New Palestine High School

The New Palestine football seniors had one final game on the Shepler Field turf Friday night. They made it a memorable one. The Dragons scored on their first three possessions, while the Red Rage stuffed Bloomington South throughout the evening, rolling to a 42-0 victory over the Panthers in the Class 5A semistate. The Dragons (13-0) punched their ticket to Lucas Oil Stadium for the second straight year - and the sixth time in 12 seasons. They will face No. 5 Merrillville (12-1) for the state championship at 7 p.m. Nov. 28. "“For these seniors, this is the last time on this field," Dragons coach Kyle Ralph said. "We wanted these guys to go out the way they wanted to go out. Tonight, that was quite a chapter on this field. One more chapter to go, but for our seniors, that’s a tremendous way to end their careers on this field with a win.” The Dragons amassed 431 yards of total offense - 284 on the ground. Jacob Davis ran for 85 yards and a score, while Caden Jacobia also had 85 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Davis also threw for 147 yards and two scores - a 12-yard pass to Landon Maddox on the game's first drive, and a 92-yarder to Mason Oglesby to make it a 21-0 game. The Red Rage held the Panthers to 61 rushing yards and 211 total, pitching their fifth shutout of the year. "For our defense to shut out an offense like that, with two 1,000-yard rushers at running back, a 2,000-yard quarterback, a Div. I receiver, another receiver on the other side who’s a phenomenal athlete. I’m really proud of our defense," Ralph said. "Offense was really clicking tonight. They did a great job controlling the ball, controlling the clock. We hit some of our passes tonight, dropped a couple, but we did a really, really nice job of playing a team football game. At this level, that’s what you have to do.” The Dragons have beaten four ranked teams to get to the State Finals, including No. 2 Cathedral and No. 3 Bloomington South. Next week, the Dragons will seek to become the first team to win a state championship while facing a ranked team in every round since the all-in tourney began in 1985. “It’s been a hard month of football. I don’t ever remember seeing a draw that hard," Ralph said. "To play 9, 2, 6 and 3 in a row, for all of them to do their job and be waiting in your path. We’re the smallest school in the division. That says a lot about our boys and our coaching staff to go through something like that. There were no cupcakes. But again, it’s all for nothing if you don’t finish the job. We can’t be satisfied with tonight. We’ve got to get back to the drawing board tomorrow, figure out who we play, and then try to go for the whole thing.” The Dragons took the opening kickoff and methodically worked downfield, chewing up half the first-quarter clock. Jacobia got it started with 25 yards on two carries to move the ball to midfield. A 24-yard scamper by Davis set the Dragons up in the red zone, where Davis found Maddox for a 12-yard TD. Three plays later, Oglesby recovered a fumble, setting hte Dragons up for another short drive. Davis' 22-yard run was the key play on a nine-play drive that featured seven running plays. Davis finished it with a 1-yard quarterback sneak, giving the Dragons an early 14-0 lead. After another defensive stop, the Dragons took over at their own 8. There, Davis found Oglesby wide open downfield for a 92-yard touchdown. It was the third-longest touchdown pass in school history - only eclipsed by a 99-yard pass from Davis to Austin McMahan against Kokomo in 2024, and a 93-yard pass from Matt Rodgers to Jay Ehle in 1993 against Hamilton Southeastern. More importantly, it gave the Dragons a 21-0 lead. “That ball hung in the air forever," Oglesby said. "Once I caught it, I had to turn the jets on.” Bloomington South followed with its best drive of the night. A 52-yard pass from quarterback Duncan Combs to all-state wideout Jalen Williams - a South Florida commit - carried to the 2 yard line. But a holding penalty stalled the drive, and the Panthers missed a 25-yard field goal. A three-and-out and a short punt gave the Panthers the ball back inside the Dragons' 40, but NP held on downs, and then answered with a 7-play drive that ended in a 6-yard TD by Jacobia. Josh Ranes' 16-yard run on third down, followed by a 27-yard screen pass to Bryan Caldwell, set up the score. That gave the Dragons a 27-0 halftime lead. In the second half, Connor Jacobia and Cameron Rollyson intercepted Combs on back-to-back possessions. Rollyson returned his to the Panthers' 30, where two Jacobia runs later, the Dragons extended their lead. A two-point conversion by Davis triggered the running clock with 2:32 to go in the third. The Dragons finished their final drive with a 48-yard TD by Rudy Hubbard in the closing minutes. NOTES: This is the Dragons' seventh all-time semistate title. They are 6-0 in semistate games at Kelso Stadium under the direction of Kyle Ralph. ... This is the Dragons' fourth time in the 5A State Finals. They won 5A titles in 2018 and 2019. ... Davis moved into second place on the NPHS all-time passing list. He now has 3,745 passing yards as a Dragon, passing Justin Plummer (3,610). Alex Neligh (5,734) is the leader. ... The Red Rage pitched its fifth shutout of the season, tying the 1982 and 1973 teams for third-most in school history. The record is six, set in 1983 and 1990. ... The Dragons scored on the game's first possession for the 12th time in 13 games this year. ... Davis uncorked a career-best 66-yard punt. It was downed at the 1. Class 5A semistate: Dragons 42, Bloomington South 0 Friday, Nov. 21 at Kelso Stadium Bloomington South (11-2) 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -- 0 New Palestine (13-0) 14 - 13 - 8 - 7 -- 42 Scoring summary NP-Maddox 12 pass from J.Davis (Walker kick), 6:12 NP-J.Davis 1 run (Walker kick), 2:01 NP-Oglesby 92 pass from J.Davis (Walker kick), 11:03 NP-Ca.Jacobia 6 run (kick failed), 2:41 NP-Ca.Jacobia 19 run (J.Davis run), 2:32 NP-Hubbard 48 run (Walker kick), 3:06 Team stats First downs: BS 11, NP 19 Rushes-yards: BS 25-67, NP 38-284 Passing C-A-I: BS 14-24-2, NP 6-12-0 Passing yards: BS 144, NP 147 Total plays-yards: BS 49-211, NP 50-431 Fumbles-lost: BS 2-1, NP 0-0 Penalties-yards: BS 3-30, NP 4-35 Punts-avg: BS 3-43.0, NP 3-36.7 Time of possession: BS 23:08, NP 24:52 Individual stats Bloomington South Rushing: Townsend 17-49, Combs 2-12, Cooper 6-6 Passing: Combs 14-24-2-144 Receiving: Williams 6-76, Paker 5-41, Gill 1-13, Winstead 1-10, Townsend 1-4 New Palestine Rushing: J.Davis 13-85, Ca.Jacobia 13-85, Hubbard 3-57, J.Ranes 6-34, Stephens 3-23 Passing: J.Davis 6-12-0-147 Receiving: Maddox 4-28, Oglesby 1-92, Caldwell 1-17 Photo: Mark Blachly