New Castle seniors go out on top
New Castle (46) vs. Moon (6)
Written: Oct 23, 2010
  By JOE SIMON
j_simon@ncnewsonline.com
The game was over. Fans were filing out. The teams had left the field. Yet, Jesse Ambuster remained.
The New Castle senior stood alone in the middle of the field, looking around at the bleachers, the scoreboard and all the surroundings at Taggart Stadium. He just wanted to take it all in one last time.
“I’m going to miss it,” he said before taking a deep breath. “I love this game.”
He and the rest of the senior class left their home field as winners, cruising past Moon, 46-6, in a Parkway Conference matchup last night.
Ambuster and the rest of the men in the trenches were a key part to the Red Hurricane’s power running game. New Castle (2-4 conference, 4-4 overall) ran for 325 yards, led by Jalen Holmes’ 219 yards and three touchdowns. The sophomore received the credit for the yards, but the senior-laden offensive line paved the way.
“Half of our line is seniors,” Ambuster said. “This is our last game (at home); we wanted to leave on a good note. We worked our rears off. Tonight, I feel like we brought everything together —our offense, our defense and our special teams. It feels good.”
Aside from a first-quarter fumble, the ’Canes didn’t do much wrong against Moon (1-5, 3-5). They scored 28 points in the first half and were dominant on defense, allowing 106 total yards. New Castle coach Frank Bongivengo Jr. said the win went a lot like he thought several others should have gone this year, with the ’Canes stopping the run, forcing the pass and playing smart and efficiently on offense.
“That’s what we talked about before we went out, ‘Let’s just go out there and put a game together on both sides of the ball and special teams,’ ” Bongivengo said. “And they did it. I’m really proud of what they did tonight because they could have just shut it down and said, ‘The heck with it.’ ”
The determined attitude was evident from the start.
New Castle fumbled on its first drive but forced a three-and-out by Moon. Holmes busted loose for a 77-yard run after the Tigers punted, and Justin Fleo raced around the right end for an 11-yard touchdown run on the next play. The ’Canes then caused another three-and-out, and, after a 28-yard pass from Johnny Matarazzo to Fleo and a 9-yard run by Darrian Rice, Holmes ran straight up the gut, made a few defenders miss and walked into the end zone.
Holmes said he had plenty of reasons to run hard.
“We had to do it for them,” Holmes said of the 14 seniors. “We worked hard as a team, and we put it all together.”
New Castle added some balance to the offense midway through the first half as Matarazzo started to pick apart Moon’s secondary. He finished 9 of 14 for 132 yards and two touchdowns. His first TD strike was a short dump-off that Fleo turned into a 31-yard score. Matarazzo then hit his tight end, Ambuster, for a 10-yard TD that put New Castle up, 36-0, in the second quarter. Matarazzo deceived the Tigers’ defense with a great play-action fake, and the men up front gave him plenty of time to find Ambuster.
The strong offensive showing — 457 total yards — was one Bongivengo felt was long overdue.
“The line was making some excellent blocks and creating some big holes, and our guys were doing what they’re supposed to do and hitting the holes hard,” Bongivengo said. “It was good to see, finally, that the offense was really clicking.”
Holmes ended the scoring with a 14-yard TD run in the third quarter, as the mercy rule was then in effect for the rest of the game. The lopsided victory was a nice way for the ’Canes to end the home portion of their season. Ambuster, and a few other seniors who later joined him, couldn’t help but hang around for a few extra minutes to absorb the atmosphere — and the win.
“It feels great,” he said. “We had a lot of trouble with some things this year, but this game, all the seniors played their hearts out. I loved it. I had a blast. You can’t explain it. There’s just nothing like Friday nights. You can’t beat it.”
Bongivengo has seen seniors come and go through the years, and he knows how much the final home game means to them.
“When the realization sets in that this is the last game they’ll play at Taggart Stadium, it helps motivate you a little bit,” he said. “It means a lot to those guys. I told them, ‘When you get together when you’re 40 years old with your buddies, you tell these stories, and they get bigger and better. These are memories you’re going to carry with you wherever you are for the rest of your life.’ ”
Last night’s game will be one story they tell with a smile.
MOON NEW CASTLE
8 First downs 10
45 Yards Rushing 327
4 Yards Lost 2
41 Net Rushing 325
16 Passes Attempted 15
7 Passes Completed 9
3 Passes Intercepted 0
61 Yards Passing 132
106 Total Yards 457
2-2 Fumbles-Lost 1-1
2-44 Punts-Average 0-0
6-50 Penalties-Yards 7-65
MOON 0 6 0 0 — 6
NEW CASTLE 28 11 7 0 — 46
Scoring plays
NEW CASTLE — Justin Fleo, 11-yard run (Brandon Beck kick).
NEW CASTLE — Jalen Holmes, 21-yard run (Beck kick).
NEW CASTLE — Holmes, 10-yard run (Beck kick).
NEW CASTLE — Fleo, 21-yard pass from Johnny Matarazzo (Beck kick).
NEW CASTLE — Jesse Ambuster, 10-yard pass from Matarazzo (Marcus Carter run).
MOON — Cameron Grady, 2-yard run (Kick failed).
NEW CASTLE — Beck, 28-yard field goal.
NEW CASTLE — Holmes, 14-yard run (Beck kick).
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