New Castle suffers disappointing loss in opener
New Castle (14) vs. Butler (24)
Written: Sep 03, 2011
By JOE SIMON
j_simon@ncnewsonline.com
BUTLER — This wasn’t the start a team with WPIAL championship aspirations expected.
Not against a team that hadn’t won a game in more than two years, was on a 23-game losing streak and was going through its third coaching change in three years.
Yet, Butler High wasn’t fazed by an early deficit and continued to battle back with a strong running game and a stout defense. The Golden Tornado eventually knocked off New Castle, 24-14, in the nonconference opener at Art Bernard Stadium last night.
“I’m just trying to let what happened here sink in,” said an emotional Butler coach Clyde Conti as his team celebrated a win for the first time in 2 1/2 years. “You just have to believe in people and trust. I feel pretty good. I like the kids we have, and we’ll just keep plugging away.”
Class AAA New Castle entered the game as the favorite in the eyes of most. The Red Hurricane had numerous starters returning on both sides of the ball and shut out Quad-A Butler, 25-0, last year. But they were unable to slow the power running game of the Tornado, who churned out 153 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
Butler’s defense persevered through a tough start and made the ’Canes’ offense one-dimensional. After giving up 76 yards rushing on the first two drives, the Tornado allowed just 54 the rest of the game.
The loss was tough to endure for New Castle coach Frank Bongivengo Jr., who blamed the defeat on himself.
“It’s on me to get them ready to make the plays, and obviously I didn’t do a good job,” he said. “It’s a real difficult loss. You never want to open up the season with a loss, and you never want to open up the season with an opponent that hasn’t won in awhile beating you. It gives them momentum, and it takes it away from us. But like I said, this is on me.”
The Tornado was in an early hole as New Castle drove straight down the field to start the game. Wide receiver Marcus Carter capped a 77-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Johnny Matarazzo. The ’Canes, who were without injured starting running back Jalen Holmes (ankle), then forced a three and out and again drove down the field. This time it was Darrian Rice snagging one of Matarazzo’s passes, an 8-yard strike in the left corner of the end zone.
Butler calmed the storm on its next drive. The Tornado’s Zach Rader capped a 75-yard drive with a 10-yard TD run. The drive was kept alive when New Castle went offsides on fourth and 3. Butler scored on the next play to cut the lead to 14-7.
“They hurt us with a couple of plays,” Bongivengo said. “They got a little momentum, they scored and we got the ball back and put it on the ground. Then boom, we’re back on defense.”
The turnover occurred when sophomore tight end Stew Allen fumbled after a 12-yard pass from Matarazzo. Butler’s Ben McKnight recovered the loose ball, and Trevor Wideman scampered in from six yards out eight plays later to tie the game at 14.
The ’Canes drove to the 29-yard line and nearly scored at the end of the first half when Carter hauled in a pass in the corner of the end zone, but an official ruled him out of bounds. That was the closest New Castle would come to scoring the rest of the night.
“We changed our alignment defensively,” said Conti of an adjustment he made to slow New Castle’s running game. “We got some major breaks in the game, I know that. We could play this team and get blasted. I told my friends we’re going to win close or we’re going to lose by 50.”
The Tornado held New Castle to 76 total yards in the second half. They took the lead on a 37-yard field goal by Colin Williamson, and used long, time-consuming drives to keep the ’Canes off the field.
New Castle showed some life midway through the fourth quarter a 15-play drive, but it stalled at the Butler 42 after a penalty and three straight incompletions, including one on fourth and 9. Butler put the game out of reach two plays later when full back Bob Vernick rumbled in from 43 yards out, putting the Tornado up, 24-14.
“They just kept coming after us, and they came after us hard, and eventually they got the better of us,” Bongivengo said.
NEW CASTLE BUTLER
16 First downs 12
129 Yards Rushing 159
9 Yards Lost 6
120 Net Rushing 153
29 Passes Attempted 10
18 Passes Completed 4
0 Passes Intercepted 0
162 Yards Passing 45
282 Total Yards 198
1-1 Fumbles-Lost 1-0
3-20.7 Punts-Average 2-30.5
5-30 Penalties-Yards 5-45
NEW CASTLE 14 0 0 0 — 14
BUTLER 0 14 3 7 — 24
Scoring plays
NEW CASTLE — Marcus Carter, 3-yard pass from Johnny Matarazzo (Khalil Huddleston kick).
NEW CASTLE — Darrian Rice, 9-yard pass from Matarazzo (Huddleston kick).
BUTLER — Zach Rader, 10-yard run (Colin Williamson kick).
BUTLER — Trevor Wideman, 6-yard run (Marcus Cleckley run).
BUTLER — Williamson, 37-yard field goal.
BUTLER — Bob Vernick, 43-yard run (Williamson kick).
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