For the Daily Reporter
NEW PALESTINE — The beat goes on for New Palestine. With a 49-7 victory over visiting Mt. Vernon, the Dragons notched their 43rd consecutive Hoosier Heritage Conference victory and seventh consecutive victory over their closest traditional rival.
It was not smiles all around afterwards though, as both coaches came away a bit frustrated.
Throughout the first quarter, it seemed as if the game might be much closer than anticipated. After the Dragons scored on their opening drive, Mt. Vernon seemed to catch New Palestine off guard by using Shaun Shipley at quarterback. The move paid dividends immediately, as Shipley barreled into the end zone from two yards out to even things up at 7-7.
That was the first touchdown Mt. Vernon (3-1, 1-1 Hoosier Heritage Conference) had scored against New Palestine (4-0, 2-0) in four years.
New Palestine answered right away, however. A long, methodical drive was capped off by a 1-yard touchdown run from Charlie Spegal. The Dragons’ senior added two more touchdowns on the ground in the quarter, with the second coming following a blocked punt by Michigan State commit Kyle King.
Mt. Vernon, alternating quarterbacks, was still moving the ball through well through the air. Receiver Ashden Gentry finished the game with seven catches for 92 yards. His sixth catch set the Marauders up for a field goal attempt at the end of the first half, but the kick was missed.
“Things just got away from us at that point,” Marauders coach Mike Kirschner said afterwards. “We missed a wide-open receiver in the end zone on that drive and then missed the field goal.”
Going forward, Kirschner believes his team needs to improve at executing the way they do in practice to games.
“All year now we have executed in practice, and then their minds just seem to turn off during the game,” Kirschner said. “Honestly, we just aren’t improving that much. We need to get healthy and work on our focus.”
In the second half, the Dragons slowly iced the game away with a suffocating ground game between Spegal (25 carries, 251 yards) and quarterback Lincoln Roth (117 yards). They were slowed in the half by numerous holding and block in the back penalties.
“If those were all real penalties, then yes, that was an incredibly sloppy performance by us,” New Palestine coach Kyle Ralph said.
While the ground game was working wonders in the second half, Ralph also hopes to see his passing offense improve going forward.
“Mt. Vernon came out like we thought they would, so we planned to throw the ball a little more than usual early on,” Ralph said. “I wish we had executed better. We missed a few open receivers, but that certainly helped Charlie as the game went on.”
New Palestine will look to cap off a three game home stand next week as they host Pendleton Heights. Mt. Vernon will return home for another challenging game against Delta. Both games kick off at 7:30 p.m.
