Coming into Friday night’s matchup, two of the states most prolific rushers- Grayson Thomas for New Palestine and Josh Ringer for East Central were primed for an all time duel. However, the East Central defense lead by linebacker Brayden Rouse would make sure it was a one sided affair.
East Central won the coin toss and would decline, giving New Palestine a prime oppurtunity ot flex their muscles early against a stout Trojan defense.
The East Central defense would easily prevail, forcing a punt and giving the ball to their offense.
One of the states best gadget players, Ryan Brotherton would get things going for the Trojans as he ran up the middle for an easy 20 yard gain. East Central would continue to pound the rock with the nations leading touchdown scorer Miami (OH) commit Josh Ringer on the opening drive before he would inevitably stroll into the end zone for the quick 7-0 lead and his 56th score on the season.
The Trojans would get the ball back after another New Pal three-and-out, but would fail to convert on fourth and short and give the Dragons another chance to even things up before the end of the quarter.
New Pal would quickly squander the opportunity with another three-and-out, giving the ball back to an East Central offense scoring nearly 50 points per game.
Runningback Dylan Maxwell would get things going at the end of the opening period, nearly getting a 70 yard touchdown before he was tripped up at the four yard line. Ringer would get his second score of the night and 57th of the season to start the second quarter up 14-0.
The New Pal offense would not go down easy though, lead by running back Grayson Thomas and ATH Kyler Kropp the Dragons were able to methodically drive down the field before they would eventually turn it over on downs at the 22 yard line.
On the very next play, Maxwell would sprint off the edge and take it all the way to the end zone for a 78 yard touchdown run to put the Trojans up 21-0 with 4:14 left in the half.
The East Central defense would continue to make it tough sledding against a New Pal rushing attack that was averaging nearly 245 yards a game before Friday night.
In an up-tempo two minute offense, the Trojans continued to pound the rock ending in another Maxwell rushing touchdown. Putting the Trojans up 28-0 heading into the locker rooms and just one score away from activating the running clock.
To start the second half, the Trojans leaned on Ringer and Maxwell once again, but a miscommunication on a pitch option resulted in a fumble and turnover which gave New Pal some life to start the second half.
Rouse would continue to show out defensively for East Central, as he would lay a hard hit on Thomas to force a turnover on downs.
The East Central offense would methodically march down the field behind the legs of Maxwell and Ringer, chewing up the third quarter clock before freshman Ryan Minges would find the end zone to activate the running clock.
Once again with the ball following a lackluster New Pal offensive drive, Minges would find the endzone from 53 yards out to make it a 42-0 ball game with 2:16 left in the game. Joining Ringer and Maxwell with two touchdowns each.
On the ensuing kickoff, East Central would put a cherry on top and score on a fumble recovery and make it a 49-0 score, which would end up being the final. Sending the Trojans back to Lucas Oil for the second straight year, the second time in program history they have reached back-to-back state championship games.
For New Palestine, this was a brutal end to a truly great season. After starting 0-2 with losses to 6A Westfield and 5A Decatur Central, the Dragons were able to knock off 11 straight victories and tighten up on defense, allowing just 4.7 points per game the last seven weeks before this one. Four star prospect Ian Moore will be quite the addition to Ohio State’s pass protection and Grayson Thomas ends his career with 6100+ yards and 92 touchdowns across four varsity season.
No one expected this game to end up like it did, from the nations leading touchdown scorer taking a back seat in the offense to New Palestine simply not being able to muster up any sort of offense or defense was unexpected. However, that just goes into just how good of a football team this East Central squad really is. The defense is holding opponents to under seven points a game and the offense is pouring on nearly 50 a night. They are not strictly a running team, though. Quarterback Cole Burton has thrown for 21 touchdowns on the season and has shown to be able to air it out when needed. East Central now moves to 14-0 with 20 straight wins and will face 12-2 Northwood in Lucas Oil next week.
Game Awards
Impact Play of The Game: New Palestine turnover on downs with 4:21 left in the half- there were a lot of high impact offesnive plays from East Central, but none come close to this crucial stop by the Trojan defense. The New Pal offense had been stagnant up until this drive and a conversion here likely leads to points and momentum for the Dragons. Instead, the 4th down stop resulted in a Dylan Maxwell 78 yard touchdown on the following play, making it a potential 14 point swing because of this defensive stop.
Unit of The Game: East Central’s running backs- Obviously, when you are able to run just about every play you must give credit to the offensive line which is led by senior Noah Schneider with over 40 pancake blocks on the season. However, despite the impressive blocking these backs did a lot after contact and deserve there flowers. Josh Ringer, Dylan Maxwell and Ryan Minges ran hard and led the Trojans to victory.
“We were not planning on running him quite as much as we did,” Head Coach Jake Meiners said. “It is taking what the defense gives you, they were overloading to Josh [Ringer] so they were giving us a good look we were able to take advantage of with Dylan [Maxwell]. [For freshman Ryan Minges] the future is bright, we have a few young guys who is playing and [Minges] is the type of guy you cannot get off the field. It is special for a freshman to punch in two touchdowns in a Semi State championship, but I am more proud of him for his blocking tonight as he was able to blow up the holes for our running backs.”
Player of The Game: Dylan Maxwell- nine rushes, 212 yards and two touchdowns. At halftime. Maxwell ended up with nearly 300 yards rushing Friday night, which just about doubles his season total of 463 heading into tonight. Maxwell ran hard all night, and was able to give the eventual Mr. Football Josh Ringer a much deserved breather before they head into Lucas Oil next week.
East Central’s ascension as a 4A powerhouse is no mistake, it has been crafted by fifth year head coach Jake Meiners since he got to St. Leon in 2018.
“[It is] incredibly humbling,” Meiners said. “We have an incredible we get to work with on a daily basis. We have only been to back-to-back state championships once and have never won two in a row. It has been incredible to work with this group, they just want to win.”