New Palestine High School

Brody Perkins had patiently waited for his opportunity. With the regional on the line Friday night at Bishop Chatard, he seized it. With the Dragons leading by a touchdown in overtime but suffering multiple injuries to their linebacking corps, Perkins took over. On second-and-goal from the 2, he blitzed and brought down Chatard back Daniel Adams for a three-yard loss. Two incomplete passes later, the Dragons had clinched their ninth regional title in school history with a 28-21 overtime victory. "This is what we work for to be champions like this," Perkins said. "It felt good to make the play of the game and hit that dude as hard as I could. I’ve been waiting for this opportunity my whole life." Perkins was one of many Dragons who came up big in the regional championship-clinching win. The victory sends the top-ranked Dragons (12-0) into next week's semistate, where they will host No. 4 Martinsville (11-1). Chatard won the toss in overtime and elected to start on defense. The Dragons needed just one play to score, as Josh Ranes plunged up the middle and blasted over Trojans to the goal line, giving the Dragons a 28-21 lead. Adams carried for eight yards on Chatard's first play of its half of overtime, but Perkins' TFL was followed by strong pressure from the Dragons' defensive front, which forced Chatard QB Jack Harrington to misfire on back-to-back passes. Ranes' touchdown set the tone for OT, but the Dragons had to get a primer before the extra session. It was NP's first overtime game since 2009, and the first playoff overtime game since 1994. "I had to explain the overtime rules, because they’ve never been in one," Ralph said. "They thought it was like the old NFL, where if they score, it’s over. Once they realized we both get a possession, that relaxed them a bit. To rip off a touchdown on the first play was absolutely massive." The Red Rage bowed up time and time again down the stretch, forcing four consecutive stops with the game tied 21-21 in the second half. The Dragons controlled the line of scrimmage - especially early - with Ranes and Jacob Davis complementing each other on a ground-heavy attack to build a 21-7 lead. It would be the Ranes and Davis show for much of the night. Ranes carried 18 times for 123 yards and two touchdowns. Davis ran 19 times for 108 yards and a score. Davis also completed 10-of-12 passes for 84 yards and a touchdown . The opening drive was a 73-yard march that saw the Dragons feature the ground game and control the line of scrimmage. A 19-yard run by Davis set the Dragons up in the red zone, where Ranes took a sweep to the right and scored his team's sixth straight opening-drive TD. The two teams traded punts on their next drives, and another Chatard there-and-out set the Dragons up at the Trojans' 48. Two plays later, Davis rolled out and threw deep to Austin McMahan, who made a contested catch in the end zone to put NP up 14-0. It appeared the Dragons were off and running, especially after Michael Thacker's sack had Chatard facing third-and-18 from midfield. But Harrington threw a 45-yard strike to Kalen Sargent, moving the Trojans to the Dragons' 3. Harrington punched it in on a quarterback sneak on the next play to cut the lead to 14-7. The Dragons responded. Facing third-and-11 from their own 28, Davis took a sweep 21 yards for a first down. A 12-yard run by Davis followed, and the DRagons methodically worked the ball into Trojans territory, where Davis finished the drive with a 5-yard TD. However, Chatard again used two big pass plays to respond, with Adams scoring to cut the lead to 21-14. The Dragons stalled at the Chatard 16 on the final drive of the first half, but the Trojans blocked Jake Wells' 33-yard field goal attempt. The Trojans took the ball in the second half. NP appeared to have Chatard stopped on a fourth-and-1 sneak near midfield, but Harrington got the first down by an inch. Adams then carried much of the rest of the way to tie the game. It appeared a shootout was on, especially with Chatard having scored on three straight possessions. A Dragons drive stalled at the Chatard 39, but the Red Rage forced a three-and-out. Back-to-back three-and-outs from each team gave the ball back to the Dragons early in the fourth. They moved the chains twice, but were stopped near midfield and had to punt . NP had one final chance in regulation, as McMahan picked off a pass near midfield and ran it back to the Chatard 19. However, a fumbled exchange put the Dragons behind the chains. Wells lined up for a 34-yard field goal, but missed it wide left. Taking over with 42 seconds left, Chatard drove into NP territory, but ran out of time, setting up overtime. Harrington had a solid day for Chatard, throwing for 165 yards. Adams, after being held to 28 yards in the first half, finished with 97 yards. The Dragons' multiple stops with the game tied at 21-21 were critical in sealing the victory. "It shows how gritty this team is," offensive lineman Landon Seib said. "We played sloppy at times, but at the end of the day, we did our jobs. To cap it off like that is huge." In overtime, the moment was set for Perkins to grab the spotlight first. "He’s a kid who works his butt off. He’s had his ups and downs, he’s had injuries he’s overcome. He comes to work every day. He does scout team for us. He does everything you ask him to do," Ralph said of Perkins. "He’s a backup linebacker, he hasn’t had a lot of playing time. He’s a senior. The dude just shows up to work every day. He’s as good as anybody we have as far as knowing the gameplan, the Xs and Os. He’s like a coach on the field for us. What an absolute Hallmark moment for him to make that play. IT was beyond huge. That’s what our program’s all about. Guys who are ready to go, when we need them. You’ve prepared, you’ve worked your butt off, you go out there and get the job done." On third down, Harrington was under pressure and threw incomplete to the left corner of the end zone. On fourth-and-five, he tried to throw a deep out route, but it was wide and fell incomplete, clinching the victory. "We play a lot of man-to-man down there, and I told (defensive coordinator Scott) McMurray, ‘we need to change it up down here. They’ve seen us play our man stuff, we need to play zone and pass these guys off and get in the windows,'" Ralph said. "He thought it was a good idea. We got in the windows on the last two plays where most people play man-to-man and get rubbed and picked. We played zone and rolled the dice they were going to try to pick us. It ended up paying off for us." It paid off in a regional championship victory over a battle-tested Chatard team that had won back-to-back 3A titles. It came 11 years to the day after the last game over Chatard - another tight back-and-forth Dragons win. But the Dragons' toughness down the stretch won out. "That’s what our kids are. They’re tough," Ralph said. "That’s what they train for from December until now. Everybody talks about this game, and the schedule (Chatard) played, they’re this, they’re champions, they don’t have guys who play both ways, they play Cathedral, they play Roncalli, they play Elder, they’re champions. But you know what, they don’t play us. We play who we play. Our conference does a great job of getting us ready for this. "We did our job every week, and we did our job this week against a team that says ‘it can’t be done,’ we showed it can be done." Class 4A regional: Dragons 28, Bishop Chatard 21, OT Friday, Nov .15, 2024 at Alumni Field, Indianapolis New Palestine (12-0) 14 - 7 - 0 - 0 - 7 -- 28 Bishop Chatard (9-3) 7 - 7 - 7 - 0 - 0 -- 21 Scoring summary NP-Jos.Ranes 17 run (Wells kick), 8:41 NP-McMahan 36 pass from Davis (Wells kick), 3:33 BC-Harrington 1 run (Gallardo kick), 1:16 NP-Davis 5 run (Wells kick), 8:04 BC-Adams 2 run (Gallardo kick), 5:05 BC-Adams 7 run (Gallardo kick), 7:13 NP-Jos.Ranes 10 run (Wells kick), OT Team stats First downs: NP 19, BC 12 Rushes-yards: NP 42-263, BC 29-96 Passing C-A-I: NP 10-12-0, BC 15-28-1 Passing yards: NP 80, BC 165 Total plays-yards: NP 54-345, BC 57-261 Fumbles-lost: NP 3-0, BC 0-0 Penalties-yards: NP 3-25, BC 2-7 Punts-avg: NP 4-27.8, BC 4-31.0 Time of possession: NP 27:51 BC 20:09 Individual stats New Palestine Rushing: Jos.Ranes 28-122, Davis 19-108, Ca.Jacobia 5-33 Passing: Davis 10-12-0-80 Receiving: Wasson 4-20, McMahan 3-49, Oglesby 2-8, G.Ranes 1-3 Bishop Chatard Rushing: Adams 22-99, Harrington 7-(-3) Passing: Harrington 15-27-1-165, team 0-1 Receiving: Graves 5-55, Bell 3-34, Adams 3-16, Forestal 3-11, Sargent 2-55