New Castle breezes to nonconference win
New Castle (27) vs. Belle Vernon (0)
Written: Sep 24, 2011
Special to The News
New Castle News
BELLE VERNON — Coaches will say that the game film doesn’t lie. Well, in this case it did.
New Castle High football coaches were impressed with how physical Belle Vernon appeared in film they watched this past week. But when last night’s nonconference contest rolled around the Leopards played more like house cats. They had no claws.
The Red Hurricane scored on three of their four possessions in the first half at Belle Vernon, should have scored on all four, and cruised to a 27-0 victory.
The final score could have been much worse but a New Castle drive that started on its 11 in the second quarter stalled out on the Belle Vernon 31.
“Like I told the kids, we were much more physical today than we have been in the past,” New Castle coach Frank Bongivengo Jr. said. “That was a pleasant surprise because coming into this game, watching Belle Vernon on tape we thought they were a physical team.
“We watched them against Hopewell and they did a great job. That game was nothing-nothing at the half and (Hopewell running back Rushel) Shell goes 60-some yards with 3 minutes left to beat them.”
New Castle, which evened its record at 2-2 with the win, didn’t need any late heroics against the Leopards (2-2).
The Canes drove 65 yards in nine plays the first time they had the ball with Jalen Holmes, who rushed for 103 yards on 20 carries, scoring on a 3-yard burst with 8:35 left in the first quarter.
Belle Vernon went three-and-out and New Castle took over on its 35. This time it went 65 yards in eight plays. Marcus Carter hauled in a 13-yard pass from Johnny Matarazzo for the touchdown with 2:35 left in the quarter.
Earlier in the drive, Carter had a 21-yard reception, which was the 71st catch of his high school career, giving him the school record in that department. He ended the game with seven catches for 83 yards and was glad he got the record-breaking catch out of the way early.
“There was an article in the (New Castle News) that I was tied with Mike Hines and needed one more to break the record,” Carter said. “I didn’t think about it that much. I just went out there and did what I normally do.”
Bongivengo wasn’t aware that Carter broke the record until someone told him after the game.
“In all honesty, he didn’t say anything and the kids didn’t say anything,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of guys set records the past few years, which is nice.”
New Castle made it 20-0 with 1:09 left in the half. Holmes scored on a 13-yard pass from Matarazzo, who completed 16 of 25 throws for 192 yards, but the extra-point attempt was blocked.
At the intermission it was painfully apparent to Belle Vernon fans the Leopards were being outclassed. New Castle ran 41 offensive plays to just 13 for Belle Vernon the first two quarters, had 239 yards total offense to the Leopards’ 37 and 15 first downs to just two for Belle Vernon.
The only time Belle Vernon fans got excited was on a 48-yard pass from freshman quarterback Travis Snyder to Jake Burritt for an apparent touchdown late in the first quarter. But a five-yard false start penalty nullified the effort.
After that, the closest the Leopards came to scoring was a 47-yard field-goal attempt by Zach Weight that was short with 7:35 left in the third quarter.
“We had hoped to come in and establish our running game,” Bongivengo said. “The first four drives we were like 4 yards, 5 yards, 6 yards. We kept their defense out there a long time and Johnny [Matarazzo] made some nice throws.
“And now we jump back into the (Parkway) conference next week and play Montour.”
NEW CASTLE BELLE VERNON
19 First downs 4
174 Yards Rushing 69
14 Yards Lost 18
160 Net Rushing 51
25 Passes Attempted 8
16 Passes Completed 1
0 Passes Intercepted 0
192 Yards Passing 16
352 Total Yards 67
2-0 Fumbles-Lost 5-1
3-27.3 Punts-Average 5-34.2
7-61 Penalties-Yards 1-5
NEW CASTLE 14 6 0 7 — 27
BELLE VERNON 0 0 0 0 — 0
Scoring plays
NEW CASTLE — Jalen Holmes, 3-yard run (Khalil Huddleston kick)
NEW CASTLE — Marcus Carter, 13-yard pass from John Matarazzo (Huddleston kick)
NEW CASTLE — Holmes, 13-yard pass from Matarazzo (kick failed)
NEW CASTLE — Terrell Cleckley, 10-yard run (Huddleston kick)
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