FORTVILLE — Mt. Vernon lined up for a third down from its own 34 yard line late in the first half.
The snap sailed so far over quarterback Tyson Harley’s head, it rolled backwards the entire 34 yards and into the endzone. New Palestine’s defense pounced on it, a touchdown that put the Dragons up 47-0 at the time.
That play was symbolic of Friday night’s Boundary Rail game. Things started sloppy for both teams and stayed sloppy for the Marauders. The Dragons went into the half up 47 and rolled from there, taking down their county rivals for the seventh straight year with a 64-0 win.
In a constant downpour, both Mt. Vernon (2-2, 1-1 Hoosier Heritage Conference) and New Palestine (4-0, 2-0) struggled holding onto the ball in the first quarter. Once the Dragons got a handle on the ball, they took control quickly.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
“This favors us for sure with our size, our strength and power,” New Palestine coach Kyle Ralph said of the weather conditions. “The big offensive line, we used two tight end sets tonight, just put extra big, strong kids in there tonight. You’ve got Charlie (Spegal) back there, who is just hard to tackle in general, he just keeps pounding away at you like that downhill.”
Following its first drive, New Palestine started drives on Mt. Vernon’s side of the field seven straight times. Turnovers and penalties kept putting the Marauders in a hole, and the Dragons capitalized.
With excellent field position the entire first half, the Dragons offense, which came into the game averaging more than 60 points per game, had little difficulty piling on the points.
That was in large part thanks to Spegal, who had another monster game for New Palestine. He ran 25 times for 258 yards in the game, scoring 6 TDs.
“With the short fields, when (Spegal) is really going, the offensive line is going … if he’s going at 10 yards a pop, you’re three or four plays away from a touchdown happening,” Ralph said. “In a game like this, when you can’t throw to catch up, it makes it almost impossible if our defense keeps playing that well.”
After starting strong defensively, things fell apart for the Marauders. A roughing the passer penalty on the opening drive gave the Dragons good field position. Two 4th and 1 conversions extended the drive, which ended with a Spegal 19-yard TD run.
Mt. Vernon’s first drive ended with a bobbled snap for a 9-yard loss and a fumble on the ensuing run play, giving New Palestine the ball on Mt. Vernon’s 30.
The Marauders turned it over on the first play of the second quarter, as New Palestine’s Brody Luker caught a tipped pass to put the Dragons in great field position again. Zach Neligh extended the Dragons lead almost immediately with a 25-yard TD run.
Spegal put the Dragons up four scores a few minutes into the second quarter with an impressive run, breaking through multiple tackles and scampering 49 yards for his third score of the night, a run officially putting him over 5,000 yards for his career.
A blocked punt, another interception — this one from Maxen Hook — and the bad snap that ended in a touchdown followed, and the Dragons quickly put the game out of reach.
Mt. Vernon had four turnovers and four costly penalties in the first half, spotting the Dragons the huge lead.
“Some people need to toughen up. The weather didn’t affect them near as bad as it affected us,” Mt. Vernon coach Mike Kirschner said. “We had nine either bad snaps or dropped snaps. They had two with their starters. We dropped two punt snaps; we got them off, but one of them was tipped for about a 5-yard punt. Like I told them, it was raining on their side of the field just like it was ours.”
Outside of Spegal, the Dragons relied on their quarterback to move the football. Neligh finished with 13 carries for 56 yards and 2 TDs. As a team, the Dragons ran 48 times for 364 yards and 8 touchdowns.
The Marauders had a bright spot of their own in running back Dylan Cole. Cole ended the game with 122 yards on 34 carries, churning out first downs and keeping some Mt. Vernon drives alive.
“That’s about it. I did think at times our O-line blocked OK, and Dylan ran hard,” Kirschner said of positives he saw from his team. “We couldn’t throw a lick in this, and they couldn’t either. Not what you want, but they’re good and we knew it. We’ve gotta figure out a way to get better.”
The Dragons defense held Mt. Vernon to just 93 total yards, while the visitors finished with 366. The teams combined to pass for just 7 yards in the sloppy conditions.
“It was miserable conditions to play in tonight,” Ralph said. “You’ve gotta rely on your running game, and thankfully our running game was able to chunk some big yards out, and I think that was the difference early on.
“At times it was as sloppy as the weather on defense. But a shutout is a shutout, and we’ll take it anytime against a rival like that. We’re very proud of that.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Next week’s games” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
New Palestine at Pendleton Heights, 7:30 p.m.
Mt. Vernon at Delta, 7:30 p.m.
Greenfield-Central at Shelbyville, 7:30 p.m.
Eastern Hancock at Knightstown, 7 p.m.
[sc:pullout-text-end]