Football Game Preview: New Palestine Dragons vs. Cathedral Fighting Irish

The New Palestine Dragons will be playing at home against the Cathedral Fighting Irish at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. New Palestine is currently enjoying a perfect season and no doubt wants to keep things rolling.

New Palestine is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They blew past Plainfield 42-7. Fans of the Dragons have seen this all before: every one of the games they've played this season has ended in a blowout of 20+ points.

Jacob Davis produced another solid effort rushing for 145 yards and a pair of scores on only eight carries. His longest rush was for an impressive 58 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total. Another player making a difference was Josh Ranes, who rushed for 40 yards and two touchdowns.

Wins are hard to come by when you can't run the rock, something New Palestine proved: they limited Plainfield to a paltry 2.5 yards per carry. While five picked up at least three total tackles, Sam Hirschy stood above the rest. He picked up two sacks, forced one fumble, and made three total tackles (2.5 for loss). New Palestine hasn't allowed more than 8.5 yards per carry in five consecutive games.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Cathedral). Their defense stepped up to hand Anderson a 68-0 shutout on Friday. The final result isn't all that surprising considering the Fighting Irish's considerable advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana football rankings (they are ranked tenth, while the Indians are ranked 255th).

New Palestine's record now sits at 10-0. As for Cathedral, their record is now 7-3.

New Palestine lost to Cathedral at home by a decisive 23-7 margin when the teams last played back in November of 2021. Thankfully for the Dragons, Seth Mencer (who rushed for 133 yards and one TD while picking up 7.4 yards per carry) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.