New Castle routs Ambridge
New Castle (47) vs. Ambridge (28)
Written: Oct 18, 2008
By RON PONIEWASZ JR.
rponiewasz@ncnewsonline.com
The celebration is on for the New Castle High football team.
Minutes after last night’s 47-28 victory over Ambridge, Kool & The Gang’s “Celebration” blared over the loudspeakers at Taggart Stadium.
The song was fitting as the Red Hurricane (5-1 Parkway, 5-3 overall) clinched at least a share of the conference championship and a home playoff game in the opening round of the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs.
New Castle can secure the title outright if Blackhawk falls to Ambridge on Oct. 25. If the Cougars win, the teams will share the crown, but they will get the higher playoff seed by virtue of their head-to-head win over New Castle.
“It’s exciting,” ’Canes coach Frank Bongivengo Jr. said. “You’re going to get a piece of the conference championship and you never know what will happen.
“The kids should be proud and happy to do what they’ve done to this point. Coming off the three losses, winning five straight, we’re sitting in a nice position right now.”
“You set some goals and some standards for yourself. That’s part of what we wanted to do.”
It’s the first conference championship for New Castle since 2002 when the program advanced to the second round of the WPIAL playoffs before being eliminated by conference rival Moon.
“It’s a great feeling,” said senior quarterback Michael Bongivengo, who is the coach’s son. “It’s something nice to have. Now we have to go get one of them rings that we’ve been waiting for.”
Michael Bongivengo accounted for four touchdowns, three of which came through the air. He also set the school’s single-season passing yardage record, breaking the old mark set by Chuck Fiorante in 1970 of 1,412 yards.
“Everybody is a part of that record,” Michael Bongivengo said. “My name will be in the books but they are not going to put in the Vince Pavias, Jared Fleos, Vinny Nertis, Joey Olivas, James Feeleys, all of those guys. They won’t put their names in there but they are just as much a part of that record.
“My receivers, they are athletes and making plays. I’m thrilled to have the record but it’s not just me.”
Michael Bongivengo, a senior, now has 1,443 yards through the air on the season. He was 15 of 22 for 217 yards with three touchdown passes to go along with a touchdown rushing.
“We’re happy and proud of him,” Frank Bongivengo said. “Records are records. I think his thought process goes way beyond any individual record he can have, though.”
The ’Canes built a 21-0 halftime bulge behind three touchdown passes from Michael Bongivengo, two of which went to Jajuan Jay. The third went to Brandon Burley.
“It’s not just me, it’s the line picking up blitzes, too,” Michael Bongivengo said of the passing game. “There was a lot of blitzes tonight. The line did a great job of picking it up and our receivers did a great job of getting open and catching the ball and making moves.”
It appeared the game would go into mercy rule status after New Castle went up 28-0 early in the third quarter. However, Ambridge (1-4, 1-7) continued to battle, but could do no better than trade scores in the second half.
“If you watch the first half, when the game was close, the defense played well,” Frank Bongivengo said. “Then we went up big and we sort of relaxed and let them make plays. We didn’t like that obviously and we have to work on things.”
The ’Canes’ pass defense was stellar in the first half. Bridgers quarterback Zach Nichi completed just one pass in 14 attempts for four yards in the opening 24 minutes.
The second half was completely different as Nichi finished 14 of 32 for 211 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions.
“Nichi played well but a lot of his stuff came late in the game,” the coach said. “We knew he was a good quarterback.”
New Castle returns to action at 7:30 p.m. Friday when it hosts Mohawk in a nonconference matchup. The WPIAL scheduled the Midwestern Athletic Conference’s nonconference matchup this year against the Parkway, thus setting up the unlikely matchup between the schools.
AMBRIDGE NEW CASTLE
9 First downs 29
59 Yards Rushing 364
23 Yards Lost 61
36 Net Rushing 303
32 Passes Attempted 22
14 Passes Completed 15
0 Passes Intercepted 0
211 Yards Passing 217
243 Total Yards 520
0-0 Fumbles-Lost 4-2
5-32.8 Punts-Average 3-31.3
3-35 Penalties-Yards 9-74
AMBRIDGE 0 0 7 21 — 28
NEW CASTLE 6 15 13 13 — 47
Scoring plays
NEW CASTLE — Jajuan Jay, 39-yard pass from Michael Bongivengo (kick failed).
NEW CASTLE — Jay, 14-yard pass from Bongivengo (Ta’shan Jones pass from Bongivengo).
NEW CASTLE — Brandon Burley, 24-yard pass from Bongivengo (Jay kick).
NEW CASTLE — Keith Keene, 58-yard run (Jay kick).
AMBRIDGE — Kolby Addis, 12-yard pass from Zach Nichi (Frank Maiolo kick).
NEW CASTLE — Bongivengo, 2-yard run (kick failed).
AMBRIDGE — Addis, 37-yard pass from Nichi (Maiolo kick).
NEW CASTLE — Keene, 35-yard run (Jay kick).
AMBRIDGE — Lucas Ecimovic, 52-yard pass from Nichi (Maiolo kick).
NEW CASTLE — Burley, 24-yard run (kick failed).
AMBRIDGE — Addis, 11-yard pass from Nichi (Maiolo kick).
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