FORTVILLE — The defending state champions didn’t go down without a fight.
In a battle of Hancock County’s and Hoosier Heritage Conference’s biggest rivals and two of the top high school football programs in the state, Class 4A No. 1 ranked New Palestine defeated the 2021 Class 4A champs Mt. Vernon 35-24 at Hancock Health Stadium Friday.
Mt. Vernon gave the unbeaten Dragons their first deficit of the season, but New Palestine, making its return to Class 4A after seven years — due to the IHSAA Tournament Success Factor Rule— in 5A, a victorious one.
Down 24-21 heading into the fourth quarter, New Palestine junior running back Grayson Thomas scored on an 11-yard run to start the fourth quarter. After the team’s exchanged turnovers, New Palestine’s defense got one more.
Senior wide receiver/defensive back Blaine Nunnally intercepted a Luke Ertel pass and returned it 47 yards to the Mt. Vernon 16. Quarterback Daniel Tippit IV scored on the next play to give New Pal a 35-28 lead with 9:27 to go.
Nunnally had another interception later in the period. He also had two touchdown receptions.
“I looked over and saw their coach give (George Burhenn) a six-route. I knew it was Burhenn single side. He looked straight there. The QB (Luke Ertel) stared him down the whole time and I just jumped the route,” Nunnally said. “I knew what was coming before the ball was even snapped.”
Nunnally said it was his favorite of many big plays on the night. He had another interception later and a pair of first-half touchdown receptions.
“The next play we scored and it put us up by 11,” Nunnally added. “It got the team going and everyone going. It was kind of over from there.”
All second-half scoring plays were on runs. All first-half TDs were through the air.
Prior to Thomas and Tippit, Mt. Vernon scored on a third-quarter one-yard run by Eli Bridenthal. It put the Marauders up 24-21. It was the first time all season the Dragons had trailed.
In the first half, five touchdowns came through the air with the shortest connection being a 10-yarder from Tippit to Nunnally, which was set up by a 57-yard screen pass to Thomas.
The Dragons had scoring plays of 56 (Kyler Kropp) and 66 (Nunnally) yards. They had a 74-yard score to Nunnally called back due to a penalty. Mt. Vernon had the half’s longest scoring play, a 92-yard connection from Bridenthal to George Burhenn.
The Dragons had a double-figure lead much of the half, but the Marauders got right back in it when frosh quarterback Ertel connected with Darnell Stewart on an 11-yard score with just 50.2 seconds left until the break. It cut the Dragons lead to 21-17.
New Palestine was given opportunities to pull away but it didn’t take advantage of a pair of Mt. Vernon first-half turnovers.
Dragon senior defensive back/wide receiver Isaiah Thacker stripped Mt. Vernon receiver Tre Jones after a 10-yard run, but New Pal turned the ball over on downs at the Marauder 42. A big play in the series was a quarterback sack from Mt. Vernon linebacker Kyler Grill.
Thacker had an interception on the ensuing series, but the Dragons had to punt – for just the ninth time this season – after reaching the Mt. Vernon 46.
The second-half turnovers were a different story. Nunnally’s pick and eventual score from Tippit helped seal the victory for the Dragons.
“We really did not play great at times tonight,” New Palestine head coach Kyle Ralph said. “We needed to quit shooting ourselves in the foot. Unfortunately we did more of that in the third quarter, but we were able to overcome it.
“Our kids had some resilience and toughness and found a way to come back to get the job done. Mt. Vernon did a great job. They are a state championship program. They’re not going to roll over because you go up early or because you are ranked really high. They’re really, really good. … I think they are one of the scariest teams in the state and have two of the best athletes (in Burhenn and Bridenthal) you are going to see anywhere.”
“It was an unbelievable game,” Mt. Vernon coach Vince Lidy said. “We were just a few plays short. The kids came out and we laid it all on the line. I’m proud of them.”
Next week’s semifinal will be another rematch from the regular season and another battle between county and conference rivals. New Palestine will take on Greenfield-Central at NPHS. The Dragons beat the Cougars 42-7 on Sept. 23 at Kelso Stadium. Greenfield-Central advanced to the semifinals with a 34-28 victory over Pendleton Heights.
