Gardner's scoop-and-score ignites 'Canes to win
New Castle (52) vs. Blackhawk (33)
Written: Sep 19, 2015
By Andrew Koob
New Castle News
DARLINGTON — The New Castle High football team needed some help.
Holding a nine-point lead with host Blackhawk driving deep into its territory in the third quarter, New Castle was looking for anything to stop a Cougars offense that had almost exclusively kept the ball on the ground.
The ‘Canes got that, and so much more, thanks to Cameron Stone and Lorenzo Gardner.
Stone jarred the ball loose from Blackhawk running back Austin Javens and, after it bounced around for a few moments, Gardner scooped it off the turf and took it the other way for 79 yards and a New Castle score.
It was the momentum swing the ‘Canes needed as they stormed the Cougars in a 52-33 Parkway Conference victory Friday night.
“That was the play of the game. No doubt about it,” New Castle coach Joe Cowart said. “We haven’t shown the ability to play 48 minutes yet. That was a critical moment early in the third quarter where, if they drive in and get a score, then we know we’re in a dog fight.
“Cameron Stone came up and made a nice hit, the ball came list and ‘Zo Gardner made a phenomenal scoop-and-score play. It was a big play for us, it was certainly the play of the game.”
Added Gardner, “It was unbelievable. I didn’t think I was going to pull it off. I just had to hit the after-burners to finish the play. I knew I had to finish it.”
It was the defensive play that both sides needed, but couldn’t make in the first half.
All five possessions in the first quarter (three for New Castle, two for Blackhawk) resulted in touchdowns. ‘Canes quarterback Pat Minenok scored on runs of one and three yards, while running back Nick Treloar added to the offensive output with a one-yard score of his own.
Minenok, who was held out from his linebacker position due to a lingering shoulder injury, finished the night connecting on 12 of his 19 pass attempts for 169 yards and two touchdowns, while adding 50 rushing yards and two more scores with his feet for the ‘Canes (1-2 Parkway, 1-2 overall).
“He’s been a little banged up so he wasn’t on defense,” Cowart said. “It wasn’t a conscious effort to keep him off, he’s just been banged up. So we just let him run offensively and he looked great tonight.”
Then, with the offenses slowing down its scoring pace in the second half and the Cougars (0-3, 0-3) moving the ball, Gardner struck.
“It was really hype after that,” Gardner said. “The fans got into it, we just got up and it changed the game.”
Gardner also added a three-yard touchdown reception four minutes after his defensive touchdown to push the New Castle lead to 25.
Geno Stone, who missed the second half of last week’s game with an injury, came back with a vengeance on both sides of the ball.
The junior caught a 10-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter and intercepted a pass in the second quarter that led to another scoring drive.
“I wanted to make some big plays,” Stone said. “If you’re a leader, you have to pick your team up. So I wanted to make some big plays, get the team rallying and we picked it up from there. Our coaches didn’t think I was completely healthy yet, but I wanted to show them I was. I feel 100 percent right now.”
Added Cowart, “He needs to be a presence for us defensively. He was that tonight so, if we can rely on him being a guy on defense, then we know we can make some stops in big moments. We had the ability to do that tonight because he played so well.”
Neither side could keep the flags from flying throughout the game. New Castle and Blackhawk combined to draw 25 fouls for 227 yards.
The ‘Canes were responsible for 16 penalties and 135 yards, three of them of the personal foul and unsportsmanlike variety in the fourth quarter.
“I need to look at the tape, but we looked like an undisciplined football team at times,” Cowart said. “You can’t progress to a championship level if you’re not disciplined or not doing your job and getting penalized to the point of where we did tonight. We made this thing interesting by being penalized the amount we were.
“Some of those we don’t agree with, but it is what it is. We have to get better and be a more disciplined team. It’s not a good look.”
New Castle avoided a similar start from last year when the ‘Canes started off the season 0-4. They still made the playoffs after a late-season push, but the victory against Blackhawk puts them in a more favorable position.
“We’re just trying to do a better job of getting better,” Cowart said. “We took a step forward this week and we’ll have to take two steps forward next week.”
(Email: AKoob@ncnewsonline.com)
NEW CASTLE BLACKHAWK
20 First downs 21
195 Yards Rushing 339
8 Yards Lost 16
187 Net Rushing 323
19 Passes Attempted 14
12 Passes Completed 7
2 Passes Intercepted 1
169 Yards Passing 50
356 Total Yards 373
2-2 Fumbles-Lost 2-2
1-39 Punts-Average 3-24.7
16-135 Penalties-Yards 11-92
NEW CASTLE 22 8 16 6 — 52
BLACKHAWK 14 7 0 12 — 33
Scoring plays
NEW CASTLE — Pat Minenok, 1-yard run (kick failed).
BLACKHAWK — Dan Shroads, 7-yard run (Joey Coveny kick).
NEW CASTLE — Minenok, 3-yard run (Giovanni Eggleston pass from Minenok).
BLACKHAWK — Mike Savilisky, 60-yard run (Coveny kick).
NEW CASTLE — Nick Treloar, 1-yard run (Treloar run).
NEW CASTLE — Geno Stone, 10-yard pass from Minenok (Minenok run).
BLACKHAWK — Savilisky, 22-yard run (Coveny kick).
NEW CASTLE — Lorenzo Gardner, 79-yard fumble recovery (Marcus Hooker pass from Minenok).
NEW CASTLE — Gardner, 3-yard pass from Minenok (Treloar run).
BLACKHAWK — Cole Calior, 8-yard pass from Savilisky (pass failed).
NEW CASTLE — Freddy Soto, 11-yard run (kick failed).
BLACKHAWK — William Gardner, 5-yard run (run failed).
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