NEW PALESTINE — While most students are on a break from school and spending the holidays with family, the New Palestine football team will be hard at work.
They wouldn’t want it any other way.
After handling business in Saturday’s semistate game against Michigan City, a 35-10 win, the Dragons are headed to the state finals for the third time in coach Kyle Ralph’s six years.
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The Dragons will now spend Thanksgiving with their football family. That makes for a happy holiday for any Indiana football team.
“We’ll have Thanksgiving together as a team and a family, like is tradition in the state championship,” New Palestine coach Kyle Ralph said. “Make this week something special, and hopefully cap it off with another win if we can.”
Saturday’s victory was win number 13 for the Dragons, the final step needed to earn a shot at their ultimate goal of another state championship.
“What a journey. From start to almost finished now — we have to get downtown and get the job done — but it’s been a magical season to be a part of,” Ralph said. “Now we have to get the job done one more time.”
Michigan City made sure it wasn’t an easy semistate step for the Dragons. The Wolves defense was as good as advertised Saturday, holding New Palestine to just two total yards in the first quarter.
The Dragons defense was even better.
The Red Rage made big play after big play. It gave the hosts an early lead. It kept them in the game while the offense struggled.
After an initial three-and-out from New Palestine — the first of three consecutive quick punts from the hosts — Maxen Hook returned the Wolves’ first pass attempt of the game 47 yards for a touchdown to open the scoring.
The Wolves then did something no team has done all season to New Palestine. First, they simply scored in the first quarter. Then, they took the lead against the Dragons.
It wouldn’t last long.
The offense score a few minutes later, a 74-yard strike from Zach Neligh to Ryker Large, to regain the lead. New Palestine’s defense took over from there. The Dragons stopped the Wolves on 4th-down attempts two drives in a row, keeping Michigan City out of the end zone and keeping the offense in striking distance.
Then came another big play by the defense, this one a game-changer. After the offense finally found some rhythm and took a 21-10 lead, the Wolves looked poised to strike just before the halftime horn.
Quarterback Bryce Hayman found receiver Zennon Wilhelm in a seam over the middle, and Wilhelm was off to the races.
Except he wasn’t.
Linebacker Jacob Hockett, trailing behind Wilhelm, made a diving, shoestring, touchdown-saving tackle with seconds left in the first half, preserving an 11-point halftime lead for the hosts after the Wolves missed a field goal attempt.
“Jacob is a wonderful player for us. He does a great job,” Ralph said. “Quite honestly, he is nowhere near as fast as that kid is. In a foot race, in a bike race, nothing. Jacob cannot beat that guy in any race they chose to run. And all of a sudden, Jacob chases that kid down and makes that play. That is a full-on sellout. That game is totally different right there if that score happens.”
With an 11-point lead and a halftime break to make adjustments, it was pretty much game over from there. The Dragons defense kept the clamps on and the offense really get rolling, putting the game out of reach and punching their ticket to Lucas Oil Stadium.
“We believed in each other and the coaches were making changes,” New Palestine running back Charlie Spegal said. “We had a gameplan; we had to change it. We all worked together and made it work.”
Spegal, held to just 58 yards in the first half, finally started gaining big chunks of yardage in the second half.
Against a much bigger Michigan City defensive line, the offense had trouble doing much of anything in the first half. But with some adjustments, the offensive line of New Palestine started to impose their will and control the line of scrimmage, opening up lanes for Spegal.
He finished with 23 carries for 193 yards and three touchdowns, breaking Brett Law’s 30-year-old state record for most touchdowns in a season.
“They meant everything to the team,” Spegal said of the offensive line. “They had a hard task to handle, and it was a little iffy at first, but they got it done. They talked to each other, they communicated, and they got it fixed.”
Flipping the script
With Spegal setting records and an offense near the top of the state leaderboards all season, the Dragons have been widely known as a dominant offensive team.
They scored and scored often, putting other teams on their heels almost from the opening kickoff.
“For most of the year, our offense comes out and just absolutely lights the scoreboard on fire,” Ralph said. “It forces the other team to have to do things they don’t want to do, which plays into our defense’s hands and it creates a snowball effect of it just goes downhill really fast for you.”
Saturday afternoon they were in a bit of trouble, though. Things weren’t quite snowballing against the Dragons, but trailing for the first time, unable to move the ball, the offense needed a boost.
Hook provided it with the pick-six just a few plays into the game. That play was one of four interceptions the Dragons would record on the day, as both Hook and Brody Luker finished with two each.
“It was very poetic tonight that our offense, who gets all the headlines, comes out and honestly just doesn’t execute well at all. We literally blew two touchdowns in the first two drives there,” Ralph said. “But for our defense to not put their heads down, not sulk, not complain and whine, and then come out and just continue to just punch, and punch, and punch and surge forward and not bat an eye, they kept us in that game, allowed our offense to finally get some rhythm, get our footing. We finally connected on one of those big plays, and from there the onslaught was on.”
Michigan City had responded well after Hook’s first interception, putting together a 13-play drive for a field goal to cut the lead to 7-3 and a touchdown drive after forcing another Dragons three-and-out to take the lead.
The Wolves had several big plays on those two scoring drives, including a 46-yard pass and several long runs.
That was all the Dragons would allow.
“It was the same thing as last week,” Hook said. “They’re going to have their big plays, they’re going to have them early. We’re going to adapt, and we’re going to shut ‘em down the second half. That’s just what we do, time in, time out.”
Final step
It all comes down to this for New Palestine.
They’ve faced several top 10 teams in Class 5A and have beaten them all. They faced 6A’s Center Grove, who finished one yard shy of forcing overtime in another semistate game, and beat them, too.
All that stands in the Dragons way now is Decatur Central, who earned their spot in Saturday’s state championship game with a 27-24 nail-biter against Columbus East.
The Dragons won the state championship in 2014. They lost a heartbreaker, a thriller, the following year, a 64-61 defeat against Fort Wayne Snider.
They haven’t been back to Lucas Oil Stadium since. After all their hard work, after another perfect regular season and a postseason run that included a big rematch with Zionsville and two tough defenses in Harrison and Michigan City, their time has finally arrived.
“Any time you’re playing on Thanksgiving, you’re practicing, is an honor. It’s beautiful,” Ralph said. “There’s going to be snow on the ground, probably, which is even better. Having an opportunity to go to Lucas Oil and compete for the state championship is what our kids work hard for as a program. That’s why we put them through so much. That’s why they respond so well to all that stuff, is for this moment right here.”
Not many Dragons on the current roster have been to this point, as only a few of the seniors played on the varsity team as freshmen in 2015.
A sectional title was a new experience to most of the players on this New Palestine team. Regional and semistate championships were, too.
This moment, knowing they’ve earned an opportunity to compete for a state championship, is a dream come true.
“It feels incredible,” Spegal said. “I always dreamed about this since my brother was in high school.”
It’s a moment the Dragons have long imagined. The journey is almost over. The end goal is in sight.
The Dragons are headed back to Indianapolis.
“This game has been in our minds since this summer,” Hook added. “All those lifts, all those sprints, everything comes down to this next game. We’re going to be jacked.
“It feels amazing. We’re going downtown, baby! Let’s go!”
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This week in the Daily Reporter, we’ll have much more on the New Palestine football team as we preview Saturday’s big state championship game against Decatur Central.
Wednesday: New Palestine coach Kyle Ralph and Decatur Central coach Kyle Enright spoke at a press conference Monday. What’d they have to say about Saturday’s game?
Friday: The first part of our game preview, focusing on the New Palestine offense as it prepares to face a tough Decatur Central defense.
Saturday: The final part of our game preview, focusing on the Dragons defense and the matchup against the Hawks offense.
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