New Castle falls short in loss to Blackhawk
New Castle (20) vs. Blackhawk (26)
Written: Sep 13, 2014
By Ron Poniewasz Jr.
New Castle News
The WPIAL football playoffs are still several weeks away.
But time is slipping away quickly for New Castle High.
The Red Hurricane allowed three touchdowns of 36 yards or more in dropping a 26-20 Parkway Conference matchup to Blackhawk at Taggart Stadium last night.
New Castle (0-3 conference, 0-3 overall) sits in a last-place tie in the conference with Hopewell (0-3, 0-3) with five league games left. Included in that remaining schedule is a battle at Central Valley (2-0, 3-0), which is ranked No. 3 in the WPIAL in Class AAA by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
“It’s funny to talk about Week 3 and your playoff picture. But, there’s a truth to the matter that we played a winnable football game (last night) and we didn’t win it,” said third-year ’Canes coach Joe Cowart. “It’s been an epidemic of our unit, over and over again, that we have continuously shown in big moments and big times and we haven’t made the necessary plays to win big football teams.
“When you play in a league like ours and every week is a meatgrinder, those are the types of games you play and I wouldn’t have it any other way. You’re talking about playing a game in mid-September that has monumental playoff implications. Right now, we’ve squarely put our backs against the wall. I’m going to challenge my coaching staff and I’m going to challenge my kids. How are we going to respond when our backs are against the wall?”
Five teams make the playoffs out of the Parkway Conference and the win vaults Blackhawk into sixth place in the league, just a half-game behind Ambridge (1-1, 1-2).
“The Parkway race is a real journey,” Cougars coach Joe Hamilton said. “It’s a tough thing. Obviously, (last night) was very important to both of us.
“This is a great win for us. New Castle is a great football team. There’s no quit in New Castle.”
New Castle trailed 14-13 at halftime after a defensive stand late in the first half. The Cougars (1-2, 1-2) took over at the ’Canes’ 30 after a short punt with 5:26 to go in the half.
But Blackhawk lost nine yards and didn’t gain a first down, eventually punting the ball back to New Castle with 3:13 remaining in the quarter with the count at 14-13.
“That’s where I think our defense is beginning to show some reserve and some resolve,” Cowart said of the stand. “They showed glimpses of when their backs are against the wall, defensively, we are giving ourselves a chance as a team on the other side of the ball. But we’re not capitalizing on that.”
New Castle kicked off to start the second half and Blackhawk quarterback Timothy Mancini quickly made up for that lost scoring chance late in the half. Mancini took the kickoff and raced through the ’Canes’ defenders for an 82-yard touchdown. The extra point was blocked and the Cougars held a 20-13 buffer.
“Any time you give up a special teams touchdown you feel like you didn’t make them earn it,” Cowart said. “But obviously their kickoff return team did a great job and blocked well on it; the kid made a great run.
“That’s part of the football game. Whatever the hand that is dealt to you, you have to figure out a way to overcome it. At this point, we’re still trying to figure out how to overcome these things. Good football teams will overcome a kickoff return, or overcome a negative play on second down or a penalty. We haven’t shown the ability to overcome it yet.”
Said Hamilton of the kickoff return, “That helped a lot. Mancini is very good. I was hoping it would be as pivotal as it turned out to be.”
Mancini added a 53-yard touchdown tote in the first quarter and a 36-yard scoring strike to Kristian Johnson in the second stanza.
The Cougars built a 26-13 advantage with 4:44 left in the third on a 15-yard scoring run by Jeremy McGovern. The score held until deep into the fourth quarter.
New Castle, trailing by 13 points with 7:30 to go in the contest, took over at the Blackhawk 46. The ’Canes methodically marched 46 yards in 14 plays, capped off by a four-yard scoring run by Nick Treloar with 2:36 left. It was his second touchdown scamper of the game.
D’Marcus Blanchard added the extra point, cutting the deficit to 26-20.
New Castle elected to squib the ball in the middle of the field and the Cougars recovered at their own 39. Blackhawk did get a first down before facing third-and-10 from the ’Canes’ 48 with 1:22 to play and the hosts out of timeouts.
Mancini went back to pass and he scrambled around. He heaved a pass into traffic near the New Castle sideline. The pass fell incomplete, serving as a fourth timeout for New Castle and forcing the visitors to punt the ball away with 1:16 to go.
“I called the play. I couldn’t tell if (Mancini) had room to run. But I called the play,” Hamilton said. “We couldn’t run up the middle because we had guys out of our lineup on our line. We had a hard time doing what we like to do.
“The best thing we could do was to spread it out. The kid was wide open on a hitch.”
Said Cowart, “I was surprised that he threw it. We had some good pressure on the quarterback. Defensively, we made a play in a big moment. That really helped us give us a chance offensively at the end.”
The ’Canes took over at their own 35 and drove as far as Blackhawk’s 39. The Cougars’ Spencer Hunter sacked Pat Minenok with about six seconds left and the time ran out before New Castle could get back to the line.
“They made one more play than we did,” Cowart said.
New Castle travels to Class AAAA member Peters Township (1-2) at 7 p.m. Friday for a nonconference matchup.
(Email: rponiewasz@ncnewsonline.com)
BLACKHAWK NEW CASTLE
7 First downs 14
173 Yards Rushing 140
20 Yards Lost 58
153 Net Rushing 82
7 Passes Attempted 29
1 Passes Completed 10
1 Passes Intercepted 1
36 Yards Passing 159
189 Total Yards 241
3-2 Fumbles-Lost 2-0
5-27 Punts-Average 5-29
7-64 Penalties-Yards 9-65
BLACKHAWK 7 7 12 0 — 26
NEW CASTLE 6 7 0 7 — 20
Scoring plays
NEW CASTLE — Marcus Hooker, 30-yard pass from Geno Stone (kick failed).
BLACKHAWK — Timothy Mancini, 53-yard run (Jake Rolston kick).
NEW CASTLE — Nick Treloar, 1-yard run (D’Marcus Blanchard kick).
BLACKHAWK — Kristian Johnson 36-yard pass from Mancini (Rolston kick).
BLACKHAWK — Mancini, 82-yard kickoff return (kick blocked).
BLACKHAWK — Jeremy McGovern, 15-yard run (kick blocked).
NEW CASTLE — Treloar, 4-yard run (Blanchard kick).
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