New Palestine High School

The New Palestine football team travels to New Castle for its final road game of the 2022 regular season. Game info 4A #1/1 New Palestine Dragons (7-0, 5-0 HHC) at New Castle Trojans (2-5, 1-4 HHC) Time: 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7 Site: Neal Field, New Castle (directions: https://goo.gl/maps/ooMRsVCSpUhdXpYK8) Tickets: $6, available at the gate. Broadcast audio: NewPalRadio.com (pregame coverage begins at 6 p.m.) SETTING THE SCENE The Dragons hit the road for the fifth time in six weeks with a visit to New Castle for the final road game of the regular season. This is the 10th meeting between the Dragons and Trojans since 2014. The Dragons have won the previous nine by an average score of 54-8. Last year, the Dragons won 42-7, with Blaine Nunnally tallying a career-high 94 receiving yards. The Dragons are in possession of the HHC’s Helmet trophy. They held it from 2013-20 and regained possession after a 42-6 victory at Mt. Vernon in Week 4. The Dragons can clinch a piece of their 22nd conference title - and 12th HHC title - with a victory this week. DRAGONS NOTES Senior QB Danny Tippit threw for 239 yards and four touchdowns in last week’s 56-0 victory at Shelbyville. He completed his first 13 pass attempts and finished 14-of-17. Over the last four weeks, he has completed 75 percent of his passes (63-of-84) for 984 yards and 16 touchdowns, including tying a school record with five TDs against Greenfield-Central. Over the season, he has 1,496 yards and is completing 72 percent of his throws. He needs four yards for the 12th 1,500-yard passing season in NPHS history. Junior RB Grayson Thomas became the first Dragon to post three 1,000-yard rushing seasons last week, with a 138-yard, three-TD effort giving him 1,024 yards for the season. He also has 3,413 yards and 49 touchdowns for his career. He moved into third place on the NPHS career rushing list and rushing TDs list last week. He needs 550 yards and three TDs to catch Jeff Miles for second place on each list. Senior Blaine Nunnally has been on the receiving end of several of Tippit’s TDs. He has 11 catches the last three weeks, six for touchdowns, including both of his receptions against Shelbyville. He is the Dragons’ second-leading receiver with 341 yards. Seven of his 22 catches have gone for TDs. Junior Kyler Kropp led a balanced receiving effort with five catches and 70 yards last week, as well as a TD. Senior Isaiah Thacker tallied four catches for 66 yards. Thacker moved into sixth place on the NPHS career receiving list with 1,187 yards. He needs 53 yards to catch Brandon Collins and move into sixth place. He needs 83 yards to move into fifth place, passing Jay Ehle. He also needs 21 yards for 1,500 for his career, factoring in yardage gained when he played for Triton Central as a sophomore. Senior LB A.J. Reierson led the Red Rage with 10 tackles last week. It was the seventh double-digit tackle performance for the Dragons this season. The Dragons are plus-13 in turnover ratio, with 17 takeaways and four giveaways. Daniel Thacker has three interceptions and a fumble recovery to lead the team. Junior OL Ian Moore is the No. 1-rated offensive tackle nationally by Rivals, who has Moore rated as the No. 1 Class of 2024 prospect in the state and No. 33 in the nation. SCOUTING THE TROJANS New Castle defeated Delta two weeks ago before falling to Mt. Vernon last week. Quarterback Quentin Boatright threw for 141 yards and a TD last week against MV. He accounted for 218 yards of total offense the week before. He has thrown for 446 yards. Jon Eberhart has run for 447 yards and Boatright 332 to lead New Castle’s offense. New Castle is scoring 15 ppg and allowing 24 ppg. LOOKING AHEAD The Dragons return home to close the regular season next week against Delta. The IHSAA sectional draw will be held at 5 p.m. Sunday. The Dragons play in Class 4A Sectional 22. FOLLOW US All New Palestine games are broadcast free-to-listen at NewPalRadio.com. All home games are also video streamed at IHSAAtv.org on a pay-per-view basis. NPHS Athletics is on Facebook (NewPalestineDragons), Twitter (@NPHSDragons) and online (NewPalestineAthletics.com).