New Castle defense stymies Montour
New Castle (7) vs. Montour (0)
Written: Oct 10, 2009
 By JOE SAGER
ncsports@ncnewsonline.com
McKEES ROCKS — The New Castle High football team’s defense resembled a sieve the past two weeks.
Last night, it looked like a brick wall.
The Red Hurricane came through with three big defensive stands in the fourth quarter to preserve a rain-soaked 7-0 win over Montour in a crucial Parkway Conference showdown at Birko Stadium.
New Castle’s defense was gouged for 728 total yards (590 on the ground) in consecutive losses to Hopewell and West Allegheny. However, the ’Canes came up big against the Spartans with an aggressive approach. They allowed 211 yards, but only 45 on the ground.
“It was a big game. We’ve been struggling the past two weeks. So, we had a hard week of practice and just cut it loose,” New Castle senior linebacker John Fields said. “Coach Bongivengo kept telling us to cut it loose, and that’s what we did. We just went out, played football and didn’t think about anything else.”
For sure, defense was on New Castle’s mind.
The ’Canes seemed determined not to yield another big game to an opposing rusher. Rushel Shell had 144 yards for Hopewell in a 35-27 loss two weeks ago. West Allegheny’s Mike Caputo scampered for 294 yards last Friday.
Last night, New Castle faced another top-tier WPIAL running back in Montour’s Phil Pekich, who was limited to 35 yards on 19 carries.
“We struggled all night on offense. Montour did a great job holding us down, but our defense stepped up to the plate for us,” New Castle coach Frank Bongivengo Jr. said. “In order for us to be successful, that’s what they are going to have to do. They struggled the last two weeks, but this week they stepped up and played a real good game.”
The ’Canes (2-2 conference, 4-2 overall) certainly didn’t light up the scoreboard offensively. They had a chance to reach the end zone on the first drive of the game, but Keith Keene was denied on fourth-and-short.
New Castle broke the scoreless drought early in the second quarter. Following a Terrence McCaster fumble recovery, the ’Canes marched 55 yards to paydirt. Johnny Matarazzo fired an 18-yard bullet to Jordan Izzo for the first points of the game. Spenser Rapone added the PAT kick for a 7-0 lead with 10:03 left in the half.
That’s all the support New Castle’s defense needed. Good thing, because the ’Canes’ offense struggled mightily in the second half and Montour (2-1, 4-2) dominated possession.
“We struggled, but in the first half, we had penalty after penalty after penalty and it killed us. That allowed them to pin their ears back and come after us and we couldn’t get in a rhythm,” Bongivengo said. “We did just enough on offense to win, but we need to get better.”
New Castle’s defense produced three big stops in the fourth quarter. McCaster deflected a fourth-down pass. Fields ended Montour’s second threat when he raced through the line and tackled Pekich for no gain on fourth down. The third huge play came on Justin Fleo’s solid tackle of receiver Darren Massey two yards short of the sticks on fourth down with 1:26 left on the scoreboard.
“Those stops were real big. We couldn’t have done it without our defensive line; our defensive line played great,” Fields said. “They kept the linemen off us so we could run around and make plays and have fun. We haven’t had fun the past two weeks. That’s a big win. We should gain some momentum.”
Bongivengo was impressed with his defense’s effort, especially in the second half.
“Montour played most of the second half on our side of the field, and we were able to hold them,” he said. “That’s a great, great job by our defense.”
New Castle returns home to battle Moon (0-3, 0-6) on Friday in another Parkway Conference clash.
NEW CASTLE MONTOUR
10 First downs 11
136 Yards Rushing 69
35 Yards Lost 24
101 Net Rushing 45
13 Passes Attempted 21
10 Passes Completed 11
0 Passes Intercepted 1
94 Yards Passing 166
195 Total Yards 211
3-1 Fumbles-Lost 4-1
5-26.8 Punts-Average 4-23.5
8-70 Penalties-Yards 9-57
NEW CASTLE 0 7 0 0 — 7
MONTOUR 0 0 0 0 — 0
Scoring plays
NEW CASTLE – Jordan Izzo, 18-yard pass from Johnny Matarazzo (Spenser Rapone kick).
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