Bloomington South @ New Pal...

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New Pal 7 Bloomington South 0 (6:12, 1st)

 

New Pal got the opening kickoff of the game and went on a time consuming drive, scoring on a 12-yard pass play.

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A high snap caused a fumble by the Panthers at the South 49-yard line and New Pal recovered. (5:03, 1st)

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New Pal 14 Bloomington South 0 (2:01, 1st)

South has had the ball for three plays in the 1st. Some horrendous tackling by the Panthers on this last drive after the fumble had the New Pal QB get out of what looked like two sacks and he rambled for big yardage on both plays. 

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New Pal 14 Bloomington South 0 (end of 1st)

South has the ball at the New Pal 48-yard line, but it's 4 and 8 so they will probably punt when the 2nd qtr starts.

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New Pal 21 Bloomington South 0 (8:14, 2nd)

South is stumbling their way through the first half. South was at the New Pal two-yard line with a 1st down and they scored, but it was called back because of a holding call. South attempted a 25-yard FG on 4th down and it was wide right. 

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New Pal 27 Bloomington South 0 (half)

New Pal is an outstanding team, but South absolutely was their own worst enemy and looked like an unprepared team for this game (IMO). A fumble, missed tackles on possible sacks, and Panther QB Duncan Combs who was hitting on almost 70 percent of his passed this season, was for the most part, missing open receivers badly. A holding penalty negated a Panther TD which was par for course when it comes to this game. South also couldn't get their running game going which didn't help any either. South's secondary gave up some big chunk yardage also. 

South gets the ball when the second half begins. 

Edited November 22, 2025 by ptr

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Some halftime stats:

New Palestine: 25-129 rushing. QB Jacob Davis 4-7-0-137, 2TD passing, 47 yards and TD rushing. Caden Jacobia 11-54, TD rushing.

 

South: 9-10 rushing. QB Duncan Combs 9-16-0-100 passing. Jalen Williams 5-69 receiving. Connor Parker 3-21 receiving Just 5 first downs, 2 by penalty, 3 through the air.

 

 

 

 

 

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New Pal 35 Bloomington South 0 (2:32, 3rd)

The qtr was scoreless up until now as a badly underthrown pass by the South QB was picked and New Pal scored on a short field. A two-point conversion was good. 

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New Pal 35 Bloomington South 0 (end of 3rd with a running clock)

South had two turnovers in that qtr with one leading to the only score of the qtr on a short field TD by New Pal. 

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New Pal 42 Bloomington South 0 (3 plus with running clock in the 4th)

 

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New Pal 42 Bloomington South 0 (final)

South made way too many mistakes and this was the worst game that QB Duncan Combs has played as he missed quite a few open receivers either by overthrowing or underthrowing receivers. New Pal was ready to play and they looked great, so congrats to them. 

[crimsonace1]

Story and final stats (from the New Pal perspective)

https://www.newpalestineathletics.com/Article/106166

[MuleDriver]

12 hours ago, ptr said:

New Pal 42 Bloomington South 0 (final)

South made way too many mistakes and this was the worst game that QB Duncan Combs has played as he missed quite a few open receivers either by overthrowing or underthrowing receivers. New Pal was ready to play and they looked great, so congrats to them. 

Reading hc coach Johnson quotes in the paper he talked about someday we will figure out how to get over the hump, speaking if his 4 semi state loses.

I am far removed from the game but in my time at bhss if you didnt go to football camp you most likely werent seeing any playing time. Seems to me the guys doing multiple sports have been ready to play basketball since losing to center grove. Anyone can say that during the playoffs terree haute south and Bloomington North were far better teams than they were in the regular season. Question is why wasnt south a far better team also in the post season.  If the emphasis in the guys minds is a different sport then that's fine . Losing the best defender hurt but even if they werent beating new pal wasn't happening regardless.  As I stated I am far removed and dont know if football camp is even a thing nowadays. But as life goes  ' you get out what you put in'. I am doubting south has  the extra dedication activities such as football camps . I'm thinking if they did we would have had a much more competitive game last night.  Congrats to New Pal no one is beating them . 

[crimsonace1]

17 minutes ago, MuleDriver said:

Reading hc coach Johnson quotes in the paper he talked about someday we will figure out how to get over the hump, speaking if his 4 semi state loses.

I am far removed from the game but in my time at bhss if you didnt go to football camp you most likely werent seeing any playing time. Seems to me the guys doing multiple sports have been ready to play basketball since losing to center grove. Anyone can say that during the playoffs terree haute south and Bloomington North were far better teams than they were in the regular season. Question is why wasnt south a far better team also in the post season.  If the emphasis in the guys minds is a different sport then that's fine . Losing the best defender hurt but even if they werent beating new pal wasn't happening regardless.  As I stated I am far removed and dont know if football camp is even a thing nowadays. But as life goes  ' you get out what you put in'. I am doubting south has  the extra dedication activities such as football camps . I'm thinking if they did we would have had a much more competitive game last night.  Congrats to New Pal no one is beating them . 

Football is a year-round game anymore. The teams basically practice all summer (and spring). Believe me, BHSS's players are putting in the time and work. You don't get to the semistate four straight years without that. But they've run into a buzzsaw the last couple of years in Decatur Central and one of the best teams New Palestine has ever had. 

[MuleDriver]

24 minutes ago, crimsonace1 said:

Football is a year-round game anymore. The teams basically practice all summer (and spring). Believe me, BHSS's players are putting in the time and work. You don't get to the semistate four straight years without that. But they've run into a buzzsaw the last couple of years in Decatur Central and one of the best teams New Palestine has ever had. 

Maybe the skill players at south?? Unsure if they are doing camps or not? Reason I doubt and I dont like to criticize high school kids but south qb even last year has made questionable decisions resulting in turnovers in important games. I think he plays basketball as well and possibly aau but im not sure. When I played we did the team camp at bishop dullaghan. Don't know if south is still doing it or not. I understand new pal has one of their best teams  and I stand by my assumption that if south was still participating in those off season camps that the game would have been more competitive.

 Just googled it and yes bhss qb is a basketball guy and plays aau for

Midwest Basketball Club 3SSB .

So no they aren't as committed to football..... 

[MuleDriver]

And didnt New Pal only beat east central 20-6? I dont question their strength as a team but that game clearly showed they were not a generationaly dominant team. At any rate , im sure they will win the title. Teams from up north haven't been as competitive in recent decades with indy area teams. 

[crimsonace1]

2 hours ago, MuleDriver said:

And didnt New Pal only beat east central 20-6? I dont question their strength as a team but that game clearly showed they were not a generationaly dominant team. At any rate , im sure they will win the title. Teams from up north haven't been as competitive in recent decades with indy area teams. 

East Central is criminally underrated. They were absolute beasts in the trenches. New Pal also played its worst game of the year (had a bunch of drops, including two that would've been TDs, a 40-yard run called back by a hold away from the play). But, ultimately, it came down to the fact that EC couldn't consistently run the ball against NP, and no team has been able to do so this season (and in the rain, being unable to run the ball is a challenge). They've had success making teams be one-dimensional and creating turnovers. 

That's where the Dragons have beaten teams, is their front six on D is very good. Three Div. I DLs (Brownfield to Purdue, Walling to West Point, Hirschy is a sophomore who will pretty much go anywhere he wants), plus a deep LB corps that's played a lot of games. Oglesby has a bucketload of Big Ten/SEC offers as a junior. He and the Ranes brothers are all 3-year starters. NP's offense is good. Davis is the best QB they've had since Alex Neligh in 2014-15, and they have a ton of depth at the skill positions. But the trenches are where they have been very good. The weight room culture at New Pal is incredible and they push each other. 

[ptr]

4 hours ago, MuleDriver said:

Maybe the skill players at south?? Unsure if they are doing camps or not? Reason I doubt and I dont like to criticize high school kids but south qb even last year has made questionable decisions resulting in turnovers in important games. I think he plays basketball as well and possibly aau but im not sure. When I played we did the team camp at bishop dullaghan. Don't know if south is still doing it or not. I understand new pal has one of their best teams  and I stand by my assumption that if south was still participating in those off season camps that the game would have been more competitive.

 Just googled it and yes bhss qb is a basketball guy and plays aau for

Midwest Basketball Club 3SSB .

So no they aren't as committed to football..... 

I'm not close to the program also, not knowing any of the players, parents, coaching staff, etc. New Pal was clearly the better team and would have won this game regardless of the poor play or not by the Panthers, but South should not have been shutout in this game. They basically stumbled their way through the game. I've seen all of South's games this season, and I hadn't seen the Panther QB Combs this bad when it comes to the passing game. He was certainly under pressure, but he was missing open receivers badly on several occasions. I could go on and on, but one area the Panthers need to find an answer is the kicking game. They have a freshman place kicker, and he is obviously young, but he has missed several chip shot FGs/extra points this season that a high school kicker should make consistently, and I not so sure that will improve with extra maturity to include coaching and strength conditioning. The Panthers are a senior laden team as far as starters go, so it's back to the drawing board going into next season. I believe the JV team went 7-2 this season, but the freshman team won just one game, so who knows what next season's team will look like.  

Edited November 22, 2025 by ptr

[ptr]

1 hour ago, ptr said:

I'm not close to the program also, not knowing any of the players, parents, coaching staff, etc. New Pal was clearly the better team and would have won this game regardless of the poor play or not by the Panthers, but South should not have been shutout in this game. They basically stumbled their way through the game. I've seen all of South's games this season, and I hadn't seen the Panther QB Combs this bad when it comes to the passing game. He was certainly under pressure, but he was missing open receivers badly on several occasions. I could go on and on, but one area the Panthers need to find an answer is the kicking game. They have a freshman place kicker, and he is obviously young, but he has missed several chip shot FGs/extra points this season that a high school kicker should make consistently, and I not so sure that will improve with extra maturity to include coaching and strength conditioning. The Panthers are a senior laden team as far as starters go, so it's back to the drawing board going into next season. I believe the JV team went 7-2 this season, but the freshman team won just one game, so who knows what next season's team will look like.  

I might add that we don't even know what the schedule will look like next season with Conference Indiana shutting down. It appears that both Bloom. South and Columbus North will have an independent schedule next season unless there is something going on behind closed doors concerning this.