New Palestine High School

The New Palestine football team couldn't have started any better Friday, when Ryder Gardner ran the opening kickoff back 96 yards for a touchdown to touch off its sectional championship game against No. 2 Cathedral. The top-ranked Dragons struggled to get their offense going early, but the Red Rage defense held them in the game until the Dragons could extend their lead in the second half en route to a 20-15 victory over the Irish in the Class 5A Sectional 13 championship game. The Dragons (11-0) advance to face No. 7 East Central in next Friday's regional, which will be played at East Central. Safety Andrew Davis helped seal the game with a school record-tying three interceptions, including two in the fourth quarter. Gardner shot through a hole and took the opening kick up the right sideline for a score to give the Dragons an early lead they wouldn't relinquish in what became a defensive struggle. Cathedral played the field position game early. The Irish drove to midfield on their first drive, but stalled and punted. From there, the Dragons had four consecutive possessions begin and end inside their own 20, with their only first down coming on a running into the punter penalty. However, Cathedral struggled to make use of its good field position, with three consecutive three-and-outs. However, the last of those punted the ball to the Dragons' 6. On the first play, Dragons quarterback Jacob Davis was sacked in the end zone for a safety. Cathedral threatened to take the lead when it ran the ensuing safety punt to the Dragons' 6. But the Red Rage stuffed two runs. On third down, Andrew Davis picked off a pass in the corner of the end zone to thwart the scoring threat and keep the Dragons' lead at 7-2. A 28-yard pass to Caden Jacobia and a 15-yard penalty on Cathedral moved the Dragons into Irish territory, but two penalties and a sack stalled the drive. Cathedral followed with a 14-play drive, but it stalled at the Dragons' 20, leading to a 37-yard field goal by Van Krisiloff, cutting the lead to 7-5. The Dragons forced a stop near midfield on the first possession of the second half. Pinned deep in their own zone again - this drive started at the 12 - Jacob Davis hit Garrett Ranes over the middle for a 41-yard gain to move the Dragons into Irish territory. Two plays later, they hooked up again on a 38-yard completion to the 1. Two more plays later, Jacob Davis snuck it in to push the lead to 14-5. Cathedral answered with a drive to the Dragons' 24, which led to a 42-yard field goal from Krisiloff to once again make it a one-score game late in the third. But again, the Dragons had an answer. On the first play, Caden Jacobia broke a 27-yard run to move the ball to the Irish 34. A fourth-and-1 conversion by Josh Ranes kept the chains moving, but two negative plays had the Dragons facing third-and-15. Landon Maddox caught a deep pass in traffic at the Cathedral 3 for a 26-yard gain. Two plays later, Davis carried in around right end to extend the lead to 20-8 with 10:20 to go in the game. The ensuing two-point conversion was no good, but the Dragons held a two-score lead again. Davis picked off a pass near midfield for his second interception of the day. The Dragons ran four minutes off the clock, with five runs by Josh Ranes and one by Jacob Davis, but an incompletion on fourth-and-short gave the Irish the ball back with 4:47 left. They methodically drove downfield, with a 10-play drive ending in a fourth-and-1 touchdown pass with 2:21 remaining. The Dragons recovered the ensuing on-side kick, but were unable to gain a first down, giving Cathedral one last shot. After two incompletions, Andrew Davis picked off a downfield pass for his third interception of the game. This one sealed it and sent the Dragons to the regional. The Dragons struggled to run the ball, rushing for just 51 yards in the contest, against Cathedral's stout front seven. But Jacob Davis was 8-of-12 for 148 yards, giving the Dragons 199 yards of total offense. The Red Rage forced three turnovers and held the Irish to 71 rushing yards and 246 total yards. The Dragons won their 16th sectional title. It was their 10th sectional championship in 13 years under coach Kyle Ralph. Cathedral's season finishes with a 7-4 record. Sectional final: New Palestine 20, Cathedral 15 Friday, Nov. 7 at Kelso Stadium, New Palestine Cathedral (7-4) 0 - 5 - 3 - 7 -- 15 New Palestine (11-0) 7 - 0 - 7 - 6 -- 20 Scoring summary NP-Gardner 96 kickoff return (Walker kick), 11:47 C-Safety, J.Davis tackled in end zone, 8:21 C-Krisiloff 37 FG, :11 NP-J.Davis 1 run (Walker kick), 6:15 C-Krisiloff 42 FG, 2:40 NP-J.Davis 2 run (pass failed), 10:20 C-Van Vierzen 7 pass from Koers (Krisloff kick), 2:21 Team stats First downs: C 15, NP 9 Rushes-yards: C 26-71, NP 37-51 Passing C-A-I: C 26-36-3, NP 8-12-0 Passing yards: C 175, NP 148 Total plays-yards: C 62-246, NP 49-199 Penalties-yards: C 8-82, NP 6-46 Fumbles-lost: C 1-0, NP 2-0 Punts-avg: C 5-46.4, NP 5-35.0 Time of possession: C 21:46, NP 26:14 Individual stats Cathedral Rushing: Pappas 13-40, Dangerfield 12-29, Koers 1-2 Passing: Koers 21-36-3-175 Receiving: Van Vierzen 5-51, Harvey 4-50, Ayers 4-24, Johnson 3-7, O'Brien 2-31, Lewis 1-8, Pappas 1-7, Dangerfield 1-(-3) New Palestine Rushing: Ca.Jacobia 9-49, J.Ranes 11-23, J.Davis 13-(-17), team 4-(-4) Passing: J.Davis 8-12-0-148 Receiving: G.Ranes 2-79, Maddox 2-31, Ca.Jacobia 1-28, Oglesby 1-11, Butler 1-5, Rollyson 1-(-1) Photo credit: Mark Blachly