NEW PALESTINE — You won’t see their names in the headlines. On Friday nights, you aren’t likely to hear their names called.
They aren’t exactly hiding in the shadows or lurking in the background, though. Most of the time, they can be found dominating the line of scrimmage during New Palestine High School football games.
But casual fans, or someone looking at the box score, might not know who they are or what they bring to New Palestine football. They might not know how important the group is.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
If you’re wondering exactly how the Dragons put up video game-like numbers on offense every week, there are five names you need to know that can help solve that puzzle.
Jacob Brittsan, Noah Mack, Austin Keele, Alex Cotterman and Kyle King are the powerhouses that pave the way for the New Palestine offense. They make up an offensive line that has helped the team roll to a 10-0 record, a No. 1 ranking and a sectional championship game tonight against Anderson at home.
You know the other names. Junior Charlie Spegal has piled up incredible numbers, rushing for 2,302 yards and 52 touchdowns on the ground to lead the nation in TDs and total scoring.
Senior quarterback Zach Neligh has been no slouch on the ground himself, adding 836 rushing yards and 13 TDs of his own.
While those two are the faces of the No. 1 Dragons’ dominant offense, they likely wouldn’t be having the fantastic seasons they are having without the five names on the offensive line in front of them.
“It’s incredible,” Spegal said of running behind the Dragons’ line. “They always just know what to do. If something doesn’t go right, they’re trying everything possible to fix it. My confidence goes way up. Even before the ball is snapped, I have a pretty good idea of where the hole is going to be. I know they’re going to block the right people.”
Brittsan, Mack, Keele, Cotterman and King are hugely responsible for the team rushing for more than 3,500 yards and 70 touchdowns so far this season, opening massive holes for the Dragons to run through and holding blocks to give Neligh a pocket to throw from.
Keele and Cotterman are the senior leaders on the line. Keele (6-foot-1, 258 pounds) mans the center position, while Cotterman (5-11, 265) lines up next to him at right guard.
The tackle positions are manned by a pair of juniors, Brittsan (6-3, 241) at left tackle and King (6-4, 233) at right tackle.
The youngster on the line, Mack (6-0, 232), is a sophomore left guard.
Those five have combined for a stellar season that has the Dragons steamrolling toward Lucas Oil Stadium on what seems an inevitable path to a state championship game, despite being undersized compared to many of their opponents.
“I think it’s our technique,” King said about what contributes to the Dragons’ success. “It doesn’t matter how big you are — obviously it does, but if you are under somebody, you can get them moving. Our coach always stresses stay low, keep your hands inside, keep those feet chopping. If you’re not moving, they’re not moving.”
Another name worth noting is that of Dragons offensive line coach Dan Buchanan, who King and the rest of the line credit for their success.
He took a young, inexperienced group last year and helped it through its growing pains, developing the players into the force they are today.
“Coach Buchanan is a great coach, and he makes us focus on the fundamentals and doing the little things right,” King said. “That’s what it comes down to. Everybody lifts weights, but if you’re doing the little things right, you’re going to go out and win.”
Learning curve
Last year, the Dragons dealt with injuries and position switches, combining to create a fairly large learning curve. With two juniors, two sophomores and a freshman on the line, New Palestine faced challenges.
“Coach Buchanan does such an amazing job with those guys. They respect him and they work hard for him, and that makes a big, big difference,” New Palestine coach Kyle Ralph said. “Last year, all these guys kind of had to go through the fire, essentially, as young kids. That whole year of having to go through that, be undersized, be inexperienced, be young, have a whole year in the weight room under your belt, and the confidence that creates, having seen the fronts, seen so many blitzes and played in so many big games, that pays off for you.”
There wasn’t a lot of continuity for the Dragons last year. Injuries kept cropping up. Position changes were constant.
Ralph surmises that the Dragons never played with the same offensive line configuration two weeks in a row at any point in the 2017 season. Despite the team finishing another regular season undefeated, it wasn’t smooth sailing.
That helped push the Dragons forward into a new season. That gave the offensive line motivation to excel.
“We took our lumps last year,” Cotterman said. “We didn’t play as well as we would have liked, which is weird when a team goes 10-0. It helped having last year to grow and learn, and this whole offseason working together, watching tons of film, doing everything we can to get better.”
Cotterman has been a big piece of the offensive line for New Palestine. A year ago, he was a part-time starter, in and out of the lineup as the team rotated guards.
Now he’s one of the leaders, a big boost to his fellow senior linemate.
“He’s stepped up a lot since last year, and he’s really kind of helped everybody know what they’re doing,” Keele said. “He’s helped me. It’s not all on me, now.”
Getting to be a part of this team, this offensive line, is a dream come true for Cotterman.
He grew up wanting to be in this position. He grew up in the community and played in the youth leagues. He dreamed of being a Dragon, hopefully becoming one of the team leaders one day.
That path took a painful detour last season as things wound down and the Dragons eventually saw their run come to an end at the hands of Zionsville.
That loss added more fuel to the fire.
“I got benched toward the end of the season last year, so I didn’t play that game,” Cotterman said. “I had to stand there, nothing I could do about it. I just had to watch that heartbreaking game. It just really pushed me the whole offseason to try to do as good as I could do and help this team and contribute on the field.”
The entire offensive line — like the rest of the Dragons — was motivated and determined after the season-ending defeat last year.
New Palestine’s front five flexed their muscles early, manhandling Kokomo and then dominating Class 6A’s Center Grove.
The latter game was one of many examples where the Dragons were undersized and seemingly over-matched in the trenches.
They are used to that. They certainly are not intimidated by it.
“That’s again a testament to what Coach Buchanan does with those guys,” Ralph said. “Their technique, their intensity, the effort they play with play in and play out, their pad level, all those things come into that. When you’re not heavy, you’re not quite as big as the opponent is, it’s hard to move those guys around. If you have good technique, you have good double teams, you play well with each other, you have a good feel for where each guy is going to be at any given time, it makes a big difference and you can overcome some of that size differential.”
The road ahead
There’s business to attend to as the Dragons continue marching toward the end goal, and that starts tonight at 7 p.m. with Anderson.
A sectional title hangs in the balance, and while the Dragons are heavy favorites — as they likely will be in next week’s potential regional against either Kokomo or Harrison — anything can happen come tournament time.
For New Palestine to continue moving forward, its offensive line will need to keep doing what it has done all season. They’ll need to execute their game plan and dominate the line of scrimmage, just like they’ve done week in and week out.
It doesn’t matter if the defenders lining up across from them are the same size of 50 pounds heavier. The Dragons will rely on what they learned last year, and what they’ve learned and accomplished this year.
The learning hasn’t stopped just because the team keeps winning games.
“They’re always on the film,” Spegal said of the offensive line. “They always read the scouting report right before practice. They know if they show a different front, they can adjust to it and know exactly who to block. They just spend so much time on the film and getting ready for it.”
That attention to detail, that work ethic, drives the Dragons forward.
There’s little individual glory in what they do. King has achieved some, as he leads the conference with 11 sacks from his other position on the defensive line, currently ranking fifth in Indiana.
The glory, the motivation for the five in the trenches, comes from the Dragons’ mindset that a touchdown for one is a touchdown for all. With Spegal scoring at a school-record and nation-leading pace, there is plenty of team glory to be had.
When the lights go on tonight and the Dragons take the field, Brittsan, Mack, Keele, Cotterman and King will do what they’ve done every Friday night this season. They won’t hear their names from the announcer. They probably won’t be in tomorrow’s headlines.
They’ll try to impose their will, hold the line and open the running lanes for Spegal, Neligh and company, focusing on the game plan and their own execution.
“We’ve just got to fall back on our technique, and all the weight room and off-season stuff we put in,” Mack said. “We lift pretty much year-round. Hands inside, the little things. Get the job done.”
“We do footwork and hand placement every day,” Brittsan added. “We work on that nonstop because we know we’re undersized. That’s how we win — out-executing everyone.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Sectional final breakdown” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
No. 1 New Palestine (10-0, 6-0) at Anderson (3-7, 2-5)
Kickoff: 7 p.m.
Recent history: The teams have only played once before, a 51-21 New Palestine win in 2010.
Last week: New Palestine got past No. 7 Zionsville, 29-17. Anderson eliminated Greenfield-Central with a 33-12 home win.
Sagarin ratings: New Palestine 106.27 (second), Anderson 36.22 (204th)
Players to watch: New Palestine — QB Zach Neligh, RB Charlie Spegal, OL/DL Kyle King, LB Luke Ely, DB Luke Canfield, WR/DB Maxen Hook, DB Ryker Large; Anderson — QB Xander Stokes, WR Malachi Qualls, OL/LB Jack Gray, WR/FS Joseph Jones
What to look for: Despite being a sectional championship game, this is a huge mismatch. The Dragons should have no issues running past Anderson en route to a sectional title. Expect a heavy dose of Charlie Spegal in the first half, as the junior running back continues his huge season. New Palestine certainly won’t overlook the Indians, but expect to see another huge halftime lead and another massive margin of victory for the hosts as they continue their quest for a state title.
[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Holding the line” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
What makes the offensive line of the New Palestine Dragons so special and so dominant? From leadership to brotherhood, the five starters weighed in.
“We all trust each other, and we’re really great friends out here. Trusting each other to be where we need to be, and we know what we need to do to succeed — that’s hard work in practice. We hold each other to a standard to keep our practice levels high and intensity up.”— Austin Keele, senior, center
“It’s mainly because we have a great leader at center, Austin. He’s been with us a couple of years. Last year we were all really young, so we’ve been working with him for a little bit. He’s been getting us on the right path, making sure every day we’re working hard, not taking any days off and keeping the level of competition up.” — Kyle King, junior, right tackle
“We’re a family. We’re a unit. We’ve all played together. Me and Austin have played together since we were little kids. Jacob Brittsan and Kyle King, we’ve played together forever. Noah came in, we really accepted him in last year as a freshman.” — Alex Cotterman, senior, right guard
“It’s how close we are together. All five of us, we’re like best friends. We hang out outside of football all the time, always going to get food or hanging out at each other’s houses after the game. It’s just our brotherhood that we have.” — Jacob Brittsan, junior, left tackle
“We just have great leadership. They have really good practice habits, keeping the tempo up. They keep the chemistry with the team good. With the O-line, we all kind of mingle well together.” — Noah Mack, sophomore, left guard
[sc:pullout-text-end]