South Fayette shows New Castle some tough Love
New Castle (13) vs. South Fayette (37)
Written: Oct 08, 2016
 By Shawn Fox
New Castle News
McDONALD — Love definitely hurt Friday night for the New Castle High football team against South Fayette.
Geavonie Love was a one-man wrecking crew for the host Lions, rushing for 309 yards and four touchdowns as South Fayette topped the Red Hurricane, 37-13, in a WPIAL Class 4A Northwestern Nine Conference clash at a soggy South Fayette Stadium.
“Going into the game, as dynamic as South Fayette is through the air, our mentally was we wanted to take that away,” New Castle coach Joe Cowart said. “I thought we did a decent job of that for most of the game. But, they’re a good football team where they have the capability of when one thing is taken away, they can do something else. We knew the quality of that back and how good he was.”
Love, a 5-10, 180-pound senior, carried the football 39 times and accounted for 86 percent of the Lions’ total offense in the game.
“He just works hard,” said South Fayette coach Joe Rossi of Love. “He’s not a big kid, he’s not an overly fast kid, he just finds ways to gain yards. He’s got great vision. That’s a lot of carries. He’ll be sore this weekend.”
South Fayette, which has won 44 straight regular-season games since a 33-10 home setback October 21, 2011 against Seton LaSalle, struck quickly last night.
After forcing the ‘Canes to punt on their first possession, Love broke free on a 33-yard touchdown run on the Lions’ second play from scrimmage. Dan Trimbur’s kick made it 7-0 less than a minute into the contest.
New Castle (4-2 conference, 4-3 overall) answered on the ensuing possession, engineering a six-play, 64-yard drive that was capped when quarterback Geno Stone connected with Marcus Hooker on a 50-yard TD pass. Brayden Cartwright’s kick knotted the game at 7-7 with 7:51 remaining in the first quarter.
“We tell the kids all of the time that good teams will answer,” Cowart said. “You saw that from South Fayette over and over again when their backs were up against the wall. That’s what championship-caliber teams do. We just didn’t have enough answers for them tonight.”
South Fayette, which improved to 5-0 and 7-0, took a 10-7 lead after one when Trimbur booted a 33-yard field goal.
The ‘Canes again answered, driving 80 yards in seven plays. Hooker again found the end zone, scoring on a 2-yard run. The point-after kick failed, but New Castle had a 13-10 lead with 8:45 remaining before the half.
South Fayette, which is ranked fourth in the state in Class 4A by the Pennsylvania Football News, took advantage of a New Castle miscue midway through the second quarter to take the lead for good as Love recovered a fumbled punt by Stone at the ‘Canes 28-yard line.
Five plays later, Love bulled his way into the end zone from a yard out. Trimbur’s kick gave the Lions a 17-13 lead.
New Castle drove to the South Fayette 36-yard line as the second quarter wound down, but the drive stalled there following four straight incompletions.
Despite trailing at the break, the ‘Canes held a 220-167 edge in total offense.
The second half, however, was a different story: It featured a whole lotta Love from the Lions.
The senior running back carried the ball 24 times in the second half, gaining 188 yards and scoring on runs of 3 and 10 yards.
“We were able to keep him hemmed in a bit in the first half,” Cowart said. “But he just kept grinding us as the game wore on.”
New Castle managed just 10 yards of offense on 15 plays in the final 24 minutes.
“The energy level was better in the first half,” Cowart said. “But, that energy isn’t maintained over the course of a four-quarter football game. That’s something as coaches we have to correct and something as players we have to have the resolve to fix moving forward.”
Joe Mowod’s 1-yard TD run with 1:40 remaining set the final.
(Email: ncsports@ncnewsonline.com)
NEW CASTLE SOUTH FAYETTE
9 First downs 20
143 Yards Rushing 329
16 Yards Lost 20
127 Net Rushing 309
16 Passes Attempted 10
5 Passes Completed 5
0 Passes Intercepted 2
103 Yards Passing 49
230 Total Yards 358
3-1 Fumbles-Lost 4-1
5-21.4 Punts-Average 1-24
4-30 Penalties-Yards 4-30
NEW CASTLE 7 6 0 0 — 13
SOUTH FAYETTE 10 7 7 13 — 37
Scoring plays
SOUTH FAYETTE – Geavonie Love, 33-yard run (Dan Trimbur kick).
NEW CASTLE – Marcus Hooker, 50-yard pass from Geno Stone (Brayden Cartwright kick).
SOUTH FAYETTE – Trimbur, 33-yard field goal.
NEW CASTLE – Hooker, 2-yard run (kick failed).
SOUTH FAYETTE – Love, 1-yard run (Trimbur kick).
SOUTH FAYETTE – Love, 3-yard run (Trimbur kick).
SOUTH FAYETTE – Love, 10-yard run (kick failed).
SOUTH FAYETTE – Joe Mowod, 1-yard run (Helina VanBibber kick).
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