NEW PALESTINE — When the offense needed it most, the Dragons defense rose to the occasion on one of the biggest stages imaginable.
With a berth in the state championship game on the line, the New Palestine offense was stymied by Michigan City for the entire first quarter last week.
That’s when Maxen Hook stepped in to give them a jolt. His interception return for a touchdown kicked off the scoring and kept the Dragons close in a game in which they fell behind for the first time all season.
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Big play after big play followed. The Wolves never found the end zone again, and the Dragons defense forced four turnovers.
“Now they can count on us just as much as we can count on them,” Hook said of the offense. “If they don’t get going in the first quarter like the last game, they can rely on us to get the job done. I think that’s just going to help them throughout the game.”
The Dragons defense has been great all year. While the offense has lit up the scoreboard, the defense has kept opponents from doing the same.
New Palestine hasn’t been involved in a shootout all season long, thanks to the defense seemingly always buckling down and digging in.
A unit that was already having a dominant season, allowing fewer than 10 points a game, has even more confidence and momentum now after helping the team overcome a tough semistate game.
It’ll be needed again, as the Dragons face No. 2 Decatur Central tonight in the Class 5A championship game.
“I think last week was a huge confidence booster for us,” Hook said. “Them taking a lead on us and then never scoring again, never seeing the end zone again, is just incredible. This defense is going to get the job done, day in and day out.”
If they get the job done one more time, the Dragons will be able to call themselves champions.
Crunch time
To achieve the ultimate dream, New Palestine will have to find a way to slow down a potent Decatur Central offense.
They don’t score as much as the Dragons and don’t have the eye-popping numbers. Make no mistake, though. This team has offensive firepower.
“They just have so many great athletes and weapons out there,” New Palestine coach Kyle Ralph said. “Their quarterback’s a dual-threat guy. All the different backs they use in the backfield are tremendous and explosive in their own right. They’ve all got huge touchdown runs on the year and average a really high yards-per-carry rate. When you face an offense that’s so multiple like that, you’ve got to deal with three or four on any given play, it makes it really difficult to stop that stuff.”
Decatur Central has many ways to run the football. They’ll spread the ball. They’ll go into the flexbone with the quarterback under center. They can go with a four-headed approach, with two wings, a fullback and their quarterback.
The Hawks pride themselves on running the football. Being able to switch things up on the fly, show multiple looks and sustain drives in multiple ways, has been a calling card of the team this year, their coach said.
“You have to be able to run the football in the playoffs when the other team knows you’re going to run the football,” Decatur Central coach Kyle Enright said. “Bad weather, cold, wind, rain, snow, whatever it is, you have to run the football, so that’s what we’re going to do. We have a bunch of different ways to do that.”
Their main weapon is Kenny Tracy, a 6-foot, 195-pound running back who can run around or through tackles. Quarterback Parker Harrington can run as well, a true dual-threat quarterback, much like New Palestine’s Zach Neligh.
Fullback Will Gibson grinds out yards. Nick Pickett, a linebacker, has started getting carries in the playoffs and has broken several key plays during the Hawks’ run to the title game.
In the passing game, Jason Allen is a big-threat wide receiver, as is Larren Tracy.
“We’re not a one-man show,” Enright said. “Everybody is stepping up and really in it for the team. Don’t care who gets the credit, don’t care how we do it, as long as we do it.”
The Dragons defense has seen it all before. They’ve faced dual-threat quarterbacks — and they do so every day in practice — and they’ve faced what seems like a different offensive system every week.
“We might not have the best athletes, but we’ve got playmakers,” Hook said. “We’ve got guys who have been playing football for a really long time. When it’s crunch time, we step up big.”
Going through the semistate experience, having to slow down a strong Michigan City running game with a slashing back and a dual-threat quarterback, could help the Dragons heading into tonight’s game.
They are already a confident group that trusts one another and executes well. Helping the offense get past the early-game roadblocks the Wolves put up has them riding some major momentum for the championship slugfest ahead.
“I think that’s huge for us. In a state game, you’re going to get their best shot,” lineman Kyle King said. “That team is going to be good regardless. You know they worked their butt off to get there. I think our defense really needs to stand up so we can hold ‘em to little or no points. That’s going to be a huge factor for us.”
“They’re in the state championship just like we are,” Hook added. “They’re a really good offense as well. They’ve got a lot of athletes. We don’t have a lot of those athletes, so we’ve just all got to do our job, do it correctly, and play as the defense we’ve been playing like all year, just shutting down athletes.”
Bringing it home
As the Dragons take the field in search of a championship, they’ll be led by somebody who has been there before.
Senior Luke Ely started a championship game as a freshman, during the 2015 season that ended with a 64-61 state-finals defeat.
He was on the field along with Austin Keele, who plays on offense at center and on the defensive line for this year’s team. Neither of them wanted that game to be the only state-championship experience they’d have in their high school careers.
Finally getting back to this stage, finally getting to go back downtown to play at Lucas Oil Stadium, is a great feeling.
“It’s awesome. After that heartbreaking loss freshman year, really we had kind of reached the highest stage as freshmen, Austin and I,” Ely said. “It really made it that we wanted to get back. That was our main goal each season was get back and finally win a state championship.”
Ely has quietly had a big impact on the Dragons this season. He isn’t the team’s leader in any statistical category — Hook leads the team in tackles, King is tops in sacks, Brody Luker has the most interceptions — but he has racked up 85 tackles, three sacks, an interception and three touchdowns.
One touchdown came on his only rushing attempt of the year, a 63-yard scamper against Delta. The others were a fumble recovery in the end zone, and he returned his one interception for a touchdown.
At middle linebacker, he is the field general for the Dragons.
“I get to make the calls, which is awesome,” Ely said. “I get to make sure everybody is doing the right job and executing how they should. It just makes it fun to be out here with all my teammates and get one last shot at a state championship.”
For most teams, tonight’s game is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Even for those who have been there before, like Ely and Keele, this is a special experience to be a part of. Practicing during Thanksgiving week, spending one final week with their football family, is a privilege that isn’t lost on the Dragons.
“Not many people get to experience this, so it’s really cool to be in it,” King said. “Not many people are going to be able to make it to state anytime in their career. It’s a great feeling.”
All the effort put in, from the weight room to the practice field to the film room and beyond, comes down to this.
Tonight, at approximately 7:05 p.m., the Dragons will look to make the most of the opportunity they’ve worked so hard to earn.
A state championship is on the line. The Dragons defense is ready to live its dream and take home the title.
“It’s amazing. This is what we’ve been looking forward to since the summer, since all those lifts, the conditioning,” Hook said. “This is what you’ve been dreaming about. Now that you’re here, it’s just surreal.”
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All games at Lucas Oil Stadium. Tickets $15 for the day.
Today
12 p.m.: Class A, Pioneer (14-0) vs. North Vermillion (13-1)
3:30 p.m.: Class 3A, West Lafayette (14-0) vs. Evansville Memorial (14-0)
7:05 p.m.: Class 5A, New Palestine (13-0) vs. Decatur Central (12-1)
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Tackles
;Tackles;TFL
Maxen Hook, NP; 118;13.5
Dylan Renick, DC;93;20
Luke Ely, NP;85;6
Aven Jones, NP;82;10
Chamaar Smith, DC;80;25
Jordan Miles, DC;73;16
Kyle King, NP;69;25
Jason Allen, DC;66;5
Will Gibson, DC;64;9
C.J. Faubion, NP;53;5.5
Sacks
Kyle King, NP;17
Jordan Miles, DC;8
Chamaar Smith, DC;7
Maxen Hook, NP;4
Aven Jones, NP;4
Will Gibson, DC;4
INTs
Brody Luker, NP;6
Ryker Large, NP;3
Maxen Hook, NP;3
Jason Allen, DC;3
Larry Tracy, DC;1
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