East Central’s Jake Meiners earns Colts/NFL High School Coach of the Week nod after Trojans’ Week 2 win over New Palestine

Indianapolis-based recognition met Friday-night high school reality as East Central High School coach Jake Meiners was named the 2026 Colts/NFL High School Coach of the Week for Week 2. The award highlights top-performing coaching efforts in Indiana high school football through the Colts’ and NFL’s high school football development platform.

The specific turnaround came in East Central’s nonconference-style matchup against Class 5A New Palestine. East Central entered the game 2-0, while New Palestine was 1-1, and the Trojans’ 14-7 win at the end of Week 2 carried a rare piece of historical weight: it halted the Tigers’ 29-game winning streak, a run that began in 2023.

For East Central, the victory represented more than a single-score outcome. In a game that swung the momentum early and then demanded discipline late, the Trojans’ ability to keep a higher-class opponent from finishing drives is what separated the weeks. New Palestine’s streak status also made every series consequential, because the Tigers were playing with a kind of institutional pressure that comes with protecting a long run of results.

The Colts’ announcement credited Meiners with the Week 2 performance in conjunction with the league’s high school coaching program, sponsored in part by Certor Sports. The award is framed as a way to spotlight coaching development and team execution at the high school level, rather than as an endorsement of a single statistic or highlight play.

The classifications matter in this matchup. East Central competes in Class 4A, while New Palestine is in Class 5A, so the postseason ceiling for each program is often discussed in different tiers. While regular-season games do not decide postseason brackets by themselves, wins like this can affect how programs evaluate their systems against quality opponents, especially when a team from a higher class enters with established momentum.

The 29-game streak detail also provides context for the level of challenge. A run that long typically includes strong quarterback play, consistent offensive production, and a defense that can close games even when opponents adjust. With the streak ended at 14-7, East Central effectively controlled enough of the game’s critical moments to prevent New Palestine from turning opportunity into late-game separation.

Looking ahead, the key question is whether East Central can build on this kind of statement win and sustain that level of execution as the season moves deeper. Awards can bring attention, but the substance will show up in subsequent weeks, particularly in how the Trojans respond when opponents game-plan for what worked against New Palestine. For New Palestine, the larger test is how the program bounces back after a streak ends and converts the loss into learning while keeping its standards high.

For now, Meiners’ Coach of the Week honor serves as a marker of coaching impact during a Week 2 moment that changed the story of both programs. East Central gains momentum and validation, while New Palestine gets an early data point that even established streak teams can be stopped when the opponent hits its assignments and holds up under pressure.