INDIANAPOLIS — With the Regional 11 title game pairing No. 1 against No. 2, it could have been billed as the Class 4A football state championship game before the state championship game.
New Palestine, in its return to Class 4A after being bumped up a class due to the IHSAA’s Tournament Success Factor Rule, spent the majority of the season in the class’s top spot, but its season came to an end at the hands of No. 2 Roncalli at Bob Tully Field Friday.
The Dragons, trailing 14-7, were stuffed twice on fourth-and-one plays in the fourth quarter. The Royals answered the latter with an insurance score in a 20-7 decision over the previously-unbeaten Dragons.
Roncalli (12-1) will take on East Central in a semi-state game next week.
New Palestine finished its season 12-1.
“A game, a win, a loss, doesn’t define you as a person or this team,” Kyle Ralph said, reiterating what he told his team after Friday’s loss. “We lost tonight and you’ll lose plenty of times in life. How you respond to that is what will define you as a human being and young man. I hope all of guys respond positively to this.
“We’ll get back to work soon, but we want to say good-bye to our seniors the right way and thank them for everything they’ve done to get New Pal football back to where everyone is accustomed to it being after a couple of years of it not being there. It’s been a hard road.”
After winning back-to-back state titles at the Class 5A level in 2018-2019, New Palestine had a couple of “rough years” by its standards. The 2020 and 2021 seasons were the first years, in Ralph’s 10-year tenure, that the team lost more than one game. Last year’s club finished 8-4, though it did win a sectional title. The 2020 team was 8-2.
Ralph praised his seniors, many who started as sophomores, for what they were able to do this season, including winning a Hoosier Heritage Conference title for the first time in three seasons.
“I’m thankful for our seniors, they’ve been a tremendous group to coach,” Ralph added. “We played a lot of these guys as sophomores in that COVID year … These guys took a couple on the chin that year as young kids and stepped up and played. Last year we started off uncharacteristically poorly with a young team. These guys, when everyone was telling them how bad they are, and how bad is New Pal football, this group took us out of the abyss and got us back to a sectional championship. This year we end up with a tremendous season. We lost to a good football team tonight. That’s the way it goes. I’m proud of these guys. They got New Palestine football back where it belongs, in the championship discussion. Sometimes you fall short.”
New Palestine scored first, on its second series of the game. The Dragons went 74 yards in 13 plays, capping it off with a dramatic touchdown catch by Isaiah Thacker on fourth-and-11.
From the Royals 35, Daniel Tippit IV connected with Thacker who out-leaped the Roncalli defensive back to make the play at the back of the end zone.
Junior running back Kyler Kropp had five rushes for 27 yards on the series, including a pair of 9-yard runs on first down and a 10-yard run to give the Dragons a third-down conversion.
The Dragons had four first-half possessions. Two were slowed by illegal procedure penalties. The other was a three-and-out. New Pal’s first second-half series got to the Roncalli 28, but the ball was turned over on downs.
Early in the second quarter, Roncalli tied it, finishing its drive with a 5-yard touchdown run from quarterback Arik Moyers with 10:39 remaining until halftime.
Neither team scored on their initial series of the second half. The Royals go-ahead score came on a 3-yard run from Wildcat quarterback Andrew Baugh with 2:32 left in the third quarter. It was set up a short Dragon punt into a strong wind. Baugh had a 22-yard return to the Dragons 47. Roncalli moved the ball on the ground, led by one of the state’s top rushers, Luke Hansen. He scored the game’s final touchdown and finished with, unofficially, 34 carries for 203 yards. It was the first time this season a back had rushed for over 100 yards against the New Palestine defense.
Down a touchdown and with the ball on the Royals 35, Kropp was stopped on a fourth-and-one play. The Dragons got the ball back, and though the Royals didn’t score, they were running out of time.
Tippit connected with Thacker on an eight-yard pass to the Dragon 48, but it set up fourth-and-one again. And, for the second time, the Royals defense stopped Kropp for no gain.
“(Roncalli) just made more plays than we did,” Tippit said. “When we couldn’t convert, they took control and scored.
“Everybody knows how big their lines are. They got a push and their linebackers were filling gaps well. They played it well, nothing else you can say about it.”
Roncalli sealed the win with a 10-play scoring drive, ending with a Hansen 2-yard run.
“(Roncalli) really came out to play and had a good game plan from the start,” New Palestine senior defensive back/receiver Blaine Nunnally said. “I’m proud of the brothers I’ve been playing with for I don’t know how long. Life’s next. We all know we have each other. It’s been a long road and it’s come to an end.”
