New Palestine High School

The New Palestine football team struck first, but had three second-half red-zone drives come up empty as the 5A No. 1 Dragons fell to 4A No. 1 East Central 14-6 Friday at Kelso Stadium. The Dragons doubled EC up in yards after halftime and moved the ball effectively on the ground, but a combination of bad breaks and miscues caused each drive to stall. Quarterback Rhys Ragan threw for 140 yards and a touchdown, while running back Kade Stephens amassed 123 yards on the ground – 111 of which came after halftime. On the Dragons’ second possession, Mason Oglesby popped a 15-yard run to move into plus territory, then Ragan found Cael Butler open for a 19-yard pass to convert fourth down. Two plays later, Ragan hit Landon Maddox on an out route for an 11-yard TD to put the Dragons up 6-0. But the PAT was blocked, keeping the score at a 6-0 game. NP stopped EC’s next drive on downs on the Dragons’ 25, but after a punt, gave the Trojans the ball back. They moved into a tight double-wing offense and methodically drove downfield, converting three third downs and a fourth down on a 21-play, 81-yard drive that chewed up eight and a half minutes and ended with a 1-yard plunge by quarterback Ben Bond, giving the Trojans a 7-6 lead in the closing seconds of the first half. The Dragons’ defense was solid in the second half, forcing a punt near midfield on EC’s first drive. It was downed at the Dragons’ 1, but the NP offense got rolling. Butler drew a pass interference penalty on the first play to get the Dragons out of the shadow of their own goalposts. On third down, Stephens broke a 36-yard run into EC territory. A 23-yard run followed to move the ball into the red zone. The Dragons moved to the 1, where Ragan rolled out to the right, was hit at the goal line and appeared to fall into the end zone. He was ruled down on the 1, and NP was stuffed on fourth down on the next play. NP forced a three-and-out and got the ball back, and again drove deep into EC territory. A would-be touchdown pass was unable to be caught in the end zone, and holding penalty on first-and-goal stalled the drive, leading to a blocked field goal. EC then turned the next possession into a touchdown on a 35-yard run by Colton Bellman, extending its lead to 14-6. NP had one last gasp and a responded methodical 15-play drive to the EC 13. But again, a penalty and a six-yard loss put the Dragons behind the chains, and an interception on fourth down sealed the game. The Dragons move into Hoosier Heritage Conference play next week, as they travel to 4A No. 6 Yorktown (2-0) to begin a three-game road swing against their third straight ranked opponent. Week 2: East Central 14, Dragons 6 Friday, Aug. 28, 2026 at Kelso Stadium East Central (2-0) 0 - 7 - 0 - 7 -- 14 New Palestine (1-1) 6 - 0 - 0 - 0 -- 6 Scoring summary NP-Maddox 11 pass from Ragan (kick blocked), 4:20 EC-Bond 1 run (Sterwerf kick), :28 EC-Bellman 35 run (Sterwerf kick), 6:59 Team stats First downs: EC 13, NP 16 Rushes-yards: EC 45-199, NP 36-161 Passing C-A-I: EC 4-7-0, NP 12-21-2 Passing yards: EC 20, NP 141, NP 141 Total plays-yards: EC 42-219, NP 57-322 Fumbles-lost: EC 0-0, NP 1-0 Penalties-yards: EC 4-39, NP 5-30 Punts-avg: EC 3-45.7, NP 2-45.0 Time of possession: EC 23:44, NP 24:16 Individual stats East Central Rushing: Bellman 11-92, Minges 15-60, Marsh 11-28, Bond 4-14, Sebastian 2-9, team 2-(-4) Passing: Bond 4-7-0-20 Receiving: Bellman 1-12, Marsh 1-6, Minges 1-6, Long 1-(-4) New Palestine Rushing: Stephens 18-123, Ragan 12-26, Oglesby 4-24, Estes 1-3, team 1-(-15) Passing: Ragan 12-21-2-141 Receiving: Oglesby 5-51, Butler 3-60, Maddox 2-20, Gardner 2-10 Photo credit: Saige Wolsiffer