New Palestine High School

The New Palestine football team hist the road for the penultimate week of the regular season, with an opportunity to clinch the outright HHC championship at New Castle. 4A No. 1/1 New Palestine Dragons (6-0, 5-0 HHC) at New Castle Trojans (4-3, 3-2 HHC) Time: 7 p.m. Friday Location: Neal Field, New Castle Tickets: $6 at gate Audio: NewPalRadio.com SETTING THE SCENE SETTING THE SCENE The Dragons enter the regular season’s penultimate week with an opportunity to clinch their third consecutive outright Hoosier Heritage Conference championship and their 12th in 15 years. The Dragons are 12-0 all-time against New Castle. They won a pair of games over the Trojans last season, both at Kelso Stadium. NP won 35-7 in the regular season and 63-0 two weeks later in the sectional. The Dragons are ranked No. 1 in both polls for the eighth consecutive week. This is the 28th consecutive poll week in which the Dragons are ranked. The Dragons are 79-2 in HHC games since 2013 and have won 24 consecutive conference games. DRAGONS NOTES The Red Rage defense has been dominant the last two weeks. In back-to-back shutout wins, the Dragons have allowed 88 total yards and nine first downs total in the two games. Last week, Shelbyville gained 4 total yards - including minus-21 in the second half - and was held to one rushing yard. QB Jacob Davis clinched the 21st 1,000-yard passing season in school history last week. A Dragon has thrown for 1,000 yards in each of coach Kyle Ralph’s 12 seasons. Davis has completed 67 of 98 passes for 1,100 yards. Last week, he completed 12 of 18 for 147 yards and a touchdown. Davis completed passes to seven different receivers last week, a season high. Senior Austin McMahan was his favorite target, with four catches for 76 yards. Junior RB Josh Ranes broke the 100-yard mark for the sixth consecutive game with 139 yards against Shelbyville, with 70 coming on a third-quarter TD. It’s his fourth TD from 60-plus yards, and the Dragons’ eighth as a team. Ranes eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark for the season and now has 1,029 yards. As a team, the Dragons tallied 239 yards on the ground against Shelbyville, with Caden Jacobia adding 50 yards and two TDs on 10 carries. The Dragons have posted back-to-back shutouts for the first time since blanking New Castle and Greenfield-Central in the opening rounds of the 2023 sectional. The Dragons have 27 shutouts in Coach Ralph’s 12 seasons, including six instances of back-to-back shutouts. Michael Thacker and Brock Brownfield each had two sacks last week at Shelbyville. Thacker, the Dragons’ career sacks leader, now has seven sacks in seven games for the year and 32.5 for his career. He needs three tackles for 300 for his career. The Dragons are plus-12 in turnover ratio, with 15 takeaways. The Dragons have forced a running clock in five consecutive games. SCOUTING THE TROJANS New Castle is 4-3, its most victories since going 5-6 in 2020. The Trojans are seeking their first winning season since 2017. One reason why is QB Carson Bell, who has thrown for 1,001 yards this season, including 16-of-27 for 318 yards in last week’s 45-21 loss to Mt. Vernon. In that game, junior WR Cade Logston had 190 yards and a TD on six catches. Logston has 438 yards on 22 catches this season through the air. RB Caleb Clapp has 760 rushing yards, including 66 last week. Clapp has four 100-yard games this season, including 243 in a Week 5 victory over Yorktown. Junior Tylin Thrine is an all-situations player for the Trojans. He leads their defense with 70 tackles and an interception. LOOKING AHEAD The Dragons host Senior Night Oct. 18 against Delta to conclude the regular season. They will learn their first-round sectional opponent Sunday evening. 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 and Instagram (@NewPalestineDragons), Twitter (@NPHSDragons) and online (NewPalestineAthletics.com).