Hurricane storms into playoffs with rout
New Castle (49) vs. Hopewell (0)
Written: Oct 25, 2014
By Shawn Fox
New Castle News
ALIQUIPPA — New Castle coach Joe Cowart said it looked like his team was playing its best football of the season.
Hopewell certainly got an eyeful last night.
The Red Hurricane stormed into the postseason with a 49-0 victory over the Vikings in a WPIAL Class AAA Parkway Conference game at Tony Dorsett Stadium.
“I think we put together four quarters of football tonight,” said Cowart. “We had been wanting to do that. I think we’re playing our best football of the season right now, which is a good feeling.”
Friday’s rout completed a mid-season turnaround for the ‘Canes, who have now won four of their last five games to improve to 4-4 in the Parkway and 4-5 overall. New Castle’s win, coupled with Moon’s 34-6 loss to Montour, gave the ‘Canes the Parkway’s fourth seed heading into the upcoming WPIAL Class AAA playoffs.
“We told our guys we had a five-game season and if we were able to play our best football for those five games, we were going to give ourselves a chance to be a playoff team,” Cowart said. “That’s what we did. We ended up 4-1 in those last five, with a loss to Central Valley. We felt like we put five good performances together in a row, and we’re playing our best football heading into the playoffs.”
The shutout was New Castle’s first since a 27-0 victory over Belle Vernon on Sept. 23, 2011. The ’Canes gave up just one play over 10 yards against Hopewell.
“You can talk about Xs and Os all you want, but it’s a will and a desire to beat the guy across from you and keep people out of the end zone,” Cowart said. “I think our guys are starting to figure that out a little bit. We played good, hard, fast, physical defense.”
The ’Canes offense more than carried its weight when it had the ball. New Castle piled up a season-high 505 yards of total offense, including 336 yards on the ground.
“It’s a hammer and nail mentality, and we’d rather be the hammer than the nail,” Cowart said of his team’s running game.
Daylyn Glenel gave the ‘Canes the only points they needed in the game, as he took a pitch from quarterback Pat Minenok and raced around the left side 73 yards for a touchdown. The explosive junior tailback finished with 115 yards and four touchdowns on just 10 carries in the contest. Matt Gonzales’ kick failed, but New Castle held a 6-0 edge less than five minutes into the contest.
“We played real well tonight,” Glenel said. “The offensive line really came through for us tonight. We played solid.”
New Castle quickly got the football back, when Dana McKnight recovered a fumble by Griffin Curry on the ensuing kickoff.
Two plays later, Glenel again took a pitch from Minenok and motored 25 yards for the score. Glenel was stopped on the two-point conversion run, but the ‘Canes held a 12-0 lead with 6:15 remaining in the opening stanza.
Glenel again found paydirt on New Castle’s next offensive possession, scoring on a 31-yard run. The conversion pass failed, but the ‘Canes took an 18-0 lead after one.
Nick Treloar’s 41-yard TD scamper two minutes into the second quarter hiked New Castle’s lead to 25-0 before Minenok hooked up with Marcus Hooker on a 33-yard pass scoring strike gave the ‘Canes a 31-0 lead at the half.
New Castle brought the mercy rule into play with 3:40 remaining in the third quarter on Glenel’s 6-yard scoring run.
The ‘Canes got TD runs from Freddy Soto (6 yards) and Marshane McElroy (41 yards) in the fourth quarter to set the final.
New Castle will find out its first-round opponent after Monday’s WPIAL pairings meeting.
“It feels real good heading into the playoffs with a win like this,” Glenel said. “We’ve got to stay focused and get ready for next week.”
Hopewell finished the season 0-8 in the Parkway and 0-9 overall. The Vikings have lost 10 straight games. Their last victory came Oct. 18, 2013, a 55-20 triumph over Freedom.
(Email: ncsports@ncnewsonline.com)
NEW CASTLE HOPEWELL
20 First downs 9
339 Yards Rushing 113
3 Yards Lost 17
336 Net Rushing 96
16 Passes Attempted 11
10 Passes Completed 4
0 Passes Intercepted 1
165 Yards Passing 25
505 Total Yards 121
0-0 Fumbles-Lost 1-1
0-0 Punts-Average 5-25
9-86 Penalties-Yards 6-60
NEW CASTLE 18 13 6 12 — 49
HOPEWELL 0 0 0 0— 0
Scoring plays
NEW CASTLE — Daylyn Glenel, 73-yard run (kick failed).
NEW CASTLE — Glenel, 25-yard run (run failed).
NEW CASTLE — Glenel, 31-yard run (pass failed).
NEW CASTLE — Nick Treloar, 41-yard run (Matt Gonzales kick).
NEW CASTLE — Marcus Hooker, 33-yard pass from Pat Minenok (kick failed).
NEW CASTLE — Glenel, 6-yard run (kick failed).
NEW CASTLE — Freddy Soto, 6-yard run (kick failed).
NEW CASTLE — Marshane McElroy, 41-yard run (no try)
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