New Palestine High School

The New Palestine football team took command in the second quarter Friday and rolled to a 42-7 Homecoming victory over Greenfield-Central. After a scoreless, defensive first quarter, the Dragons took command by scoring on three consecutive second-quarter possessions, taking a 21-0 lead going into halftime. A score on the first drive after halftime followed. The Dragons scored on their last six possessions before kneeling out the final drive. Senior quarterback Danny Tippit tied a school record with five touchdown passes. He was 20-of-26 for 212 yards, spreading his TDs around to four different receivers - Blaine Nunnally, Kyler Kropp, Ty Mitchell and Cameron Rollyson. Junior running back Grayson Thomas ran for 161 yards and a touchdown. "We had trust in our play-calling," senior wideout Blaine Nunnally said. "We read some things early that made up for big plays later. Tippit throws the ball well al the time. It makes it easy on us receivers, knowing if we run good, crisp routes, he's going to put it right on the spot." The Red Rage defense smothered G-C, holding them to 166 total yards and seven first downs. The teams played an even first quarter, with the Dragons forcing punts on G-C's first two drives. Eli Hook blocked the first, allowing the Dragons to take over at midfield. They were unable to take advantage, losing a fumble on the first drive and being forced to punt on the second. After forcing a third G-C punt, Isaiah Thacker's 27-yard return set the Dragons up in G-C territory. On the second play - and first play of the second quarter - Thomas took a toss sweep to the right 31 yards down the sideline for a touchdown. G-C drove into Dragon territory on the next possession, but the Dragons' Alex Guhl recovered a fumble on the 36-yard line. The Dragons then marched 10 plays to score, with Nunnally reeling in a 15-yard TD pass to cap the drive with 3:49 left in the second quarter. After forcing a three-and-out, Hook again blocked a punt, setting the Dragons up at the G-C 34. It took them three plays to score, as Thomas went up the middle for 20 yards on the first play. Two snaps later, Tippit found Kropp open in the end zone for a seven-yard TD, putting NP up 21-0 with 46 seconds left in the half. The Dragons kept the foot on the gas pedal in the second half. Daniel Thacker's long kickoff return set the Dragons up at midfield. A 28-yard pass to Ty Mitchell set up a 16-yard aerial to Mitchell on the next play for a score to put NP up 28-0. G-C answered with a TD drive bolstered by a 37-yard fake punt run by Brad Allen. Quarterback Brayden Herrell found Kirk Knecht in the end zone from 24 yards out to cut the lead to 28-7 late in the third, but the Dragons quickly responded. Nunnally reeled in a 41-yard pass on first-and-27 to set the Dragons up at the G-C 7. On the next play, Nunnally caught a 7-yard TD pass. After a short G-C punt, the Dragons capped the scoring with a 6-yard TD pass to freshman Cameron Rollyson. The victory was the Dragons' 14th straight homecoming win and their 14th straight regular-season win over G-C, extending their record in the all-time series to 30-5. Tippit's five-touchdown game was the Dragons' first since Alex Neligh threw for five TDs in the 2014 state championship game. Isaiah Thacker had a career-high nine catches for 70 yards. Nunnally tallied 67 yards and Mitchell 52. The Dragons held G-C to 161 total yards and forced five punts - with Eli Hook blocking two - and a turnover. "That's as good a performance as we could've had from our defense, especially with our offense playing poorly," coach Kyle Ralph said. "They did a really nice job with those guys doing their jobs. It's hard to play assignment football that long, and they're forcing three-and-outs and punts. To have some resilience on defense and keep playing and continunig to play for four quarters, that speaks volumes for what Coach (Scott) McMurray and our kids have done." The Dragons improved to 6-0 and 4-0 in HHC play, with their fourth victory over a ranked team. G-C is now 4-2 (2-2). The Dragons begin a two-game road swing next Friday at Shelbyville. Week 7: Dragons 42, Greenfield-Central 7 Sept. 23, 2022 at Kelso Stadium, New Palestine Greenfield-Central (4-2, 2-2) 0 - 0 - 7 - 0 -- 7 New Palestine (6-0, 4-0) 0 - 21 - 7 - 14 -- 42 Scoring summary NP-Thomas 31 run (Tanksley kick), 11:51 NP-Bl.Nunnally 15 pass from Tippit (Tanksley kick), 3:49 NP-Kropp 7 pass from Tippit (Tanksley kick), :46 NP-Mitchell 16 pass from Tippit (Tanksley kick), 9:55 G-C-Knecht 24 pass from Herrell (Lee kick), 3:35 NP-Bl.Nunnally 7 pass from Tippit (Tanksley kick), 11:53 NP-Rollyson 6 pass from Tippit (Tanksley kick), 6:55 Team stats First downs: G-C 7, NP 19 Rushes-yards: G-C 41-143, NP 25-158 Passing C-A-I: G-C 2-3-0, NP 20-26-0 Passing yards: G-C 31, NP 215 Total plays-yards: G-C 44-174, NP 49-373 Fumbles-lost: G-C 2-1, NP 1-1 Penalties-yards: G-C 4-32, NP 5-37 Punts-avg: G-C 5-22.0, NP 1-54.0 Time of possession: G-C 31:27, NP 17:33 Individual stats Greenfield-Central Rushing: Herrell 29-79, Allen 4-50, J.Hinton 2-11, Foley 2-3, Zellers 2-0, Bruno 4-0. Passing: Herrell 2-3-0-31 Receiving: Knecht 1-24, J.Hinton 1-7 New Palestine Rushing: Thomas 20-158, Tippit 2-4, Kropp 1-(-2), team 2-(-2) Passing: Tippit 20-26-0-215 Receiving: I.Thacker 9-71, Bl.Nunnally 4-68, Mitchell 3-52, Kropp 3-18, Rollyson 1-6