New Palestine’s Daniel Tippit, shown here in the season opener against Westfield, threw for over 300 yards and four touchdowns in the Dragons win at Pendleton Heights Friday.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
By Andrew Smith
For The Daily Reporter
PENDLETON — Pendleton Heights coach Jed Richman appeared determined not to allow New Palestine’s powerful running game to beat the Arabians Friday night.
But the Dragons beat them instead with the passing game.
PH succeeded in holding NP’s Grayson Thomas below 100 yards for the first time this season, but Dragons senior quarterback Danny Tippit had a career night, completing 18 of 21 passes for 309 yards and four touchdowns in a 42-14 victory over PH.
“All in all, we played pretty well tonight,” NP coach Kyle Ralph said. “I think we’re getting better, but there’s still a lot of improvement this team can make, which is a good thing if we can get there.”
The victory moves the Class 4A No. 1 Dragons’ mark to 5-0 on the season and 3-0 in Hoosier Heritage Conference play. PH falls to 2-3 and 1-2.
Tippit finished the night with more touchdowns than incompletions and the Dragons’ first 300-yard passing game since Lincoln Roth did so against Franklin in the 2020 sectional. Isaiah Thacker made five catches for a career-high 140 yards and a score, in the process becoming the ninth Dragon to reach the 1,000-yard mark in receiving yards. Blaine Nunnally had five catches for 68 yards and two scores. Six different receivers caught passes.
“What’s best about what we’re doing offensively, Danny is really competitive, he wants to be the leader of the offense and he is,” Ralph said. “What I’m proud of is he’s really bought into a touchdown for one is a touchdown for all. He’s evolving. It doesn’t matter who scores it, six points is six points. He’s distributing the ball really well. All of our receivers are getting catches. He’s making the right reads. His continued evolution is going to be huge for us. He had a really nice night tonight. When he was called on to throw it tonight, he threw it well and that was important.”
PH unveiled an aggressive, blitzing defense early designed to slow the Dragons’ running game — and it did early, forcing a turnover on downs on the first drive. But on the Dragons’ second possession, Tippit hit three straight passes for 60 yards, capping it with a 25-yard aerial to Nunnally, and NP was off and running.
Thacker made an acrobatic catch in the end zone for a 26-yard reception on the next drive, and then had a 68-yard catch and run to set up a 7-yard TD to Nunnally on the following possession to put NP up 21-0 early in the second quarter.
Two more drives finished with touchdown runs by Thomas to cap the opening half with the Dragons up 35-0 and triggering the running clock for the second half. Tippit was 16 of 19 for 280 yards in the opening half.
The heavy passing game was part of the gameplan coming into the week.
“We’d been passing the ball all week,” Tippit said. “Everybody knows we can run the ball. We understood their weaknesses and that’s what we were going to do.”
Meanwhile, the Dragons’ defense sacked PH quarterback Isaac Wilson three times and picked him off twice — Baylor Hurst and Isaiah Thacker had the interceptions, the latter coming inside the 10-yard line to thwart the Arabians’ best drive of the first half.
PH scored on both of its second-half possessions – the second coming against the Dragons’ second-unit defense. Daniel Thacker’s long kickoff return set up a third-quarter TD pass to Ty Mitchell for the Dragons.
The Dragons gained 161 yards on the ground, led by Thomas’ 87 yards.
For PH, Wilson completed 11 of 22 passes for 134 yards and a touchdown to Caden Sims. He also ran for 43 yards and a score, with most of his yardage coming after halftime.
“Everybody sees the talent, everybody sees the size and the strength, but the reality is, their kids just play really disciplined,” PH coach Jed Richman said of New Palestine.
“Our guys were playing their hearts out. They make it harder than it needs to be. They overcompensate at times. The intentions are good, but the results are not because we’re not where we’re supposed to be at times,” Richman added. “Our effort was there, our attitudes were there. Our kids believed they could compete, and we come out for the second half and it’s 35-0. I called the same plays in that drive that I called in the first half, and those were the same plays that worked in the second half. It was a matter of determination and discipline and doing the things you’re supposed to do. I’m really proud of Isaac Wilson. I love these guys. We’re going to keep fighting.”
The Dragons were successful in their first defense of the HHC’s Helmet trophy since regaining possession of it with last week’s 42-6 victory over Mt. Vernon. Their next chance to do so will be next week in the team’s 55th annual homecoming game against Greenfield-Central.
“When I got the job here 10 years ago, getting the Helmet was not a priority. Getting us back on track was. But when we got the Helmet, one of the most enjoyable parts has been defending that helmet because every week, you have to bring your best, because walking it across the field hurts,” Ralph said. “One of the fun parts about this is you are everybody’s Super Bowl. You have to come prepared to play every week and you have to bring your best. You want to be the team remembered for getting it back. That’s been their mission. We had a great week this week. It needs to continue to be next week.”
