NEW PALESTINE — It looked like the New Palestine Dragons were in trouble.
Trailing 10-7 against visiting Cathedral, the Dragons defense was pinned into their own end zone. The Irish were three yards away from a two-score lead late in the third quarter of Friday’s regional championship game.
Fast forward roughly seven game minutes, and the Dragons suddenly had blown a game that looked to be in serious doubt wide open.
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The New Palestine defense held strong, and the Irish missed a short field goal. Dragons quarterback Lincoln Roth found Eric Roudebush for a 35 yard gain, then Charlie Spegal scored from 50 yards out. What looked like it was about to be a six- or 10-point deficit turned into a lead.
The Irish had the Dragons on the ropes. They couldn’t keep them down.
Once they got momentum, New Palestine dominated. They ran away with their fifth regional championship in seven years, topping Cathedral, 35-10, in a battle of No. 1 vs. No. 2.
“No one has done that to them this whole year. That’s something that we take a lot of pride around here, our strength, being able to run the ball downhill,” New Palestine coach Kyle Ralph said. “It was just a great night for our culture and our program to see those things really take hold and do something to that defense that nobody has been able to accomplish all year long.”
The Dragons did to Cathedral what they have done to so many teams over the years. They simply wore down the Irish in the second half, taking control of a game they looked to be in danger of losing and turning it into a rout.
“Coach Ralph told us (at half), nothing is going our way right now, but you guys just have to keep doing what you’re doing,” New Palestine senior Maxen Hook said. “Something is going to go our way. He was right. The tide definitely turned.”
Momentum shifted when the Red Rage stonewalled the Irish inside the 5 yard line on that pivotal drive late in the third. Roth’s pass to Roudebush, on a 2nd and 16, pushed things even farther the Dragons’ way.
Spegal took it from there.
“Once Eric Roudebush got that pass on the left side, right then, that changed it pretty much,” Spegal said. “We clicked. It just felt like we clicked together and we just made some pretty big plays after that.”
The Dragons knew they needed to respond and take advantage of their opportunity. They did, as Spegal rumbled 50 yards for a TD right after Roudebush’s catch.
“We just felt like we had to get that one in,” Spegal said. “We had no option but to get it in. Everybody just gave their best effort and we got it.”
The Dragons forced their second fumble of the third quarter — this one recovered by Aven Jones — and Spegal broke free for a 30 yard gain on the next play to put the offense back in the red zone. He scored a few plays later.
The New Palestine offense seemed to ignite once they got the lead. Spegal added a 64-yard TD run in the fourth quarter to extend the lead and turn the final score into a blowout, and Hook added a pick-6 to seal the deal.
Spegal finished the game with 284 yards on 30 carries, with four touchdowns, gashing the Cathedral defense for most of the second half.
“The offensive line just did a great job tonight,” Ralph said. “They executed the plan to perfection. Our goal was to try to get Charlie one-on-one with their defensive backs.”
That task became easier late in the game when New Palestine displayed its superior conditioning, built from years of buy-in in the weight room.
Defenders that were hitting Spegal up high earlier in the game suddenly were going for his ankles or feet, helping the state’s all-time leading rusher break big run after big run in the second half.
“Those last couple of drives, they just gave up. We could tell,” offensive tackle Jacob Brittsan said. “We knew that they were done. We were just pounding it down there.”
The win gives New Palestine its seventh regional in school history and fifth in Ralph’s seven-year tenure. It sets up a semistate showdown next week with Bloomington South. The Dragons will again be the host.
Bloomington South topped Floyd Central in the other south regional on Friday, 40-14. The Panthers will likely be in for an uphill battle against a Dragons team that is riding a massive wave of momentum from the second half against Cathedral.
“I think this is one of the most resilient teams in the whole state of Indiana,” Hook said. “We never get down on ourselves. We all felt we were all right.”