Greenfield-Central is 0-10 against New Palestine since September of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Greenfield-Central Cougars will head out on the road to face off against the New Palestine Dragons at 7:00 p.m. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Greenfield-Central comes in on four and New Palestine on eight.
Last Friday, Greenfield-Central was able to grind out a solid win over Pendleton Heights, taking the game 27-17.
Greenfield-Central relied on the efforts of Cooper Hinton, who rushed for 84 yards and two touchdowns on only nine carries, and Jacob Hinton, who rushed for 118 yards and two touchdowns. Hinton was no stranger to the big play, turning on the jets for a run that went for 50 yards.
Meanwhile, New Palestine stacked a sixth blowout onto their ever-increasing hoard on Friday. They claimed a resounding 63-0 win over New Castle at home. The matchup was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point New Palestine had established a 42 point advantage.
New Palestine got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Grayson Thomas out in front who rushed for 142 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 7.5 yards per carry. Thomas is on a roll when it comes to rushing yards, as he's now rushed for 100 or more in the last nine games he's played. Kyler Kropp was in the mix too, providing New Palestine with two touchdowns.
The team's defense also helped out by holding New Castle to a paltry -23 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 4.5 times before it was all said and done. Leading the way was Cameron Rollyson and his three sacks.
Greenfield-Central's victory was their fourth straight at home, bumping their overall record up to 9-1. As for New Palestine, their win bumped their record up to 8-2.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Friday's match: Greenfield-Central has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 265.7 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like New Palestine struggles in that department as they've been averaging 263 per game. It's looking like Friday's match might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Greenfield-Central came up short against New Palestine in their previous meeting back in September, falling 21-14. Can Greenfield-Central avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
