In the final Friday night showdown under the bright lights, top-ranked New Palestine pulled away with a 38-17 victory over Merrillville to win the IHSAA Class 5A State Finals, claiming the program’s fifth state championship and earning a 28th consecutive win.
For a minute inside Lucas Oil Stadium, the red sea cheering on the east sideline froze as senior quarterback Jacob Davis was down for the 10-count. With four minutes left in the first quarter, Merrillville senior Derrick Cannon Jr. blitzed untouched off the edge and laid the hammer with a hit stick to Davis in the backfield. The heartbeat of the Dragons’ offense laid motionless on the dusty turf, unconscious after the violent collision that left the stadium silent.
It has always been about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. Not only did Davis return back to the gridiron on the following drive, the Towson commit played perhaps the best football of his life and led the Dragons with a game-high 129 rushing yards on 17 carries.
Merrillville junior quarterback Michael Hill Jr. led a nine-play 47-yard drive, capped off with his own 1-yard plunge to give the Pirates their only lead. Hill, the Duneland Athletic Conference Player of the Year, later suffered what appeared to be a broken collarbone according to Merrillville coaches and exited the state finals midway through the second quarter.
It took just two plays for Davis to respond after his early interception, launching a 40-yard touchdown pass to junior receiver Landon Maddox to level the score at 7-7. New Palestine scored 17 straight points to retaliate in the first half, then landed the knockout blows by scoring the final 21 unanswered points to break the game open in the fourth.
“I’m proud of these boys,” Davis said. “I didn’t play my best tonight, but they came out here and picked up my slack, so it means the world to me that we came out here and won the state championship like that.”
Merrillville gave New Palestine all it could handle, including two interceptions by senior safety Keith Edwards that gave the Pirates (11-3) possession near midfield. After Hill left the game to injury, senior backup quarterback Darnell Bowles hit senior receiver Mikel Smoot for a 55-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 17-14 and keep the Pirates within striking distance before halftime.
Davis commanded his offense back onto the field and kept attacking the edge. Every scramble looked like a dare during Davis’ epic, unforgettable performance, which featured five back-breaking first down runs that shattered the Pirates defense. Perhaps Davis’ career defining moment came midway through the third quarter. With the game tied 17-17 and New Palestine desperately needing a spark, Davis kept the ball on third-and-13 and raced upfield for a 38-yard run to the Merrillville 5-yard-line.
Davis continued to dictate the pace as his 12-yard scramble facing third-and-9 in the fourth quarter set up senior Josh Ranes to break free from two tackles for a 24-yard touchdown run to take a 24-17 lead with under nine minutes left to play. Moments later, after the Dragons defense forced a turnover on downs to set up the offense back inside the red zone, it took just two plays for senior Caden Jacobia to score his second rushing touchdown for the dagger. New Palestine steamrolled behind an offensive line that paved a runway for 312 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns between Jacobia and Ranes.
The Dragons (14-0) were the smallest school in the 5A bracket and knocked out five ranked opponents during its state title run, eliminating No. 10 Plainfield, No. 2 Cathedral, No. 8 East Central, No. 3 Bloomington South and finished the season with a win over No. 5 Merrillville in Indianapolis. New Palestine 13-year head coach Kyle Ralph joined Dick Dullaghan and Bud Wright as the only coaches in Indiana high school football history to claim five undefeated state championships.
“We just hold ourselves to a higher standard,” Davis said. “If you see these kids – like when we were younger – winning state championships, going undefeated, blowing the doors off teams, and just look forward to being that person and play in these shoes. It means a lot to us.”