By Andrew Smith/For Daily Reporter
MUNCIE — With a young team, New Palestine football coach Kyle Ralph knew there would be some growing pains to start the year.
But the Dragons have hit their stride at the end of the regular season, capping it Friday with a near-perfect performance in a 55-6 victory over Delta.
The Dragons scored 52 first-half points — scoring on eight of their nine first-half possessions — and the top-unit defense held Delta to one first down and four rushing yards en route to their fifth-straight victory.
The Dragons have outscored their opponents 229-38 in their five-game streak.
“It felt like vintage Dragon football this week, where the offense is explosive, the defense is suffocating and once the snowball started rolling downhill, it just took off,” Ralph said.
“The kids had a nice week of practice. We have really stressed preparation and the Monday to Thursday grind it takes to be a good football team. Our kids have really bought into that and it’s showing on the field. We had a great plan tonight. I thought they had a nice plan as well. We made an adjustment to it, it clicked and it was off to the races tonight.”
The Dragons finished the regular season with a 6-3 record, including a 6-1 Hoosier Heritage Conference mark.
The explosiveness took just three plays to show, as Damon Hockett broke free on a quarterback sweep for a 58-yard touchdown.
It never let up on offense. The Dragons were held to a field goal on their second drive, but then scored touchdowns on six of their next seven possessions.
Many came due to short fields forced by the Dragons’ defense, which held Delta to one first down and 47 total yards in the first half.
Hockett rushed for 167 yards and three touchdowns on 13 carries. He also competed 6 of 10 passes for 106 yards and two touchdowns.
The Dragons outgained Delta 429-164, including the first-unit offense gaining 343 yards on 31 plays in the first half.
Hockett set up the first of his two passing touchdowns with a 30-yard scramble, then he pitched it 11 yards to Kyler Kropp on a back-shoulder fade in the end zone to push the lead to 17-0.
Hockett then had a 38-yard run for a score, then set up his 7-yard TD run to start the second quarter with a 30-yard pass to Caleb Byers.
The big plays continued later in the half. Thomas was held to 57 yards on five carries, but 47 came on a dive play for a touchdown that made it 38-0. Kropp and Isaiah Thacker added first-half scores.
Thomas broke the 1,000-yard barrier on his touchdown run, and the Dragons’ diversity on offense came through again.
“A touchdown for one is a touchdown for all. Grayson’s been knocking on the door of 1,000 yards for a couple weeks now, but everybody’s been trying to take him away, so we can’t just run our inside-outside game with him,” Ralph said.
“When you do those things, the other weapons have to do their job. Damon has to beat you with his feet and his arm. The receivers have to catch the football and block in space. It’s very refreshing to see our kids come out, play unselfish and execute.”
The Dragons had a number of possessions because the Red Rage defense was forcing three-and-outs. The Dragons forced five punts and stopped Delta twice on downs in the first half before yielding way to the second unit in the second half.
After giving up more than 30 points three times in the season’s first four games, the first-unit Dragons defense hasn’t allowed a point in the last three games.
“We were young to start the year and we made so many rookie mistakes early in the year when we were just trying to figure out our assignments, let alone figure out what the other team is doing and game situations,” Ralph said.
“Now, you’re starting to see, as we get comfortable, start mastering the game plan and we’ve had a lot of leadership stepping up with experience, now they’re on the same page. They’re practicing very well and they execute on Friday night well.”
The Dragons have a bye week before opening Sectional 14 on Friday, Oct. 29 against Franklin at Kelso Stadium
“We always use this bye week really well. This is going to be a huge week to focus on us and make sure we understand the base principles of what we’re doing, because come playoff time, it comes down to execution, Ralph said.
“Especially in 5A when you’re playing bigger schools with more resources and really good athletes, you can’t have those self-inflicted wounds. For the last month, we’ve been avoiding those things. That needs to continue. Focusing on us and our base principles is going to be really critical over the next seven days.”
New Palestine 55, Delta 6
DELTA (4-5, 1-5 HHC);0;0;0;6;—;6
NEW PALESTINE (6-3, 6-1 HHC);24;28;3;0;—;55
Scoring Summary
NP—Damon Hockett 58 run (Brendan Tanksley kick), 11:13
NP—Tanksley 32 FG, 6:26
NP—Kyler Kropp 11 pass from Hockett (Tanksley kick), 2:52
NP—Hockett 38 run (Tanksley kick), :06
NP—Grayson Thomas 14 run (Tanksley kick), 6:49
NP—Hockett 7 run (Tanksley kick), 8:32
NP—Grayson Thomas 47 run (Tanksley kick), 7:09
NP—Kropp 16 run (Tanksley kick), 2:50
NP—Isaiah Thacker 38 pass from Hockett (Tanksley kick), 1:19
NP—Jake Wells 40 FG, 4:29
D—Nolan Carpenter 29 run (kick failed), 10:25
