New Castle routs Indiana for fourth victory
New Castle (54) vs. Indiana (16)
Written: Sep 24, 2016
By Clayton Sauertieg
New Castle News
INDIANA, Pa. — Geno Stone and Lorenzo Gardner were on fire for the New Castle High football team on Friday night.
Stone, a senior quarterback, and Gardner, a junior running back, powered a balanced rushing attack that saw the Red Hurricane roll past host Indiana, 54-16 in WPIAL Class 4A Northwest Nine Conference action Friday night.
Stone led the way for the 'Canes (4-0 conference, 4-1 overall), racking up 89 yards on the ground and two touchdowns to go with 66 yards through the air and an interception on the defensive side of the ball.
His backfield partner was equally involved, with eight carries for 99 yards and two touchdowns of his own before leaving game early in the third quarter with an injury that coach Joe Cowart says will be assessed in upcoming days. The two were part of a rushing attack that tallied 246 yards.
"Our guys really enjoy other people's success," Cowart said of his team. "Without the threat of other guys touching it, like 'Zo, like Geno, like Marcus (Hooker) and like Marshane (McElroy) it makes it harder on them. So we like the weapons we have and it's just a process of, 'when your number's called, make it work.' "
New Castle raced out to a 35-7 lead midway through the second quarter, but costly penalties and a pair of turnovers allowed the Indians to get on the board. After the game, Cowart was adamant about his team's need to cut back on mistakes heading into next week's conference matchup with Mars.
"We won't win with penalties and turnovers. We can't beat ourselves. If we're going to fight ourselves during the course of a football game, we've got bigger fish to fry than that," he said. "We've got a great opponent next week in Mars, we have to play a cleaner football game."
New Castle received the ball out of the halftime break and a 23-yard touchdown scamper from Stone with 6:31 remaining in the third quarter put the game out of reach for the 'Canes.
The win didn't quite go without a hitch for Cowart's squad, however, as Gardner and Hooker both left the contest in the second half nursing injuries.
"It's just an ankle for him (Gardner) and an ankle for Marcus, so we'll see what those two guys look like tomorrow, get them treated, and we'll go from there," Cowart said.
The loss is the third consecutive for Indiana (0-3, 1-3) after an opening-week victory, but coach John Allen Snyder said he was impressed with the fight his team showed.
"We came out and said 'I don't care what that scoreboard says at the end of the night, I want to know that our kids fought for themselves, for the guy beside them, for their program, for their school and for their town' and I think our kids did that," he said. "It's just something we're going to keep working on, and we're trying to change the Indiana brand a little bit and improve on it and make it better. I think we took a step tonight. I'm really proud of my guys."
New Castle will welcome Mars in a rematch of last year's WPIAL AAA first-round playoff matchup that saw the 'Canes ousted from the playoffs 17-14.
(Email: csauertieg@ncnewsonline.com).
NEW CASTLE INDIANA
6 First downs 7
257 Yards Rushing 101
11 Yards Lost 18
246 Net Rushing 83
8 Passes Attempted 20
5 Passes Completed 7
0 Passes Intercepted 2
66 Yards Passing 147
312 Total Yards 230
4-2 Fumbles-Lost 2-2
3-20.7 Punts-Average 6-25.5
14-112 Penalties-Yards 9-95
NEW CASTLE 21 14 19 0 — 54
INDIANA 0 16 0 0 — 16
Scoring plays
NEW CASTLE – Lorenzo Gardner, 36-yard run (Brayden Cartwright kick).
NEW CASTLE – Marcus Hooker, 3-yard run (Cartwright kick).
NEW CASTLE – Geno Stone, 43-yard run (Cartwright kick).
INDIANA – Noah Sleasman, 2-yard run (Tyler Mulac kick).
NEW CASTLE – Matt Senchak, 53-yard kick return (Cartwright kick).
NEW CASTLE – Gardner, 31-yard run (Cartwright kick).
INDIANA – Ryan Hoff, 56-yard pass from Luke Thomas (XP Blocked).
INDIANA – Mulac 29-yard field goal.
NEW CASTLE – Stone, 23-yard run (XP failed).
NEW CASTLE – Marshane McElroy, 33-yard run (XP blocked).
NEW CASTLE – Garrett Farah, 29-yard run (Cartwright kick).
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