'Canes lose steam in second half against West Allegheny
New Castle (14) vs. West Allegheny (41)
Written: Sep 05, 2015
By John D'Abruzzo
New Castle News
IMPERIAL — As soon as New Castle High’s football team appeared to get into a groove, halftime halted its momentum.
Despite trailing by two scores in the first quarter in the season opener last night at West Allegheny, the Red Hurricane saw a quick surge toward the end of second quarter and tied the game. The Indians, however, rallied right back in the third quarter with 21 unanswered points to steal a 41-14 Parkway Conference decision at Joe P. DeMichela Stadium.
The victory marked West Allegheny’s eighth consecutive win against New Castle.
“I don’t think we came into the locker room well and that’s certainly a top-down fix, and we have to do better as a coaching staff to get our boys ready when they come out and get our adjustments set,” fourth-year New Castle coach Joe Cowart said. “For whatever reason, we just didn’t answer the bell in the third quarter and got behind the eight-ball.”
Once again this season, West Allegheny presented an overpowering offensive line that helped its running game gain a total of 502 yards on the ground.
Right from the start in the first quarter, senior running back Terence Stephens, who led all rushers with 224 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries, scored a 75-yard touchdown run on the first play of the Indians’ first series. He also scored on a six-yard run in the closing minutes of the second quarter to give West Allegheny a 21-14 lead at the half.
Before that last touchdown during the first half, New Castle’s spread offense showed some signs of life.
Senior quarterback Pat Minenok put the ‘Canes on the board with a 27-yard run with 1:27 remaining in the first quarter. After forcing West Allegheny to punt on the next series, Minenok connected with senior Nick Treloar on a 65-yard touchdown pass two plays later to tie the score with nine minutes remaining in the half.
“I have such a respect for New Castle,” longtime West Allegheny coach Bob Palko said. “I don’t know what it is, but I just relate to those kids, their coaches and that community. I admire the way those kids play and I like the way they go about their business.
“So this wasn’t a shock. They’re tough and you know they’re going to play.”
New Castle, however, had no answers for West Allegheny the rest of the game.
Stephens opened the second half with a 30-yard rush that set up and 40-yard touchdown run just seconds into the third quarter.
“We punched and battled for 24 minutes, but we weren’t a 48-minute football team,” Cowart said. “We have to fix that and have a forward focus on next Friday because Montour is rolling into town and that’s a really good football team.
“We have to fix what we did wrong and figure out how to fight for 48 (minutes).”
West Allegheny’s other senior running back, Whitney White, followed up with a pair of scores — a 5-yard run and a 7-yard run — during the last five minutes of the third quarter to put the Indians up 41-14.
“We like running backs here,” Palko said with a grin. “It’s what we do well right now and the kids worked hard.”
White finished the game with 158 yards and two touchdowns on 11 touches.
“They do what they do really well,” Cowart said. “Those two backs are really talented football players, but you have to tip your cap to their offensive line. They blocked us tonight and we didn’t win enough up front at the linebacker level.
“Those guys earned it.”
Minenok finished the game completing 12 of 18 passes for 187 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. He also rushed for a team-high 46 yards and one score.
“We want to have a foundation of speed, physicality, energy and effort,” Cowart said. “When we brought those four things to the table, we played pretty well.
“The consistency and doing that every snap of the game wasn’t there, so we have to find out a way and figure out some people who are going to do that every snap for us. We’re pleased with some things, but we have a lot to fix as we’re focusing on next week.”
(Email: ncsports@ncnewsonline.com)
NEW CASTLE WEST ALL.
12 First downs 23
104 Yards Rushing 502
17 Yards Lost 0
87 Net Rushing 502
18 Passes Attempted 4
12 Passes Completed 2
2 Passes Intercepted 0
187 Yards Passing 13
274 Total Yards 515
5-1 Fumbles-Lost 2-1
4-25.2 Punts-Average 1-33.0
4-30 Penalties-Yards 3-25
N. CASTLE 7 7 0 0 — 14
WEST A. 14 7 20 0 — 41
Scoring plays
WA — Terence Stephens, 75-yard run (Kolbe Stout kick).
WA — Brandon Lipford, fumble recovery and return (Stout kick).
NC — Pat Minenok, 27-yard run (Joe Nerti kick).
NC — Nick Treloar, 65-yard pass from Minenok (Nerti kick).
WA — Stephens, 6-yard run (Stout kick).
WA — Stephens, 40-yard run (Stout kick).
WA — Whitney White, 5-yard run (kick failed).
WA — White, 7-yard run (Stout kick).
|