'Canes light it up at Taggart Stadium
New Castle (38) vs. Peters Township (13)
Written: Sep 26, 2015
By Shawn Fox
New Castle News
There were plenty of fireworks — literally and figuratively — last night at Taggart Stadium.
New Castle High returned three interceptions for touchdowns and quarterback Pat Minenok threw three TD passes as the Red Hurricane posted a 38-13 non-conference victory over Peters Township.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been part of a game where three interceptions were returned for touchdowns,” New Castle coach Joe Cowart said. “Statistically, the first three weeks we weren’t real pleased with what we were giving up defensively. We saw there were things where we were a step away here, a step away there, but we didn’t go through with the whole process. Tonight, we went through with the whole process. The big plays came. We know we have that capability on defense, and the kids took advantage of it tonight.”
New Castle, which celebrates each touchdown with a small fireworks display at every home game, evened its mark at 2-2 on the season, reaching the .500 mark for the first time since early in the 2013 campaign.
“Last year, we had to fight our way to get into a playoff spot,” New Castle junior Geno Stone said. “This year we’re sitting pretty good. We just have to keep fighting on. We played great tonight, but I feel like we have another level we can get to. We haven’t reached our potential yet. We’ll keep working and get all of the little things right.”
Junior D’Amonte Bell scored on the first of three happy returns for the ‘Canes on the second play from scrimmage as he stepped in front of a Jake Cortes pass and and returned it 20 yards for a touchdown. The conversion pass failed, but the hosts held a 6-0 lead.
New Castle’s offense got in on the scoring on its second offensive possession, as Minenok connected with Marcus Hooker on a 61-yard scoring strike. The conversion pass again failed, but the ‘Canes grabbed a 12-0 with 3:11 remaining in the first quarter.
The Canes again went to the air for their third touchdown, as Minenok hooked up with Cameron Stone on a 10-yard TD pass to cap a nine-play, 62-yard drive. Minenok completed 16 of 27 passes for 239 yards in the game. He was picked off once.
“I thought we took a step forward in the passing game tonight,” Cowart said. “We’ve still got a ways to go. We need to use this game as a stepping stone.”
Two plays later, Geno Stone turned another Cortes pass into a “Pick 6,” returning an interception 36 yards for the score. Stone caught the conversion pass from Minenok to give New Castle a 26-0 lead with 9:52 remaining before the half.
“I had a wrong read at first, but recovered well and just took it to the house,” said Stone, who added another interception and a fumble recovery.
Peters Township, which competes in the WPIAL Class AAAA Southeastern Conference, got on the scoreboard late in the first half. The Indians (1-3) drove 56 yards in 13 plays, with Cortes connecting with Clayton Yeates for a 10-yard touchdown with 8.9 seconds to go in the second quarter. Reagan Lawlor, who just missed a 40-yard field goal early the first quarter, added the PAT kick to make it a 26-7 game at the break.
Yeates opened the second half by picking off a Minenok pass to set up the Indians at the New Castle 24-yard line. T.J. Kpan scored from a yard out to cap the drive. The kick failed, but the Indians cut the deficit in half 26-13, with 9:01 remaining in the third quarter.
New Castle answered as Geno Stone hauled in a 40-yard TD pass from Minenok less than a minute later to hike its lead to 32-13.
“Pat threw a beautiful pass,” Stone said. “It was a perfect pass, and I just finished it off.”
Nick Treloar completed the interception hat trick for the ‘Canes with 5:50 remaining in the game, as he returned a pick 35 yards for the score to set the final.
“We talked this week about the difference between 2-2 and 1-3,” Cowart said. “The kids really believed in that and took it to heart. That’s not a bad football team over there. A Quad-A football team, some big bodies. We wanted to say ‘Ok, if we want to be a contender, we’ve got to be able to win big games at home in front of our crowd’. The kids really believed in that this week.”
(Email: ncsports@ncnewsonline.com)
BOX SCORES
PETERS TOWNSHIP
AT NEW CASTLE
PETERS TWP. NEW CASTLE
14 First downs 11
133 Yards Rushing 120
12 Yards Lost 42
121 Net Rushing 78
31 Passes Attempted 27
11 Passes Completed 16
4 Passes Intercepted 1
110 Yards Passing 239
231 Total Yards 317
2-1 Fumbles-Lost 2-2
3-32 Punts-Average 4-28.3
7-62 Penalties-Yards 8-60
PETERS TWSP 0 7 6 0 — 13
NEW CASTLE 12 14 6 6 — 38
Scoring plays
NEW CASTLE — D’Amonte Bell, 20-yard interception return (pass failed).
NEW CASTLE — Marcus Hooker, 61-yard pass from Pat Minenok (pass failed).
NEW CASTLE — Cameron Stone, 10-yard pass from Minenok (run failed).
NC — Geno Stone, 36-yard interception return (G. Stone pass from Minenok).
PT — Clayton Yeates, 14-yard pass from Jake Cortes (Reagan Lawlor kick).
PT — T.J. Kpan, 1-yard run (kick failed).
NC — G. Stone, 40-yard pass from Minenok (kick blocked).
NC — Nick Treloar, 35-yard interception return (kick blocked).
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