders. The 28-point performance and 14-point margin of victory were both season lows. Six of the points came from the defense on a Thacker pick-6. Yorktown has been up and down all year, owning impressive wins over Greenfield-Central and Mt. Vernon as well as head-scratching losses to New Castle and Pendleton Heights.
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Class 4A No. 8 Greenfield-Central (8-2) at Pendleton Heights (5-5)
Kickoff: 7 p.m.
Coaches: Travis Nolting, 36-26 in 6th year at Greenfield-Central, 96-54 in 14th year overall. Jed Richman, 53-42 in 9th year at Pendleton Heights, 88-72 in 15th year overall.
Recent history: Greenfield-Central beat Pendleton Heights 28-14 in a regular season game at G-C on Sept. 13. The Cougars have won six straight in the series.
Sagarin ratings: Greenfield-Central 79.31, 30th overall, 5th in 4A; Pendleton Heights 67.28, 76th overall, 19th in 4A.
Players to watch: Greenfield-Central – QB Dallas Freeman, RB/LB Cooper Hinton, FB Braylen Benavente, RB/LB Payton Foley, DE Zach Blevens, WR Boston Willard, DE Jake VanOsdol, SS Trenton Smith, LB Kody Smith, DB Zach Waterman, K Andrew Trabel; Pendleton Heights — QB Colton Frank, RB Keaton Jones, WR Nate Derolf, WR Jacob Rowley, WR/DB Cooper Sims, LB Nico White, LB Garrett Pederson, DL Jacob Eldridge.
What to look for: The Cougars and Arabians have built quite a rivalry over the last few years. It’s the third straight season they’ve met both in the regular season and in either the first or second round of the sectional. G-C has won six straight but most of the games have been close. The Cougars have gotten healthier the last few weeks and appear to be back in similar form to when they opened the season 5-0. After losing four in a row, which included a run of losses against Greenfield-Central, New Palestine and Mt. Vernon, the Arabians have won three in a row, including a 47-20 win over a Yorktown team that defeated the Cougars. Physical, in-the-trenches football is the norm when the Cougars and Arabians play.
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2024 Hancock County Football Statistical Leaders
PASSING
Name,School;G;C;A;YDS;PCT;Y/G;TD;INT;RAT
Jacob Davis, New Palestine;10;91;140;1479;.650;147.9;19;1;136.9
Elijah Edon, Eastern Hancock;10;166;284;2172;.585;217.2;19;9;91.8
Dallas Freeman, Greenfield-Central;10;74;135;1093;.548;109.3;14;8;91.4
Mason Meyer, Mt. Vernon;10;74;151;1150;.490;115.0;9;6;78.0
RUSHING
Name, School;G;CAR;YDS;AVG;Y/G;TD
Josh Ranes, New Palestine;10;135;1444;10.7;144.4;19
Joliba Brogan, Mt. Vernon;10;206;1151;5.6;115.1;13
Mark Kube, Eastern Hancock;7;136;787;5.8;112.4;10
Dallas Freeman, Greenfield-Central;10;88;610;6.9;61.0;10
Cooper Hinton, Greenfield-Central;9;61;540;8.9;60.0;10
RECEIVING
Name, School;G;REC;YDS;AVG;Y/G;TD
Ryker Baer, Mt. Vernon;9;30;668;22.3;74.2;7
Eli Manship, Eastern Hancock;10;46;636;13.8;63.6;3
Austin McMahan, New Palestine;10;27;575;21.3;57.5;9
Kayden Ruble, Eastern Hancock;7;28;304;10.9;43.4;2
Boston Willard, Greenfield-Central;10;27;394;14.6;39.4;5
TACKLES
Name, School;G;S;A;T;T/G;TFL
Trenton Smith, Greenfield-Central;10;38;53;91;9.1;3.0
Kody Smith, Greenfield-Central;9;43;28;71;7.9;5.0
Eddie Mullins, Greenfield-Central;9;42;28;70;7.8;3.0
Cooper Hinton, Greenfield-Central;9;44;24;68;7.6;8.0
Jonah Schroder, Mt. Vernon;9;40;28;68;7.6;7.0
SACKS
Name, School;G;S;S/G
Zach Blevens, Greenfield-Central;10;7.5;0.8
Michael Thacker, New Palestine;10;7.0;0.7
Jake VanOsdol, Greenfield-Central;10;7.0;0.7
Payton Foley, Greenfield-Central;10;5.5;0.6
Gabe Johnson, Eastern Hancock;10;4.5;0.5
Brennon Trueblood, Eastern Hancock;10;4.5;0.5
INTERCEPTIONS
Name, School;G;I;I/G
Connor Jacobia, New Palestine;9;3;0.3
Austin Kincer, Greenfield-Central;10;2;0.2
15 players tied with 1 interception
PUNTING
Name, School;P;YDS;AVE
Mason Meyer, Mt. Vernon;17;609;35.8
Evan Wheeler, Eastern Hancock;9;319;35.4
Jake Wells, New Palestine;6;208;34.7
Jacob Davis, New Palestine;10;342;34.2
John Duncan, Mt. Vernon;13;359;27.6
RETURN YARDS
Name, School;K;P;T
Garrett Shaw, Eastern Hancock;443;1;444
Ryker Baer, Mt. Vernon;197;5;202
Cameron Rollyson, New Palestine;68;97;165
Joliba Brogan, Mt. Vernon;144;0;144
Eli Manship, Eastern Hancock;83;46;129
SCORING
Name, School;G;TD;CONV;S;K;TP;P/G
Josh Ranes, New Palestine;10;19;0;0;0;114;11.4
Cooper Hinton, Greenfield-Central;9;14;6;0;0;90;10.0
Mark Kube, Eastern Hancock;7;10;4;0;0;64;9.1
Joliba Brogan, Mt. Vernon;10;13;0;0;0;78;7.8
Evan Wheeler, Eastern Hancock;10;10;8;0;6;74;7.4
