New Palestine High School

The New Palestine football team didn't take long to make the Homecoming crowd happy Friday night. They were in the end zone four plays into the game, recovered a fumble on their first defensive play, had a 14-point lead within the game's first five minutes, and rolled to a 50-8 victory over Greenfield-Central at Kelso Stadium. The Dragons are now 5-1 overall and 4-0 in Hoosier Heritage Conference play. The Dragons came out throwing, as Rhys Ragan completed 15-of-20 passes for 204 yards and four touchdowns, spreading the ball around to four different receivers. Logan Parks ran for 143 yards and two touchdowns, as the Dragons amassed 445 yards of total offense in the contest. Ryder Gardner returned the opening kickoff into G-C territory, and the Dragons came out throwing. A 17-yard pass to Cael Butler and a 15-yarder to Landon Maddox set up a 6-yard TD pass to Butler to put the Dragons up 7-0 just 82 seconds into the game. Evan Walker recovered a fumble on G-C's first play, and the Dragons again went to work, going on a 34-yard drive that finished with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Mason Oglesby. On the Cougars' third possession, the Red Rage forced a stop. After a high snap, G-C's punter tried to take off and run but was stopped well short of the first down. It took the Dragons just two plays to go 33 yards - a 19-yard run by Parks and a 14-yard pass to Maddox - and take a 20-0 lead. The Dragons were stopped at the G-C 5 on their next drive, but an errant snap on the Cougars' possession went through the end zone for a safety. The Dragons then scored on their ensuing possession, with Ragan's fourth touchdown pass of the day capping it with a 9-yarder to Butler. Parks capped the next drive with a 27-yard touchdown on fourth-and-1 to put NP up 36-0 late in the first half. They drove plus territory after a 41-yard pass to Oglesby in the final seconds of the half, but a long field goal came up short. The Dragons then scored on both of their second-half possessions - a 2-yard run by Parks capping a 71-yard third-quarter drive, and Deakin Gibson scoring from 30 yards out after two carries for 37 yards by Karter Kropp, in the fourth quarter. The Red Rage held G-C to 108 total yards - 45 of which came on a late long throw that led to G-C's touchdown in the final minute. The Dragons next play Friday at Roncalli. Week 6: Dragons 50, Greenfield-Central 8 Friday, Sept. 25 at Kelso Stadium, New Palestine Greenfield-Central (1-5, 0-3) 0 - 0 - 0 - 8 -- 8 New Palestine (5-1, 4-0) 20 - 16 - 7 - 7 -- 50 Scoring summary NP-Butler 6 pass from Ragan (Walker kick), 10:38 NP-Oglesby 10 pass from Ragan (Walker kick), 7:39 NP-Maddox 14 pass from Ragan (kick failed), 3:11 NP-Safety: G-C snapped ball out of end zone, 10:24 NP-Butler 9 pass from Ragan (Walker kick), 8:24 NP-Parks 27 run (Walker kick), 4:26 NP-Parks 2 run (Eakin kick), :02 NP-Gibson 30 run (Eakin kick), 4:54 G-C-Longere 2 run (Nicholson pass from Swift), 1:00 Team stats First downs: G-C 4, NP 23 Rushes-yards: G-C 30-45, NP 28-241 Passing C-A-I: G-C 3-5-0, NP 15-20-0 Passing yards: G-C 64, NP 204 Total plays-yards: G-C 35-109, NP 48-445 Fumbles-lost: G-C 1-1, NP 3-0 Penalties-yards: G-C 1-15, NP 3-35 Punts-avg: G-C 5-36.8, NP 0-0 Time of possession: G-C 25:37, NP 22:13 Individual stats Greenfield-Central Rushing: Longere 19-31, Antle 7-8, Smith 2-6, Nicholson 1-5, team 2-(-8) Passing: Antle 3-5-0-64 Receiving: Nicholson 2-53, Cunningham 1-11 New Palestine Rushing: Parks 16-143, Oglesby 2-29, Ragan 6-16, Kropp 2-37, Gibson 1-30, team 1-(-14) Passing: Ragan 15-20-0-204 Receiving: Butler 5-74, Gardner 4-48, Maddox 3-31, Oglesby 2-51