New Palestine High School

The second-ranked New Palestine football team found itself climbing out of a 17-point hole at halftime, but rallied twice to cut the deficit to three before running out of time Friday night, falling to No. 1 Cathedral 24-21 in the Sectional 13 championship game at Tech. The Dragons struggled in the opening half, with two turnovers, three punts and four total first downs before the break. Cathedral took the opening kickoff and used 10 plays to score the game's first touchdown on a short run. A two-point conversion attempt after a bobbled snap on the PAT was intercepted. The Dragons had to start their first drive inside their own 10 due to a penalty, and that would be the marker of the first half - and much of the game. Only once did the Dragons start a drive beyond their own 20, as most of the opening 24 minutes was played deep in the Dragons' half of the field. Their first drive netted a short punt. Cathedral drove to the Dragons' 11, but a missed field goal kept it 6-0. After an exchange of punts, Cathedral intercepted a pass at midfield and brought it back to the Dragons' 31. Three plays later, they were on the 4, threatening to go up two scores. But Andrew Davis punched the ball free and Brayden Newsom recovered to prevent a score. However, the Dragons went three-and-out and Cathedral took advantage of the short field to score a touchdown. Another Dragons turnover - this time a fumble inside the 20 - led to another Irish score, a 28 yard field goal, giving Cathedral a 17-0 lead. The Dragons were a much different team in the second half. On the opening possession, Logan Parks converted a third-and-8 with a 13-yard run. On the next play, Rhys Ragan dialed up a 65-yard touchdown pass to Cael Butler to get the Dragons on the board. Xavier Harmon then had a diving interception at the 50 to thwart Cathedral's next possession, leading to a methodical 14-play drive that saw the Dragons convert two fourth downs. Parks had nine carries on the drive - including both fourth-down conversions - and capped it with a 3-yard TD run to cut the deficit to 17:14 with 2:46 left in the third. But Cathedral had an answer. The Irish converted two third downs - including a third-and-10 - setting up a 40-yard TD pass to extend the Irish lead to 24-14. The Dragons went three-and-out on their next possession. They quickly forced a Cathedral punt. A 34-yard pass to Landon Maddox set NP up at its own 40, but two penalties put them way behind the chains. Maddox caught a pass on fourth-and-17 and nearly scampered for the first down, but was stopped four yards short. Again, the Red Rage held and forced a three-and-out and a Cathedral punt. With 2:33 left, the Dragons needed to make up two scores. A short passing game in a hurry-up offense methodically moved the ball downfield. Two passes to Butler moved the ball near midfield. A pass interference penalty moved the Dragons into Cathedral territory. Ragan scrambled for 12 yards to move the ball into the red zone. There, he hit Butler on a fade pattern in the corner of the end zone to cap the 14-play drive and cut the deficit to 24-21 with 18 seconds left. Cathedral recovered the ensuing on-side kick to seal the game. Ragan finished the day 18-of-30 for 200 yards and two scores - both to Butler, who had a career-high 113 yards receiving. Parks tallied 115 rushing yards. Defensively, Cohen Wuethrich and Evan Walker both had 12 tackles. The Dragons finished the season 7-4 after playing the most challenging schedule in school history. Sectional 13 championship: Cathedral 24, Dragons 21 Friday, Nov. 6, 2026 at Howard Longshore Stadium, Indianapolis (Tech HS) New Palestine (7-4) 0 - 0 - 14 - 7 -- 21 Cathedral (8-3) 6 - 11 - 7 - 0 -- 24 Scoring summary C-McCullough 2 run (pass failed), 7:40 C-Johnson 21 pass from Finn (Peterson pass from Finn), 4:32 C-Fahey 28 FG, 1:15 NP-Butler 65 pass from Ragan (Walker kick), 10:30 NP-Parks 3 run (Walker kick), 2:46 C-Johnson 40 pass from Finn (Huebner kick), :22 NP-Butler 16 pass from Ragan (Walker kick), :18 Team stats First downs: NP 17, C 19 Rushes-yards: NP 36-118, C 34-169 Passing C-A-I: NP 18-30-1, C 16-25-1 Passing yards: NP 200, C 165 Total plays-yards: NP 66-318, C 59-334 Fumbles-lost: NP 2-1, C 1-1 Penalties-yards: NP 7-49, C 9-62 Punts-avg: NP 4-32.8, C 3-36.3 Time of possession: NP 23:38, C 24:22 Individual stats New Palestine Rushing: Parks 26-115, Stephens 3-5, Ragan 7-(-2) Passing: Ragan 18-30-1 200 Receiving: Butler 7-113, Maddox 5-68, Gardner 3-11, Oglesby 3-8 Cathedral Rushing: Dangerfield 23-116, McCullough 7-33, Knowles 3-22, team 1-(-2) Passing: Finn 12-16-0 126, Knowles 4-9-1-39 Receiving: Lewis 7-37, Johnson 5-99, Ayers 3-24, Peterson 1-5