New Castle holds off South Fayette
New Castle (51) vs. South Fayette (43)
Written: Nov 05, 2016
By Shawn Fox
New Castle News
McDONALD — The sequel was better than the original for the New Castle High football team.
Much better.
The Red Hurricane avenged a regular-season loss and snapped a seven-year playoff victory drought Friday night with a wild 51-43 victory over second-seeded South Fayette in the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs at South Fayette Stadium.
“We’re so excited to make it to the second round of the playoffs,” New Castle senior Marshane McElroy said. “It feels great.”
New Castle, the seventh seed in the eight-team tournament, dropped a 37-13 verdict to the Lions on Oct. 7. The ‘Canes’ revenge tour will continue in the semifinals next Friday night against sixth-seeded Ringgold, which posted a 42-31 victory over Mars last night. The Rams defeated New Castle, 41-27, on Oct. 21.
“We walked off this field a couple of weeks ago knowing the battle in the trenches was won by them,” New Castle coach Joe Cowart said. “We challenged our guys, they bought in, they believed and I think we set the tone early that we were going to make this a fight for four quarters.”
A game that featured a combined 94 points, 1,058 yards of offense and 45 first downs came down to a defensive play.
South Fayette, ranked fourth in the state in Class 4A in the latest Pennsylvania Football News rankings, scored to cut the deficit to 51-43 with 1:35 remaining in the contest, then recovered the ensuing onside kick.
The Lions (10-1) drove to the New Castle 16-yard line in the waning seconds and appeared to be going in for the potential tying score. But, on fourth-and-eight, McElroy wrestled the ball away from South Fayette’s Dan Trimbur in the front corner of the end zone for his second interception of the contest.
“I just saw the ball in the air, and my coach told me to go get it,” McElroy said. “I caught it at its highest point and pulled it out of his hands. It was a hard fight for the ball.”
New Castle (7-4) then took a knee to seal the victory, which was the first for an opponent at South Fayette since October 21, 2011 against Seton-LaSalle. The playoff win was the 'Canes’ first since November 6, 2009 in a 45-38 triumph at Greensburg Salem.
“It feels great coming out here and winning our first playoff game,” New Castle senior Garrett Farah said. “We just have to stay motivated and come back ready to work.”
While defense ended the game, offense ruled the evening.
The ‘Canes opened up a 24-0 lead midway through the second quarter thanks to a 23-yard Brayden Cartwright field goal, touchdown passes from Geno Stone to Giovanni Eggleston (6 yards) and Marcus Hooker (33 yards) and a 9-yard run by Stone before South Fayette got on the scoreboard with 1:16 remaining before the half on a 6-yard TD run by Johnny Beck.
The Northwestern Nine Conference foes traded scores throughout the second half, combining for nine touchdowns. The Lions cut the deficit to 10 points on four occasions, but each time the ‘Canes had an answer.
“There have been moments in our season where we’ve run hot and we’ve run cold,” Cowart said. “We told them we couldn’t have any cold moments tonight. South Fayette is a great team because in the toughest moments of the game, they play their best football. We gave a challenge to our guys to play their best football, and they did that tonight.”
South Fayette opened the second half with a Drew Saxton to Dan Trimbur 26-yard TD pass before Stone scored from a yard out.
The Lions got a pair of touchdown runs by Beck (6 yards, 3 yards) sandwiched around a 79-yard Stone to Farah TD strike to cut the deficit to 38-28 after three.
Farah and Stone hooked up again to open the fourth quarter, this time on a 25-yard pass to hike the ‘Canes’ lead back to 17 points. Farah was on the receiving end of five Stone passes for 219 yards and the two scores.
“All season we’ve had a connection,” Farah said. “He has faith in me, and I always believe he’s going to get it to me.”
Saxton hit Noah Plack with a 35-yard touchdown pass less than a minute later to cut the deficit to 45-35 with 7:48 remaining in the game.
McElroy snuffed out a South Fayette drive with 2:23 remaining as stepped in front of a Saxton pass and returned the interception 33 yards for the score. The extra-point kick was no good, leaving New Castle with a 51-35 lead.
The Lions quickly drew to within eight points, as Saxton found Plack for a 6-yard touchdown. Saxton then hit Mikey Speca on the conversion pass to make it a one-score game before New Castle’s late-game defensive stand sealed the victory.
“It feels great,” Cowart said. “We’re fully focused on the 2016 Red Hurricane. We know the history of what’s happened the past few years in the first round. That was a fantastic football team we were playing tonight. There weren’t a whole lot of people who believed we would come out of here with a win, but our guys wearing white jerseys had a belief and a resolve about them that showed up for 48 minutes. The guys really stuck with it and played good football.”
(Email: ncsports@ncnewsonline.com)
NEW CASTLE SOUTH FAYETTE
24 First downs 21
369 Yards Rushing 170
16 Yards Lost 7
353 Net Rushing 163
10 Passes Attempted 31
9 Passes Completed 15
0 Passes Intercepted 3
266 Yards Passing 276
619 Total Yards 439
4-0 Fumbles-Lost 2-1
1-31 Punts-Average 1-38
6-55 Penalties-Yards 5-75
NEW CASTLE 10 14 14 13 — 51
SOUTH FAYETTE 0 7 21 15 — 43
Scoring plays
NEW CASTLE – Brayden Cartwright, 23-yard field goal.
NEW CASTLE – Giovanni Eggleston, 6-yard pass from Geno Stone (Cartwright kick).
NEW CASTLE – Marcus Hooker, 33-yard pass from Stone (Cartwright kick).
NEW CASTLE – Stone, 9-yard run (Cartwright kick).
SOUTH FAYETTE – Johnny Beck, 6-yard run (Dan Trimbur kick).
SOUTH FAYETTE – Trimbur, 26-yard pass from Drew Saxton (Trimbur kick).
NEW CASTLE – Stone, 1-yard run (Cartwright kick).
SOUTH FAYETTE – Beck, 6-yard run (Trimbur kick).
NEW CASTLE – Garrett Farah, 79-yard pass from Stone (Cartwright kick).
SOUTH FAYETTE – Beck, 3-yard run (Trumbur kick).
NEW CASTLE – Farah, 25-yard pass from Stone (Cartwright kick).
SOUTH FAYETTE – Noah Plack, 35-yard pass from Saxton (Trimbur kick).
NEW CASTLE – Marshane McElroy, 33-yard interception return (kick blocked).
SOUTH FAYETTE – Plack, 6-yard pass from Saxton (Mikey Speca pass from Saxton).
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