For the Daily Reporter
YORKTOWN — From the first offensive snap Friday, the New Palestine football team was in control.
Dragon junior Charlie Spegal broke a 38-yard run on the second play of the game, which set the tone for a 63-point first-half in an 81-13 New Palestine victory against host Yorktown in the teams’ Hoosier Heritage Conference opener.
Spegal ran for 252 yards and six touchdowns on 18 carries, playing only the first half. Senior quarterback Zach Neligh completed 7 of 8 passes for 205 yards and three touchdowns, dialing up TD passes to Maxen Hook from 64 yards, to Colby Jenkins from 53 and Brody Luker from 15.
For the second time in three games, the Dragons varsity offense found the end zone on every possession, scoring nine times on nine drives in the first half to take a 63-7 lead into the dressing room.
The Dragons’ lines set the tone and controlled play on both sides. New Palestine outgained Yorktown 489-135 in the opening half, with 76 of the Tigers’ yards coming on one play — a flea-flicker TD pass from Reid Neal to MiLon McCowan.
“We thought we had a big advantage up front tonight,” New Palestine coach Kyle Ralph said. “We thought they were a bit undersized and a little bit young on the interior. We wanted to set the tempo with that and set up our passing game with some really nice runs. We had nearly perfect execution on that as far as getting them to start creeping themselves in, and then hit some big passes.
“Overall, our offensive line did a great job tonight. Charlie ran hard, Zach made good reads and it was flowing pretty good.”
The Dragons’ strength showed early. Spegal’s 38-yard run on the opening possession set up a 17-yard TD scamper 78 seconds into the game. He followed with TD runs of 27 and 8 yards on the next two possessions, frequently breaking tackles downfield.
The Dragons took a 28-0 lead at the end of the opening quarter when Neligh found Hook over the middle in traffic. Hook broke two tackles at midfield and outran everyone to the end zone for a 64-yard scoring play.
Jenkins had his fifth career 100-yard game receiving, catching three passes for 107 yards. His 41-yard reception set up Spegal’s fourth TD of the night, a 15-yard run that gave New Palestine a 42-0 lead. He then caught a 53-yard pass to score and extend the lead to 49-0.
“We were super-explosive. We knew we could get them to start coming down to the box more and we felt we had some really good stuff in the passing game,” Ralph said. “Colby’s been real quiet for the first couple of weeks. Tonight, we had some good stuff in the gameplan for him and we executed it. He gets himself a really big night. Maxen had a nice run after catch on contact where he could’ve gone down at midfield and he powers his way through it.
“We had some really good explosive stuff happen in the pass game tonight. That makes it harder to creep down and overload the box against Charlie, because when you see our receivers and Zach in sync like that, you’ve got to make some choices.”
Jenkins moved up to fourth in the New Palestine all-time receiving list, passing current Dragons assistant coach Brandon Collins. He is 73 yards from catching third-place Jay Ehle.
Spegal finished the half with TD runs of 36 — coming one play after a 29-yard run between the tackles — and 7 yards, which he set up with a 22-yard run.
Spegal has 15 touchdowns in three weeks and has run for 569 yards.
“He just keeps pounding out those hard yards after contact,” Ralph said. “Someone hits him right in the chest and he just plows right through them. His legs keep pumping. That’s the hallmark of a great running back.”
The Dragons’ second and third units played the entire second half and added 18 points — TDs by Jaaron Manley and Devan Hill and a field goal by Alex Kropp. Quarterbacks Chris Guhl and Lincoln Roth both led scoring drives.
“Every kid in the program played tonight. They earned that,” Ralph said. “They come out on scout team during the week and they get punished by our varsity — that’s what scout team is. They keep their head up, they keep getting better and it’s nice when those guys can get rewarded for their hard work during the week. It’s a blast watching those guys come in and compete.”
The Dragons are now 3-0 on the season and have won 48 straight regular-season games and 35 straight HHC games. They now turn their attention to rival Mt. Vernon, as they visit Fortville in the annual Boundary Rail game next week.
