New Palestine High School

Throughout the second half, Friday's regional game was going to come down to which team would be able to break down the other's stout defense. And, for a quarter, neither one did. Until Caden Jacobia took a handoff, saw a hole on the left side, cut to it, spun away from a tackle and scampered 30 yards for the go-ahead touchdown with 9:47 left in the game, sending the New Palestine football team on its way to a 20-6 victory over East Central. Jacobia's TD broke a 6-all deadlock that had lasted since the late stages of the second quarter in the defensive war between the Dragons and Trojans. He added another TD in the fourth quarter to extend the lead. The top-ranked Dragons (12-0) advance to next week's semistate against No. 3 Bloomington South (11-1). Kickoff will be 7 p.m. at Kelso Stadium. Jacobia ran for 160 yards and two touchdowns as the Dragons' featured back. NP amassed 270 yards on the ground in the contest. The game started out with each team posting a long drive. East Central moved the ball to the Dragons' 27, keyed bya. 21-yard pass to Trevor Perkins and a 19-yard run by their top rusher, Colton Bellman, moving the ball to the Dragons' 25. But a holding penalty and a sack by Josh Ranes stalled the drive. The Dragons took over at their own 8 and featured a lot of Jacobia. He had six carries on the drive for 45 yards, four of which moved the chains. A 14-yard scamper by Jacob Davis moved the ball into EC territory, but the drive stalled at the Trojans' 18. Evan Walker booted a 35-yard field goal to put the Dragons on the board on the first play of the second quarter. EC then ground out a nine-play, 70-yard drive that featured eight running plays and a 29-yard pass to Ethan Feldkamp, which set up first-and-goal. A five-yard TD gave the Trojans the lead midway through the second quarter, but the PAT was missed. It marked the first time all season the Dragons had trailed in a game. The deficit would last one possession. Jacobia started the next drive with a 13-yard run, and two more that moved the ball into plus territory. An 18-yard scamper by Davis moved the Dragons into the red zone, but again the drive stalled there. Walker booted his second field goal of the night to tie the game at 6-6 with four minutes left in the half. After an exchange of punts, EC took over in plus territory with 11 seconds left, but missed a 40-yard field goal, sending the teams into halftime deadlocked at 6. The third quarter was reminiscent of the first half of last week's sectional final against Cathedral - nearly the entire frame was played on the Dragons' half of the field. EC marched to the Dragons' 39 on the opening drive, but was forced to punt. However, the teams traded three-and-outs and punts. A second straight three-and-out by the Dragons gave the ball back to EC at midfield after a 49-yard punt by Davis. The Trojans mustered two first downs and moved the ball to the NP 32, but a holding penalty and a sack by Sam Hirschy - which also forced an intentional grounding call - put EC way behind the chains. A shanked punt gave the Dragons the ball near midfield as the fourth quarter began. There, they went to work. Davis carried for 13 yards. Two more short runs moved the ball to the EC 30, where Jacobia broke his first touchdown run to put NP up 13-6 with 9:47 left. The Red Rage forced another three-and-out - and the fourth Trojan punt of the half - and set the Dragons up at the EC 42. A methodical nine-play drive followed. Jacobia had a 15-yard run to move the ball into the red zone. A 13-yard scamper by Davis gave the Dragons first down at the 2. It took four plays, but Jacobia finished the drive with a 1-yard plunge to extend the lead to two scores. EC drove to the Dragons' 30 on the next drive, but two holding penalties and Hirschy's second sack of the day effectively ended the drive. NP took over on downs and ran out the clock to clinch another regional title. The championship is the 10th regional title in school history, and the third consecutive. It marked the second time in program history NP has won three straight regional titles, duplicating the feat first accomplished from 2013-15. In both trios, the first two were in 4A and the third in 5A. The Dragons held EC to 81 second-half yards, while gaining 128 after halftime - nearly all in the final quarter. Jacobia's 160 yards were a season-high for the Dragons this season, as were his 22 carries. IHSAA Class 5A regional: Dragons 20, East Central 6 Friday, Nov. 14, 2025 at Trojan Stadium, St. Leon New Palestine (12-0) 0 - 6 - 0 - 14 -- 20 East Central (9-3) 0 - 6 - 0 - 0 -- 0 Scoring summary NP-Walker 35 FG, 11:55 EC-Graf 5 run (kick failed), 7:45 NP-Walker 30 FG, 4:02 NP-Ca.Jacobia 30 run (Walker kick), 9:47 NP-Ca.Jacobia 1 run (Walker kick), 4:42 Team stats First downs: NP 16, EC 12 Rushes-yards: NP 42-270, EC 40-128 Passing C-A-I: NP 2-12-0, EC 8-14-0 Passing yards: NP 15, EC 92 Total plays-yards: NP 54-285, EC 54-220 Fumbles-lost: NP 0-0, EC 0-0 Penalties-yards: NP 7-75, EC 8-60 Punts-avg: NP 4-35.0, EC 6-28.5 Time of possession: NP 18:02, EC 29:58 Individual stats New Palestine Rushing: Ca.Jacobia 22-160, J.Davis 14-98, J.Ranes 4-14, team 2-(-2) Passing: J.Davis 2-12-0-15 Receiving: Oglesby 2-15 East Central Rushing: Bellman 26-108, Graf 3-13, Sehlhorst 4-10, Long 2-4, Maple 5-(-7) Passing: Maple 7-13-0-92 Receiving: Bellman 3-10, Feldkamp 2-46, Perkins 2-27, Sehlhorst 1-9 Photo credit: Molly Dunn