New Palestine High School

The New Palestine football team dominated from the opening kickoff Friday in a 63-0 shutout victory over New Castle in the opening round of Class 4A Sectional 22. The Dragons (8-2) advanced to play Greenfield-Central (9-1) in next week's sectional semifinal clash at Kelso Stadium. G-C beat Pendleton Heights 27-17. The Red Rage pitched its first shutout since Sept. 30, 2022, forced two turnovers and scored itself - a Liam Fuller scoop-and-score to seal the game. The Dragons held New Castle to two first downs - one of which was by penalty - and minus-26 yards of total offense. It was the first time the Dragons had held a team to negative yardage since Oct. 3, 2014 at Shelbyville, when they held the Golden Bears to minus-29 yards. Grayson Thomas ran for 142 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries, leading a varied rushing attack that saw nine different players have carries. Quarterback Gavin Neal completed 10-of-15 passes for 147 yards and three touchdowns, hooking up twice with Kyler Kropp for scores and once with freshman Mason Oglesby. Kropp finished with 107 yards from scrimmage on five touches. The Dragons spread the ball around early, scoring on their first three drives. Neal capped a 55-yard drive to start the game with a 12-yard forward pitch to Oglesby for a score. A 31-yard pass to Kropp set up the TD. On the next possession, runs of 11 and 26 yards by Thomas set up a 16-yard TD pass to Kropp, capping a 75-yard march. A 33-yard run by Kropp set up a 10-yard TD scamper on a jet sweep by Micah Clark to put the Dragons up 21-0 at the end of the first quarter. Thomas added TD runs of 1 and 7 yards in the second quarter to cap short drives and put the Dragons up 35-0 at halftime, triggering a running clock for the second half. The Dragons scored on all three of their second-half possessions. The varsity offense had one possession and marched 32 yards in six plays, with Kropp taking a forward pitch 10 yards for his second TD of the day. A 16-yard run by Thomas on fourth down set it up. The Dragons' second unit then added three more scores. After the Red Rage forced New Castle to turn the ball over on downs at its 10, Malachi Haines punched it in from a yard out to extend the lead to 49-0. Bryan Caldwell's 34-yard scamper on fourth-and-long extended the lead to 56-0, and Fuller had a scoop-and-score on the next snap to add the final score. The Dragons sacked New Castle quarterback Tyson Lewis four times, with Cameron Rollyson notching three sacks. In addition, Mallari Johnson kicked two extra points, becoming the first female to appear in a game - and score a point - for the Dragons since Jordan Reid in 2019. Offensively, the Dragons scored on eight of their nine possessions. Sectional Round 1: Dragons 63, New Castle 0 Friday, Oct. 20 at Kelso Stadium New Castle (1-9). 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -- 0 New Palestine (8-2) 21 - 14 - 7 - 21 -- 63 Scoring summary NP-Oglesby 12 pass from Neal (Wells kick), 8:59 NP-Kropp 16 pass from Neal (Wells kick), 4:51 NP-Clark 8 run (Wells kick), :15 NP-Thomas 1 run (Wells kick), 3:21 NP-Thomas 7 run (Wells kick), :47 NP-Kropp 10 pass from Neal (Wells kick), 3:37 NP-Haines 1 run (Wells kick), 9:39 NP-Caldwell 34 run (Johnson kick), 3:47 NP-Fuller 16 fumble return (Johnson kick), 1:49 Team stats First downs: NC 2, NP 17 Rushes-yards: NC 15-(-57), NP 36-242 Passing C-A-I: NC 4-18-1, NP 10-15-0 Passing yards: NC 31, NP 147 Total plays-yards: NC 33-(-26), NP 51-389 Penalties-yards: NC 0-0, NP 2-25 Fumbles-lost: NC 3-2, NP 0-0 Punts-avg: NC 5-36.2, NP 1-45.0 Time of possession: NC 25:14, NP 22:46 Individual stats New Castle Rushing: Wagers 3-3, Hannan 2-0, Thompson 4-(-2), Lewis 5-(-46), team 1-(-12) Passing: Lewis 4-17-1-31, Bell 0-1 Receiving: Logston 3-22, Anderson 1-9 New Palestine Rushing: Thomas 19-142, Caldwell 3-37, Kropp 1-33, Haines 3-9, Neal 6-8, Clark 1-8, Mitchell 1-6, Hammons 1-4, Harley 1-(-5) Passing: Neal 10-15-0-147 Receiving: Kropp 4-74, Oglesby 3-32, Mitchell 2-29, Rollyson 1-12