’Canes, Indiana ready to go at it again
Written: Sep 10, 2009
  By JOE SAGER
New Castle News
Not these guys again.
The New Castle High football team welcomes a familiar foe — Indiana — to Taggart Stadium at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow for a nonconference battle.
This will be the third meeting in little more than a calendar year for the teams. The Little Indians upended the Red Hurricane, 27-18, last Sept. 5. New Castle earned redemption with a wild 55-49 verdict in a WPIAL Class AAA quarterfinal triumph on Nov. 7.
However, the two squads differ from a year ago. Indiana may have been hurt most by graduation as athletic quarterback Ben Fiscus matriculated to Clarion University.
Fiscus, a grandson of former New Castle football star and longtime high school football coach Chuck Abramski, spearheaded the Indiana triple-option attack.
“Anytime you lose a kid like Fiscus, that’ll hurt. He was a magician with the ball,” New Castle coach Frank Bongivengo Jr. said. “He’s an excellent runner. He made us look bad a lot of times. It’s hard to replace a kid like that.
“They are the same kind of team they were last year. They have a kid at quarterback (Kyle Edgar) who looks like he is pretty athletic and runs well. They do what they do and run it well. That type of option is tough to defend. I think they are a good football team. They are scrappy and will fight every play. There may not be any big-time names there, but as a collective group, they battle you.”
The Little Indians (0-1) struggled in a 26-6 season-opening loss at Plum.
“We have a young team and we self-destructed,” Indiana coach Mark Zilinskas said. “We turned the ball over five times and had a punt blocked for a touchdown. Two of our turnovers were in our own end, too. It’s tough to win a game when that happens. We’re focused on striving to get better.
“New Castle is a great team and we’re looking forward to playing them again and seeing how good they are.”
The ’Canes (1-0) overcame the loss of key personnel, too, including quarterback Michael Bongivengo, who helped lead the team to the WPIAL semifinals and is now at Seton Hill University. Running back Keith Keene led the New Castle charge in last week’s 20-14 win at Butler.
“They have some dangerous athletes. Keene is one of the best players around and they have a wide variety of other players supporting them,” Zilinskas said. “That’s their strength — they play athletes. Their quarterback really improved last year. The quarterback they have this year (Johnny Matarazzo) is a good player, too. He will continue to get better. We know we’re in for the fight of our lives. We have to contain their big players and make our own big plays. It should be an exciting game.”
Bongivengo saw plenty of positive signs in the Canes’ triumph at Butler.
“Anytime you go into somebody else’s field and beat them, that always brings some confidence,” he said. “We are a young team and that’s a good confidence booster.
“We were ready to play football. The way we won, having to grind it out and make a couple plays here and there, that was big for us. Those things are going to help us down the road, as far as being confident and understanding we can win a tight game.”
Keene rushed for 127 yards on 23 carries and reached the end zone three times last week. Justin Fleo carried the ball eight times for 36 yards .
“We are able to run the ball with Keith and we gave it to some other guys, too,” Bongivengo said. “With a young quarterback, things will continue to get better. We have to have a good running game to go along with a passing game. I was real happy with the running game. The kids are going to the right places and giving good effort and we can clean up the other things.”
New Castle’s defense showed it could be dominant.
“Defensively, I thought we played really, really well for three and a half quarters. I think we let up a little at the end,” Bongivengo said. “We held that team to something like 43 yards in the first half. That’s good defense. We caused five turnovers, too. That’ll win you ballgames. Our kids were going after it pretty good. We saw a lot of helmets to the ball. Hopefully, we’ll keep progressing.
“It’s a lot better starting the season 1-0 than 0-1.”
The ’Canes began last year 0-3 before rattling off eight straight triumphs en route to the Parkway Conference championship. New Castle opens conference play next week against Blackhawk, but is not looking ahead.
“There’s no time for letup at all,” Bongivengo said. “We have a nine-game schedule and if we let up against any of those teams, we could get beat very easily. I expect them to be ready every week.”
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