Mixed reviews
New Castle (41) vs. Blackhawk (38)
Written: Oct 29, 2011
By Joe Sager
New Castle News
The New Castle High football team engaged in a thriller last night.
Yet, by the third quarter, the suspense was already gone.
Normally, the Red Hurricane would have celebrated a 41-38 defeat of Blackhawk. This time, the team mourned. That’s because Hopewell’s 31-14 win over West Allegheny, which concluded well before this battle ended, put the Vikings into the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs and kept New Castle out of the postseason.
“We practiced hard all week. We got prepared for this game hoping to come out with a win,” New Castle junior running back Jalen Homes said. “It’s pretty hard because we had a pretty good team here. All we wanted to do was make it to the playoffs.”
While the standings show the ’Canes (4-3 conference, 5-4 overall) tied Hopwell (4-3, 6-3) and West Allegheny (4-3, 5-3) for third in the conference, New Castle was prevented from earning a postseason berth based on tiebreakers. A Hopewell loss was the second part of the equation the ’Canes needed to make the playoffs.
“We asked the kids to battle for the last two weeks. Our motto has been to take care of our business. We took care of our business, but, unfortunately, the other end didn’t come through for us,” New Castle coach Frank Bongivengo, Jr. said. “It’s a shame because we had a pretty good football team. We’ve played a lot better as of late. It’s a shame to see these seniors go. These seniors have been with me the last four years and they have a lot of wins under their belts.”
The game took on a playoff atmosphere at Taggart Stadium as both sides battled back and fourth in a three-hour marathon.
“We could have lost that game on three or four different occasions,” Bongivengo. “They kept battling back and we kept battling back. It was a great football game.”
Johnny Matarazzo and Holmes recorded touchdown runs in the first half to trim the Cougars’ lead to 17-14 at halftime.
Alex Caratelli hauled in a 65-yard halfback pass from Josh Desmond to start the third for a 24-14 Blackhawk (3-4, 4-5) lead.
The ’Canes responded with 20-straight points. Holmes tallied a 4-yard TD run, while Darrian Rice hauled in a 52-yard TD pass from Matarazzo and Paul Jones took a reverse 17 yards another score. That spree gave New Castle a 34-24 advantage through three quarters.
Chandler Kincade, making his first start since a shoulder separation on Sept. 23, found Caratelli for an 11-yard TD pass and Brendan Kearney added the conversion to trim the deficit to 34-32. Mike Shansky’s second TD run of the night put the guests back on top, 38-31, with 10:41 to play, but the PAT kick failed.
Matarazzo’s pass deflected off a defender and into Rice’s hands for a 19-yard TD pass with 7:41 remaining. It was Matarazzo’s 51st career TD pass, a program record.
The Cougars drove deep in New Castle territory late in the game, but a defender stripped the ball from Caratelli near the 20 and Holmes pounced on it with 2:31 to play. The ’Canes ran out the clock to seal the win.
“I don’t know who stripped him from behind, but Jalen picked it up and did a great job,” Bongivengo said.
Holmes played well on offense, too. He racked up 214 yards on 25 carries against a Blackhawk defense that shut down elite runners Rushel Shell (Hopewell) and Julian Durden (Montour).
“Blackhawk, no one has been able to run on them. They held Shell to 100 yards and limited Durden to 17 yards and those are two great backs,” Bongivengo said. “We came out and did the job up front. We moved them around and we made some big runs. We ran the ball a lot. That offensive line and Jalen, they did a great job.”
Holmes credits the offensive line for giving him room to maneuver.
“I just had a talk with my line to come out and play hard because we needed this win,” he said. “They came out 100 percent every play and did what they needed to do to open up the holes for me to run through.”
It was the second-straight year these two teams engaged in a fierce battle. Last season, the ’Canes pulled out a 30-27 win with a desparation TD pass with no time left on the clock.
“They all seem to be that way,” Bongivengo said. “They all come down to the end of the game and that’s what happened in this one. Fortunately, we were able to come out on top.”
(E-mail: ncsports@ncnewsonline.com)
BLACKHAWK NEW CASTLE
13 First downs 25
97 Yards Rushing 362
16 Yards Lost 11
81 Net Rushing 351
16 Passes Attempted 20
9 Passes Completed 10
0 Passes Intercepted 3
196 Yards Passing 151
277 Total Yards 501
3-2 Fumbles-Lost 1-1
32.6 Punts-Average 0-0
11-70 Penalties-Yards 12-91
BLACHAWK 10 7 7 14 — 38
NEW CASTLE 7 7 20 7 — 41
Scoring plays
BLACKHAWK — Michael Gardner, 24-yard field goal.
NEW CASTLE — Johnny Matarazzo, 7-yard run (Khalil Huddleston kick).
BLACKHAWK — Mike Shansky, 1-yard run (Gardner kick).
NEW CASTLE — Jalen Holmes, 18-yard run (Huddleston kick).
BLACKHAWK — Cole Chiappialle, 22-yard run (Gardner kick).
BLACKHAWK — Alex Caratelli, 65-yard pass from Josh Desmond (Gardner kick).
NEW CASTLE — Holmes, 4-yard run (Huddleston kick).
NEW CASTLE — Darrian Rice, 52-yard pass from Matarazzo (Huddleston kick).
NEW CASTLE — Paul Jones, 17-yard run (kick failed).
BLACKHAWK — Caratelli, 11-yard pass from Chandler Kincade (Brendan Kearney run).
BLACKHAWK — Shansky, 5-yard run (pass failed).
NEW CASTLE — Rice, 19-yard pass from Matarazzo (Huddleston kick).
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