WEST LAFAYETTE — Harrison might have found the secret to slowing down the New Palestine offense. It seems obvious, but it is easier said than done.
Don’t let the Dragons touch the ball.
After New Palestine did what they typically do to start Friday’s regional championship game — marching straight down the field in just three minutes to take a 7-0 lead — the Raiders got the ball and didn’t give it back for over a quarter of football.
Harrison bounced back from the opening score in a big way, converting several 3rd and 4th downs on its opening drive, eating up more than 13 minutes of the clock with a 23-play, 82-yard touchdown drive.
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“What an opening drive by them. Holy cow,” New Palestine coach Kyle Ralph said. “We made some mistakes that opening drive. Had ‘em on third and long and flat out missed a wide-open sack. Blown contain on another third and long. You just can’t do that against these kinds of teams.”
The Dragons ran just three plays after that before fumbling the ball away, giving the Raiders a chance to eat up the rest of the first half and take the lead back.
New Palestine’s defense made sure that didn’t happen. They forced a 3-and-out and put the offense back in business, and the Dragons quickly regained a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Harrison dominated the time of possession. New Palestine dominated the scoreboard.
In a hard-fought regional, the New Palestine defense bent but didn’t break, and the Dragons pulled away in the second half to down the Raiders 31-7 and advance to next week’s semistate.
“It’s going to be tough. It’s going to be gritty,” Ralph said. “That’s how you’re going to have to beat an option team and a team that plays physical defense like this team did.”
The Raiders were marching to start the second half, eating up the clock again while looking to cut it to one score, when a holding call derailed the drive. Back-to-back sacks by New Palestine’s Kyle King forced a punt after a nine-minute Harrison drive.
Charlie Spegal took it from there, and his third touchdown of the game, scored early in the 4th quarter, broke the Indiana state record for rushing TDs in a season.
He gained steam as the gain wound on. His first 17 carries went for 122 yards. He ran five times for 96 yards and a TD — his fourth of the game — on a late fourth-quarter drive, helping the Dragons extend the lead to 31-7.
“That was great to see there at the end,” Ralph said. “Late in that game, you started to see the wear and tear of us just pounding forward starting to catch up to them. In the end we were kind of imposing our will, which is nice to see.”
Spegal finished the game with 28 carries for 270 yards and four touchdowns. Quarterback Zach Neligh ran 11 times for 91 yards.
The Red Rage defense had three sacks and an interception in the game, the latter from Ryker Large on the Raiders final drive. They held the Raiders to 150 rush yards on 53 carries and allowed just 33 passing yards.
The win was New Palestine’s sixth regional title in program history and fourth since 2013. It is the team’s second regional in Class 5A, the first coming in 2015, a 49-21 victory against familiar postseason foe Zionsville.
New Palestine, ranked No. 1 all year, will play No. 3 Michigan City either Friday night or Saturday for a spot in the state finals.
“The most important thing right now is being 1-0; 0-1 means you’re done. You’ve earned yourself another opportunity to come out and play in what will likely be one of the marquee games in 5A this season,” Ralph said. “You’re going to play against a very high-level, elite team that has Division 1 talent. This is what we trained for, this is what we play for, this is what we’ve worked for.
“We’ve earned the right to be in the final four. We’re proud of that, we’re happy about that, we’re excited. This is what New Palestine football is all about.”
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No. 3 Michigan City 62, Concord 21
No. 1 New Palestine 31, Harrison 7
No. 2 Decatur Central 28, No. 10 Bloomington South 0
No. 4 Columbus East X, Castle X
Next week’s semistate games
Michigan City at New Palestine, TBA
Decatur Central at Xxxxxxx, TBA
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The Hoosier Heritage Conference announced it’s all-HHC team Friday, and New Palestine and Mt. Vernon are both well-represented, with the Dragons leading the conference with 11 selections and the Marauders earning four selections.
New Palestine coach Kyle Ralph was named HHC coach of the year.
The all-HHC team is:
OFFENSE
OL: Brady Edwards, Sr., Delta
OL: Jake Slotnicki, Sr., Mt. Vernon
OL: Caleb Kundert, Sr., New Castle
OL: Austin Keele, Sr., New Palestine
OL: Alex Cotterman, Sr., New Palestine
OL: Ben Kuhns, Sr., Pendleton Heights
WR: Luke Bumbalough, Sr., New Castle
WR: Colby Jenkins, Sr., New Palestine
WR: Eli Pancol, Sr., Pendleton Heights
WR: Austin Hill, Jr., Yorktown
QB: Zach Neligh, Sr., New Palestine
QB: Christian Conkling, Sr., Pendleton Heights
RB: Rylan Cole, So., Mt. Vernon
RB: Charlie Spegal, Jr., New Palestine
RB: Kamden Earley, Jr., Pendleton Heights
RB: Matt Merritt, Sr., Shelbyville
DEFENSE
DL: Nate Southerland, Sr., Delta
DL: Connor Price, Sr., Mt. Vernon
DL: Max Burhenn, Sr., Mt. Vernon
DL: Trenton Williams, Sr., New Castle
DL: Kyle King, Jr., New Palestine
DL: Tremor Bynum, Sr., Pendleton Heights
LB: Brady Pease, Sr., Delta
LB: Mason Hunt, Sr., Delta
LB: Stephen Spears, Sr., New Castle
LB: Luke Ely, Sr., New Palestine
DB: Tyler Gilland, Sr., Delta
DB: Nicholas Grieser, Sr., New Castle
DB: Maxen Hook, Jr., New Palestine
DB: Ryker Large, Jr., New Palestine
DB: Anakin Allison, Sr., Pendleton Heights
SPECIAL TEAMS
K: Alex Kropp, Jr., New Palestine
P: Eric Roudebush, Jr., New Palestine
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