'Canes fall to Parkway foe Hopewell
New Castle (26) vs. Hopewell (28)
Written: Oct 09, 2010
By JOE SIMON
j_simon@ncnewsonline.com
One of the most highly recruited running backs in the country had the game of his life last night.
Hopewell’s Rushel Shell ran for nearly 400 yards and three touchdowns, but it was a play he made on defense that allowed the Vikings to come away with a 28-26 victory over New Castle in a Parkway Conference shootout.
Shell batted down a pass late in the fourth quarter on a two-point conversion attempt by New Castle, which trailed 28-26 at the time.
“I was just in the right place at the right time,” Shell said.
That place was the end zone, a place Shell visited a lot. The junior, who said he’s leaning toward going to the University of Alabama after his high school career is over, shredded the ’Canes’ defense for a career-high 383 yards and had touchdown runs of 92, 78 and 10 yards. Yet, New Castle (1-3 conference, 3-3 overall) was nearly as productive when it had the ball as the two teams racked up 996 yards of total offense.
The ’Canes ran for 249 yards and passed for 226. Their problem, again, came in the red zone, where they twice failed to score. Junior running back Justin Fleo fumbled on the 3 in the first half and Hopewell (1-3, 2-4) recovered, and New Castle couldn’t convert on a fourth-and-4 play from the Hopewell 8 late in the fourth quarter.
It was a crippling loss for coach Frank Bongivengo Jr. and the ’Canes, whose hopes of making the playoffs took a big hit.
“We fought and we kept coming back, but that’s not good enough,” he said. “We had some opportunities to make plays and we didn’t make them tonight, and it hurt us.”
One of those chances came with less than two minutes remaining in the game. Wide receiver Marcus Carter broke open down the sideline but couldn’t hang on to a pass from Johnny Matarazzo. The ’Canes dropped several passes, including two that could have been touchdowns.
Shell made sure New Castle paid for its mistakes. After Jalen Holmes was stuffed for no gain on fourth-and-4 at the Hopewell 8, Shell darted up the middle of the field and outran everyone for a 92-yard score. The ’Canes struck right back as Matarazzo hit Nigel Whren for a 39-yard touchdown, making the score 28-26 with 2:17 remaining. New Castle tried to run a crossing route on the two-point conversion, with Carter running a fade to the corner of the end zone, but Shell was waiting for it and smacked the ball down to preserve the lead.
“We had an idea,” said Hopewell coach Dave Vestal about knowing where New Castle was going to attack on the play. “It was a pick route, and both (defenders) did a great job of playing the ball, but he made the play and knocked it down.”
Shell’s big plays always seemed to come at just the right time. New Castle had just taken a 20-14 lead in the fourth quarter on a 6-yard TD run by Holmes and forced the Vikings into a third-and-6 play. The ’Canes appeared to have Shell corralled for a short gain, but the 5-foot-11, 215-pound Shell stiff-armed one defender and ran past another to gain 11 yards and a first down. He ran for 34 yards on the next play and eventually capped the drive with a 7-yard TD.
“We had him wrapped up a couple times in the back field and boom, then he springs a big run,” Bongivengo said. “But that’s what a good back is supposed to do. That’s what a guy who wants to get to the end zone does, and he really hurt us tonight.”
Shell said he and another defensive back communicated on the play, which led to him making the play. In a game that saw nearly 1,000 yards of offense, it was the Vikings defense shined in the end.
“We made a lot of switches on defense,” Shell said. “Defense is the key. You really have to guard this type of team. They can pass the ball, they have great athletes and great linemen. We just played good on defense.”
Shell wasn’t the only back to play well, as Holmes ran for 146 yards and a touchdown for New Castle. The Vikings’ Zach Romah also broke the century mark, rushing for 101 yards and a TD on nine carries. Matarazzo was on point most of the night, going 15 for 30 for 226 yards and a touchdown. Fleo caught eight passes for 53 yards.
The ’Canes now face a situation where Bongivengo said they’re probably going to have to win out for a chance at the playoffs.
“Now our backs are really up against the wall,” he said. “I would assume, at this point, we’re going to have to win every game from here on out, and that’s tough to do in this conference. But we’ll come back on Monday ready to work.”
HOPEWELL NEW CASTLE
15 First downs 16
510 Yards Rushing 256
8 Yards Lost 17
502 Net Rushing 249
3 Passes Attempted 30
2 Passes Completed 15
1 Passes Intercepted 0
19 Yards Passing 226
521 Total Yards 475
1-0 Fumbles-Lost 1-1
3-36.6 Punts-Average 50.6
2-25 Penalties-Yards 7-40
HOPEWELL 7 7 0 14 —28
NEW CASTLE 6 6 0 14 —26
Scoring plays
NEW CASTLE — Johnny Matarazzo, 2-yard run (kick failed).
HOPEWELL — Zach Romah, 54-yard run (Nate Bowden kick).
HOPEWELL — Rushel Shell, 78-yard run (Bowden kick).
NEW CASTLE — Justin Fleo, 7-yard run (pass failed).
NEW CASTLE — Jalen Holmes, 6-yard run (Jesse Ambuster, pass from Matarazzo).
HOPEWELL — Shell, 10-yard run (Bowden kick).
NEW CASTLE — Nigel Whren, 39-yard pass from Matarazzo (pass failed).
HOPEWELL —Shell, 92-yard run (Bowden kick).
|