Big ending translates into victory for 'Canes
New Castle (38) vs. Moon (28)
Written: Oct 03, 2015
By John D'Abruzzo
New Castle News
MOON TOWNSHIP — It was looking a little grim during the third quarter last night for New Castle High’s football team.
Trailing Moon Area by 12 points late in the second half of the Parkway Conference contest, the Red Hurricane flipped an offensive switch and scored 22 unanswered points to pull away with its third-straight win and a 38-28 victory on the road at Tiger Stadium.
“For whatever reason, when we play Moon it’s a dogfight every year,” New Castle coach Joe Cowart said. “It is a road win in the Parkway Conference, and there’s nothing sweeter.
“Our guys are starting to figure out how to play winning football, so that’s good stuff.”
New Castle quarterback Pat Minenok orchestrated the win by completing 18 of 30 passes for 239 yards and four touchdowns. He also rushed for another score and converted four of five two-point conversion passes.
“We started out slow,” said Minenok, who had touchdowns passes for 32, 26, 5 and 67 yards, respectively. “I was in a funk during the beginning of the game, but my teammates really picked me up. They got to me and told me to just relax. They had my back and helped me get me out of that funk so I could help my team.”
After a scoreless first quarter, New Castle (2-2 conference, 3-2 overall) jumped out to a 16-7 lead midway through the second quarter. Moon (1-3, 1-4), however, bounced back with two late touchdowns to give the Tigers a 21-16 advantage at the half.
Moon’s biggest play came with 30 seconds left in the second quarter when Thomas Dean picked off Minenok and returned the interception for a 75-yard touchdown.
“No doubt about it, we shot ourselves in the foot a little bit and especially in the second quarter when we gave them momentum late in the first half,” Cowart said. “We have some question marks on this team and we talked in the locker room about what those answers are going to look like? We found a lot of positive answers to this game in the second half.”
Moon opened the third quarter with a 7-yard touchdown run by running back Matthew Dunning that gave the Tigers a 28-16 lead. Dunning finished the game with 117 yards and two scores on 27 carries.
New Castle, however, kept its next series alive with an 67-yard, 11-play drive that ended with Minenok scoring on a 1-yard run and put the ‘Canes within four points.
Soon after Moon turned the ball over on downs following a fake punt attempt, Minenok capped a 12-play, 43-yard drive when he connected with Marcus Hooker for a 5-yard touchdown pass minutes into the fourth quarter. Hooker finished the game with eight catches for 77 yards and two touchdowns. He also caught three two-point conversion passes from Minenok.
“Marcus Hooker is a phenomenal athlete,” Minenok said. “He makes plays all the time and when he makes those big plays in the game when the lights are shining, it really gets us going.”
With New Castle leading 32-28, Gino Stone came through with a 67-yard touchdown catch with 6:52 left in the final quarter to give the ‘Canes the cushion they needed. New Castle’s defense went on to stop Moon’s last two drive attempts to secure the victory.
“The defense played part pretty good football,” Cowart said. “When we had our backs against the wall a little bit, they showed some resiliency and got after the ball a little bit. We have to keep doing our job with running and hitting.
“We have to continue to take steps forward. We’re a young football team, so we have to build on the negatives from this week and take another step forward.”
New Castle outgained Moon in total yards, 397-250.
“We’re stringing wins together a little bit with three in a row, but every week there’s moments and opportunities that are going to define what the game’s going to be; is it going to be a win or a loss?” Cowart said. “We’ve shown, for the last three weeks now, that we can take advantage of those winnable moments.
“We have a tall task in front of us playing a fantastic football team in Central Valley next week.”
(Email: ncsports@newsonline.com)
NEW CASTLE MOON
17 First downs 15
173 Yards Rushing 220
19 Yards Lost 57
158 Net Rushing 163
18 Passes Attempted 19
30 Passes Completed 6
1 Passes Intercepted 0
239 Yards Passing 87
397 Total Yards 250
0-0 Fumbles-Lost 0-0
3-22.5 Punts-Average 1-31
8-70 Penalties-Yards 5-35
NEW CASTLE 0 16 8 14 — 38
MOON 0 21 7 0 — 28
Scoring plays
NEW CASTLE — Marcus Hooker, 32-yard pass from Pat Minenok (Cameron Stone pass from Minenok).
MOON — Josh Burns, 11-yard pass frmo Austin Koniezcka (Nick Morrow kick).
NEW CASTLE — C. Stone, 26-yard pass from Minenok (Hooker pass from Minenok).
MOON — Matthew Dunning, 1-yard run (Morrow kick).
MOON — Thomas Dean, 75-yard interception return (Morrow kick).
MOON — Dunning, 7-yard run (Morrow kick).
NEW CASTLE — Minenok, 1-yard run (Hooker pass from Minenok).
NEW CASTLE — Hooker, 5-yard pass from Minenok (Hooker pass from Minenok).
NEW CASTLE — Geno Stone, 67-yard pass from Minenok (pass failed).
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