New Palestine High School

The New Palestine football team faced its first deficit of the season going into the fourth quarter Friday night. The top-ranked Dragons then dominated the last 12 minutes to take a 35-24 victory over Mt. Vernon and advance to the second round of Class 4A's Sectional 22. Trailing 24-21 headed into the final 12 minutes, Grayson Thomas scored on the fourth quarter's first play, a 10-yard run, to give the Dragons the lead, ending a 4:22 march. The Red Rage then forced a three-and-out and the Dragons took over at midfield, but a turnover gave the ball back to MV. Immediately thereafter, senior Blaine Nunnally stepped in front of a pass, intercepted it and took it back 47 yards deep into Marauder territory. Senior QB Danny Tippit followed with a 16-yard TD run to put the Dragons up 35-24 with 9:27 left. The Red Rage again forced a stop, as Nunnally picked off a pass on fourth down - the fourth turnover forced by the Dragons. The Dragons had to give the ball back to MV, but another fourth down stop allowed the Dragons to seal the victory, with a long run by Thomas helping close it out. The Dragons gained a season-high 509 yards of total offense in the contest, with Tippit throwing for 266 and the rushing game gaining 243. Thomas tallied 191 yards rushing on a season-high 33 carries, while also reeling in a 57-yard catch for 248 yards from scrimmage. Nunnally tallied 128 receiving yards, his second straight 100-yard game. The Dragons dialed up big plays in the first half, as Tippit hit Kyler Kropp for a 57-yard TD on the game's first possession to give the Dragons an early lead. MV drove to the Dragons' 1 on the next possession, but the Red Rage held and forced a 21-yard field goal - the first points allowed by the Dragons in the first quarter all season - to cut the lead to 7-3. Another big play followed, as Tippit hit Nunnally for a 66-yard TD to push the edge to 14-3. The Dragons forced back-to-back turnovers and threatened to break the game open, but were unable to score on the next two drives and MV answered with a touchdown to cut the lead to 14-10, before a 57-yard pass to Thomas set up a 10-yard TD pass to Nunnally, pushing the lead to 21-10. MV scored late in the quarter and NP had a final-minute TD to Isaiah Thacker called back by a penalty, giving the Dragons a four-point lead at the break. The Dragons' first drive of the third quarter stalled on downs inside MV territory, and the Marauders responded with a 68-yard TD drive to take the lead with 4:17 left in the quarter, before the Dragons responded to seize control of the game. NOTES: The Dragons are now 10-0 on the season, including two wins over the Marauders. MV finishes the year 6-4. The Dragons now lead the all-time series 37-24-1 and 5-2 in postseason play. ... Blaine Nunnally's 128-yard game was his second consecutive 100-yard game. In the process, he became the 10th player in NPHS history to tally 1,000 career receiving yards. Nunnally is now eighth on the career receiving list with 1,107 yards. ... Grayson Thomas' 248 yards from scrimmage were a career high. He became the second Dragon - joining Charlie Spegal - to gain more than 4,000 yards from scrimmage in his career. Thomas now has 4,077 yards from scrimmage. ... Danny Tippit became the sixth Dragon to throw for 2,000 yards in a season. He now has 2,122 yards. His 266 yards Friday were the second-most in his career. ... Nunnally's two interceptions were the first two-INT day for an individual Dragon since Jacob Hockett in the 2018 State Finals against Decatur Central. ... The Dragons' 509 yards of total offense were the most since rolling up 523 Oct. 1, 2021 against Shelbyville. ... The Dragons forced a season-high-tying four turnovers in the game. The Dragons also forced four turnovers against Yorktown. Sectional 22 Round 1: Dragons 35, Mt. Vernon 24 Friday, Oct. 21, 2022 at Mt. Vernon Stadium, Fortville New Palestine (10-0). 14 - 7 - 0 - 14 --35 Mt. Vernon (6-4) 3 - 14 - 7 - 0 -- 24 Scoring summary NP-Kropp 57 pass from Tippit (Tanksley kick), 9:38 MV-Vinard 21 FG, 4:06 NP-Bl.Nunnally 66 pass from Tippit (Tanksley kick), 2:33 MV-Burhenn 92 pass from Ertel (Vinard kick), 6:44 NP-Bl.Nunnally 10 pass from Tippit (Tanksley kick), 5:12 MV-Stewart 11 pass from Ertel (Vinard kick), :11 MV-Bridenthal 1 run (Vinard kick), 4:17 NP-Thomas 11 run (Tanksley kick), 11:55 NP-Tippit 16 run (Tanksley kick), 9:17 Team stats First downs: NP 22, MV 20 Rushes-yards: NP 42-243, MV 30-121 Passing C-A-I: NP 10-23-0, MV 20-34-3 Passing yards: NP 266, NP 267 Total plays-yards: NP 65-509, MV 64-388 Penalties-yards: NP 10-71, MV 6-30 Fumbles-lost: NP 1-1, MV 2-1 Punts-avg: NP 3-30.7, MV 3-20.7 Time of possession: NP 22:20, MV 25:40 Individual stats New Palestine Rushing: Thomas 33-191, Tippit 7-15, Roudebush 1-38, team 1-(-1) Passing: Tippit 10-22-0-266, team 0-1 Receiving: Bl.Nunnally 6-128, Kropp 2-70, Thomas 1-57, I.Thacker 1-11 Mt. Vernon Rushing: Ertel 11-50, Martin 7-36, Bridenthal 10-25, Jones 1-9, Burhenn 1-1 Passing: Ertel 18-32-3-170, Bridenthal 2-2-0-97 Receiving: Bridenthal 8-88, Jones 6-50, Burhenn 4-116, Stewart 2-13