Dragon GK Pridgen shines

NEW PALESTINE — Jaron Pridgen was frustrated. For 78 minutes and 40 seconds, he had shut out Greenfield-Central. The New Palestine keeper withstood shot after shot as the Cougars piled up 23 shots in regulation, most of them during a second-half onslaught when G-C, trailing by one, seemingly set up camp in the Dragon defensive zone in an attempt to tie the game.

With 80 seconds left, the visitors finally cracked the scoreboard on Angel Rodriguez’s first goal of the season.

“I thought I was going to get that shutout,” said Pridgen, a senior. “I really wanted that shutout.”

He would soon earn a chance at redemption. Following two scoreless seven-minute overtimes, the teams moved on to a penalty shootout.

It was there the NP keeper redeemed himself, as he stopped a pair of Cougar PKs and notched the Dragons’ third shootout score, thereby leading New Palestine (7-3-1, 3-1 Hoosier Heritage Conference) to a 2-1 (4-2 shootout)victory over Greenfield-Central (5-4, 2-1 HHC) before an energetic crowd Thursday night at NP.

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