Football Preview: Greenfield-Central Cougars vs. New Palestine Dragons
Greenfield-Central is 0-10 against New Palestine since September of 2016 but things could change on Friday. The Greenfield-Central Cougars are taking a road trip to challenge the New Palestine Dragons at 7:00 p.m. Both teams are still undefeated (Greenfield-Central has five wins , while New Palestine has three).
Last Friday, Greenfield-Central blew past Shelbyville, posting a 49-6 victory on the road. The match was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 35-6.
It was another big night for Dallas Freeman, who threw for 283 yards and four touchdowns while completing 73.9% of his passes, and also rushed for 35 yards and two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, New Palestine won against Mt. Vernon two weeks ago with 56 points and they decided to stick to that point total again on Friday. New Palestine took their contest on the road with ease, bagging a 56-17 win over Pendleton Heights. Given the Dragons' advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana football rankings (they are ranked 24th, while the Arabians are ranked 101st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Josh Ranes was his usual excellent self, rushing for 268 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 11.7 yards per carry. His longest rush was for an incredible 75 yards. Gavin Neal was another major influence, as he rushed for 108 yards and ran in a TD.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: New Palestine was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 473 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted was before the start of last season.
New Palestine's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Connor Jacobia and Caden Jacobia. Michael Thacker was another major factor on D, picking up a sack and making seven total tackles (3.0 for loss).
Greenfield-Central's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 5-0. As for New Palestine, their record now sits at 4-0-1.
Greenfield-Central took a serious blow against New Palestine in their previous matchup back in October of 2023, falling 35-0. Can Greenfield-Central avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
