New Castle struggles in home loss to Mars
New Castle (7) vs. Mars (34)
Written: Sep 30, 2016
  By Ron Poniewasz Jr.
New Castle News
Time was not on the side of the New Castle High football team Friday night.
The Red Hurricane had the ball for nine possessions total, but saw most of them come to a quick end.
That proved costly as Mars pulled away in the second half for a 34-7 WPIAL Class 4A Northwest Nine Conference win over New Castle at Taggart Stadium.
The 'Canes (4-1 conference, 4-2 overall) had the ball four times in the first half, but managed just 7:40 in time of possession. Despite the Planets (4-1, 5-1) holding the ball for over 16 minutes in the opening half, the teams battled to a 7-7 tie in the first 24 minutes.
"It puts a greater emphasis on each drive because of how long they possess the ball," New Castle coach Joe Cowart said. "Every drive is so important. But you could say that about any big football game.
"The styles (of play) are the styles. You have to do what you do better than they do what they do. That certainly wasn't the case tonight. They put a great performance together on our field and put a statement to our league of how good they really are. We've got some questions to answer moving forward."
Mars pulls into a tie with New Castle for second place in the league. South Fayette is in first place at 4-0, 6-0.
"Coming to New Castle, we knew they would be ready to play," Planets coach Scott Heinauer said. "New Castle is a football town. This is a tremendous tradition here. Their tradition is second to none here."
The first 'Canes drive lasted just three plays when quarterback Geno Stone took a draw in the shotgun and raced 60 yards for a score. Brayden Cartwright booted the extra point to put the hosts up 7-0 with 8:23 to go in the opening quarter.
"Geno is our best player," Cowart said. "He's a fantastic football player. He shows that every week.
"I think he's the best player in our league. I don't even think it's an argument."
Stone amassed 138 rushing yards on just eight carries.
"Stone is a tremendous football player," Heinauer said. "Geno Stone was the guy coming into this game that we felt we needed to stop."
The Planets answered in the second quarter to tie the game at 7 with 10 minutes to go in the half.
Mars was attempting to possibly get a late score before the half. The Planets went for it on fourth-and-five at the New Castle 45. But the 'Canes dropped Isaiah Johnson for a one-yard gain and took over with 1:30 to go in the half.
"We felt at that point we needed to do something to try and get a little bit more momentum," Heinauer said. "The defense came up and they did a tremendous job."
Said Cowart, "We were OK with how the first half went. I thought we left some things on the football field. That's about the way we drew it up. We thought the game was going to look a lot like that."
New Castle had a shot to control the pace in the second half when it took the second-half kickoff. But Stone was intercepted by Hunter Cooper and Cooper raced in untouched 20 yards for a score. The conversion pushed the margin to 14-7 and Mars put its ball-control offense to work the rest of the way.
"We're running a screen there," Cowart said. "We don't even account for the defensive end. That kid made a great play on it. We're trying to invite that guy up the football field and he just dropped into coverage and made a heck of a play.
"That was certainly a change of momentum in the game. Those moments happen and when they do, you have to answer the bell."
Heinauer acknowledged the pivotal play his defensive end made.
"I'm sure Geno never saw him because he threw it right at him," Heinauer said. "That's the key to this game as far as changing the momentum.
"They were going to run a quick screen on the outside to the guy coming in. Our guy reacted to their back and he went out (into coverage)."
The 'Canes threatened just once in the second half, but Stone threw an incompletion on fourth-and-goal from the Mars 14 trailing 27-7.
"The film showed us that they are a fantastic football team," Cowart said. "We didn't answer the bell in the second half and that's the reason the scoreboard looks the way it does."
New Castle returns to action at 7:30 p.m. Friday when it travels to South Fayette. The game was originally scheduled for 7 p.m., but has been pushed back to 7:30 p.m. for a live broadcast on ROOT Sports Pittsburgh.
"It's a good opportunity for our program and our school to show where we've come from and where we're at right now," Cowart said. "If we put effort on the field like we did tonight the scoreboard is going to look ugly.
"South Fayette is something special. We have a tall task on our hands and we have to get better. I have full faith in our players that we can and that we will."
The Lions went 12-1 last season, falling to Aliquippa in the WPIAL Class AA championship game, 44-38.
(Email: rponiewasz@ncnewsonline.com)
MARS NEW CASTLE
18 First downs 10
262 Yards Rushing 214
7 Yards Lost 18
255 Net Rushing 196
6 Passes Attempted 19
1 Passes Completed 4
1 Passes Intercepted 1
3 Yards Passing 27
258 Total Yards 223
2-0 Fumbles-Lost 0-0
1-22 Punts-Average 4-26.2
4-30 Penalties-Yards 7-75
MARS 0 7 20 7 — 34
NEW CASTLE 7 0 0 0 — 7
Scoring plays
NEW CASTLE — Geno Stone, 60-yard run (Brayden Cartwright kick).
MARS — Isaiah Johnson, 2-yard run (Caleb Brake kick).
MARS — Hunter Cooper, 20-yard interception return (Brake kick).
MARS — Garrett Reinke, 4-yard run (Brake kick).
MARS — Johnson, 10-yard run (kick blocked).
MARS — Max Chizmar, 1-yard run (Brake kick).
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