New Castle rallies for win over Highlands
New Castle (29) vs. Highlands (26)
Written: Sep 10, 2016
By Ron Poniewasz Jr.
New Castle News
The New Castle High football team got some sweet revenge Friday night.
Highlands strutted into Taggart Stadium owning two straight postseason wins over the Red Hurricane. The first was in 2013 in the WPIAL Class AAA football playoffs, while the latter came in the 2016 WPIAL Class AAA basketball semifinals.
Basketball standouts Geno Stone, Marcus Hooker and Garrett Farah played integral roles in helping New Castle's football squad to a 29-26 WPIAL Class 4A Northwest Nine Conference win over the Rams.
"It's on the table," 'Canes coach Joe Cowart said of those recent playoff matchups between the schools. "We tried to not look at that because we were so focused on the now, on the present. I think the kids did a good job of that.
"We want our kids to wear a chip on their shoulder. Highlands has given us ample fodder for that. But this is in and of itself an incredibly satisfying win because of how good that football team is over there. There were some mention of that stuff throughout the course of the week. But we're worried about us and trying to get better."
Stone, the quarterback, was 9-of-18 passing for 228 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He rushed for 46 yards on 13 carries and a score as well.
Hooker rushed for 57 yards and a score, while catching two passes for 71 yards and another tally. Farah hauled in three aerials for 70 yards and a score.
The trio competed on last year's basketball squad that dropped a 79-76 decision in overtime to Highlands in the district semifinals.
"It's a bittersweet win for us," Stone said. "In the back of my mind I wanted to get back at those guys. But I'm just happy we won this game."
Things didn't start out well for New Castle (2-0 conference, 2-1 overall). The Rams received the opening kickoff and scored just 51 seconds into the game on a 68-yard touchdown pass from Brayden Thimons to Logan Crise.
New Castle's defense was forced to make a big early stand when the Rams (1-1, 1-1) successfully recovered the onside kick. Taylor Gunn missed a 33-yard field goal and the lead held at 7-0.
Gunn did respond with a 30-yard field goal one possession later and Highlands held a 10-0 lead until late in the half.
New Castle's lone highlight for much of the first half came on its opening drive when Stone hooked up on a 71-yard pass play down to the Rams' 15. Stone was scrambling around trying to buy time and eventually heaved one up that Marshane McElroy snared for a long gain.
"I didn't even see the receiver standing there. It was just a Hail Mary throw," Stone said of the play.
But the 'Canes were turned away and didn't threaten again until the waning moments of the first 24 minutes.
Stone hooked up with Farah on two big pass plays after a change of possession. The first went for 30 yards and the next for 20, reaching the end zone and Brayden Cartwright collected the extra point to send the hosts into the locker room down just 10-7.
"We came out real slow in the first half," Stone said. "We had a good drive at the end of the first half that got us going."
New Castle had just 141 yards in the first half, 71 on the long pass to McElroy and 50 over the course of two plays to Farah right before intermission.
"I thought at the end of the first half we just kept scratching and clawing," Cowart said. "We didn't have them figured out quite the way we thought we would, at least offensively.
"It was just a matter of can we be productive, and then we hit a couple of plays there at the end of the half where we can get into the half with a little bit of momentum. Our kids really piggybacked off of that in the second half."
New Castle's offense put up 240 more yards along with 13 first downs in the second half and was in rhythm throughout.
Stone connected with Hooker on a 64-yard touchdown pass on the opening drive of the second half to give New Castle the lead for good at 13-10. Hooker and Farah ran similar routes and were in the same area when Stone's pass arrived. Hooker snared the aerial and raced the remainder of the 40 yards to the end zone.
"It wasn't supposed to go to Marcus," Stone said. "He ran the wrong route, but I'm happy Marcus caught the ball."
Said Cowart of his quarterback, "I thought Geno was great tonight. He has to continue to be a leader for us. He's got more than what he's showing, which is scary because he's been so productive on both sides of the football. But he can get better, which is the exciting part about it for us as a coaching staff and for him as a player; he's certainly our leader."
Cartwright converted a huge 29-yard field goal with 5:24 left and a 29-18 advtange. But Dominic Martinka returned the kickoff back 94 yards for a score to close to within 29-26 with 5:07 remaining.
"It's fantastic to have a weapon like Brayden," Cowart said. "I kept telling our guys this is why you have a kicker.
"Then we give up a big special-teams play and all of a sudden when you think it's over, that's how good that football team is."
New Castle's defense delivered in the second half. The 'Canes allowed just 79 yards of total offense in the second half.
The 'Canes return to action at 7 p.m. Friday when they host conference foe Ambridge (0-2, 0-2).
(Email: rponiewasz@ncnewsonline.com)
HIGHLANDS NEW CASTLE
10 First downs 18
240 Yards Rushing 184
12 Yards Lost 31
228 Net Rushing 153
9 Passes Attempted 18
4 Passes Completed 9
0 Passes Intercepted 0
68 Yards Passing 228
308 Total Yards 381
3-0 Fumbles-Lost 3-1
1-32 Punts-Average 1-28
9-95 Penalties-Yards 4-35
HIGHLANDS 10 0 0 16 — 26
NEW CASTLE 0 7 19 3 — 29
Scoring plays
HIGHLANDS — Logan Crise, 68-yard pass from Brayden Thimons (Taylor Gunn kick).
HIGHLANDS — Gunn, 30-yard field goal.
NEW CASTLE — Garrett Farah, 20-yard pass from Geno Stone (Brayden Cartwright kick).
NEW CASTLE — Marcus Hooker, 64-yard pass from Stone (kick failed).
NEW CASTLE — Hooker, 3-yard run (Cartwright kick).
NEW CASTLE — Stone, 8-yard run (kick blocked).
HIGHLANDS — Jermaine Jett, 4-yard run (Thimons run).
NEW CASTLE — Cartwright, 29-yard field goal.
HIGHLANDS — Dominic Martinka, 94-yard kickoff return (Thimons run).
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