Preview: New Palestine Dragons vs. New Castle Trojans
New Palestine is 10-0 against New Castle since October of 2014, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The New Palestine Dragons will be playing at home against the New Castle Trojans at 7:00 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (New Palestine has seven straight wins, New Castle has eight straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Last Friday, New Palestine took their match on the road with ease, bagging a 38-7 win over Delta. The result was nothing new for New Palestine, who have now won five games by 20 points or more so far this season.
New Palestine haved a senior duo take command as Grayson Thomas rushed for 243 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 9.0 yards per carry and Kyler Kropp gained 101 total yards and three touchdowns. Thomas is on a roll when it comes to rushing yards, as he's now rushed for 100 or more in the last eight games he's played.
The team's defense also helped out by holding Delta to a paltry 127 yards. A big part of that defensive dominance came down to New Palestine's ability to keep the quarterback under pressure: the team laid him out four times before it was all said and done. Leading the way was Michael Thacker and his 2.5 sacks.
Meanwhile, New Castle suffered a rough 44-20 loss at the hands of Greenfield-Central on Friday. New Castle was in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 34-14.
Although New Castle took the loss, they still got scores from Darin Reynolds, Neil McMartin, and Tyson Lewis.
New Palestine's win lifted them to 7-2 while New Castle's loss dropped them down to 1-8.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Friday' contest: New Palestine has been on an offensive roll this season, having averaged 385.2 total yards per game. It's a different story for New Castle, though, as they've been averaging only 225.2 per game. Will New Palestine be able to march up the field at their leisure again, or will New Castle flip the ?
Everything came up roses for New Palestine against New Castle in their previous meeting two weeks ago as the squad secured a 35-7 win. Will New Palestine repeat their success, or does New Castle have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
