News

The Class 5A State Championship featuring #5 Merrillville (11-2) and #1 New Palestine (13-0) will stream via PPV on IHSAAtv.org this Friday at 7 pm ET / 6 CT!

INDIANAPOLIS – On the final football Friday night of the season, the IHSAA Class 5A state championship held inside Lucas Oil Stadium pits a dynasty against a team of destiny.

Returning to downtown Indianapolis for a second consecutive year, the top-ranked New Palestine Dragons (13-0) are seeking their fifth state title in 12 years and third in 5A since 2018 after finishing an unblemished 14-0 in 2024 to win the 4A crown.

In contrast, the fifth-ranked Merrillville Pirates (11-2) are making their first state finals appearance in 49 years after ending a 10-game semi-state championship losing streak to finally get their opportunity to add to their lone 3A title won in 1976.

“I wasn’t alive 49 years ago, but we have a lot of people at our school that have been there a really long time,” Merrillville coach Brad Seiss said. “Our community was definitely ready for us to finally break through and represent our school down here.”

Merrillville had been knocking on the door for the past decade.

Winless the past two years at semi-state, 0-5 at the same threshold since 2019 and 0-9 since 2005, the Pirates’ first setback was in 1992 – 16 years after their first round-to-go appearance since their initial state-title run.

“It’s something we didn’t like to talk about a whole lot,” Seiss said. “We’ve been there six of the last seven years. Just for the kids to be the group that broke through, really excited for them. Just excited for everybody.”

For New Palestine and head coach Kyle Ralph, Kelso Stadium in Hancock County might be their official home field, but the Indianapolis Colts’ friendly confines have become their second residence.

Back-to-back 5A state champions in 2018-19 and a 4A champion in 2024 and 2014, the Dragons nearly won two straight in 2015 but lost in a thrilling 64-61dogfight against Fort Wayne Snider during their first season as a 5A program.

While a 4A school by enrollment, New Palestine prepares as a 5A team annually, which could benefit the Dragons against the Pirates, who competed in 6A for nine seasons from 2013-21 until dropping down a classification.

“One thing that we stress to our guys all the time is only 11 kids play. We don’t have a lot of people on our roster, and we never really do. We’ve played up a division, and this is our eighth year being up in 5A. We’ve had a lot of success doing it,” Ralph said. “I have a lot of confidence in the 11 guys that we put out there, and they have confidence in each other. How many guys are on your roster doesn’t impact you as much when you play Friday night.”

Differences aside, both the Dragons and the Pirates share multiple similarities, particularly on the offensive side.

New Palestine is averaging 397.2 total yards per game compared to Merrillville’s 477.2. The Dragons are scoring 45.5 points per game (11th best in the state), while the Pirates are producing 37.1 per contest (seventh best in 5A). In rushing yards per game, the Dragons are averaging 252.5 with Merrillville at 232.1.

Where Merrillville holds the advantage is in passing yards (245.0-144.7) behind 6-foot-2, 180-pound junior quarterback Michael Hill, who has thrown for 3,161 yards and 30 touchdowns while rushing for 509 yards and six TDs.

“Obviously, they’re pretty explosive on offense,” Ralph said. “They’ve hurt people on the ground and in the air offensively. It’s probably one of the most explosive offenses in the whole state in regard to just sheer balance and output. They’re running for well over 200 and throwing for well over 200 a game, and that’s really hard to deal with and stop.”

The Dragons’ state-leading defense (4.62 points allowed per game), regardless of classification, is primed for the challenge.

So far this postseason, the Dragons have defeated four straight top 10 teams in No. 10 Plainfield, 42-7; No. 2 Indianapolis Cathedral, 20-15; No. 7 East Central, 20-6; and No. 3 Bloomington South, 42-0.

Their shutout victory against Bloomington South during the semi-state title game marked the Dragons’ fifth of the season, highlighted by three forced turnovers and limiting their opponent to 67 rushing yards and 211 total yards.

“We’ve been really good against the run, and that kind of makes teams one-dimensional,” Ralph said. “The DBs have played better this year, and they’re certainly going to be challenged to the absolute maximum this Friday, but our guys are kind of built around strength and physicality.

“We talked to our guys about being 11 strong. All 11 guys having to be responsible for their job and be accountable … They play with a lot of passion and intensity, and they play hard for each other. So, I think when you’ve got that, you’re going to have a good defense.”

Sophomore Sam Hirschy leads New Palestine with 8.5 sacks and 20.5 tackles for a loss. Senior Garrett Ranes paces the team with 94 total tackles.

No team has scored more than 15 points against the Dragons’ Red Rage defense this season, and the team’s 40.92 average margin of victory is third-best in the state.

“I think they expect to stop people. It’s not an arrogance thing, but they’re really good at what they do, and we have put them in a couple of bad spots this year,” Ralph said. “Cathedral game, our offense really struggled. Our defense had to keep us in it long enough. East Central, our offense played really poorly. Our defense kept us in that game forever.”

Merrillville’s litany of weapons on offense will attempt to test New Palestine, again, and halt the Dragons’ chance of becoming the second team in IHSAA history to win back-to-back state championships in different classes since Cathedral (2012, 4A and 2013, 5A).

Beyond Hill, who is a true dual threat, the Pirates rely on senior running back Jac’Quarious Johnson (1,308 yards rushing, 14 TDs) and versatile junior Cameron Jordan, who has rushed for 936 yards and 14 TDs and caught 64 passes for 820 yards and nine TDs.

“Michael’s set our all-time season passing record, completion record, along with rushing for almost 700 yards in between,” Seiss said. “JQ and Cam were accomplished guys last year. Both were over 1,200-yard rushers last year. Knowing the skill set that Michael had, we made a shift to put Cam in a slot receiver role. We still do two-back sets with him, and Cam being dynamic really helps us out because you don’t know where he’s going to line up.”

The Dragons’ offense runs through senior quarterback and Towson commit Jacob Davis, who has thrown for 1,796 yards and 21 TDs while rushing for 917 and 14 TDs. Senior Caden Jacobia has amassed 1,119 rushing yards and 16 TDs.

“The first thing that jumps out is just how physical they are on the offensive and defensive lines. Offensively, they have a lot of movable pieces that do a lot of good things led by their quarterback, who is an accomplished runner and thrower. Then defensively, you look at the inside six, just how physical they are. You know they don’t want people to run the ball,” Seiss said.  

“I think it’s how we handle the game. It’s new to us. Just not letting the moment be too big. Not having too many highs and too many lows when big plays happen or when New Pal makes plays. But I think it’s going to be won up front for us as far as how we handle their physicality.”

For Ralph (154-14 career record), another state title will make him the 10th coach in state history to win five championships and the third coach to ever win five state crowns with an undefeated record.

“I think the big thing for us is our program is built around competition, and everything we do is competition,” Ralph said. “Our guys are kind of trained to compete and train to be the best that they can be and to win.”

Image