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New Castle’s McPhatter adds new dimension to ’Canes attack

New Castle’s McPhatter adds new dimension to ’Canes attack

Written: Oct 30, 2013
Article
By Corey J. Corbin

New Castle News

On a football team full of shining stars, none shined brighter Friday night than New Castle senior Jake McPhatter.

McPhatter pulled in three passes for 100 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the Red Hurricane’s 42-21 drubbing of Hopewell in the regular-season finale at Taggart Stadium.

The performance earned him Lawrence County Athlete of the Week honors, an award sponsored by Washington Centre Physical Therapy and selected by the New Castle News sports staff.

“Jake is an explosive talent and he’s become a leader on this football team,” said New Castle second-year coach Joe Cowart. “He’s just getting better and better each week. He ran into a couple ankle injuries earlier in the season. We think he’s as healthy as he’s been all year, so it’s exciting to see him get to play.”

The senior dynamo was certainly explosive against Hopewell, scoring on 32- and 59-yard aerials from quarterback and long-time friend Julian Cox.

“We’ve been friends since Day 1 when we were in diapers,” McPhatter said. “His aunt is my godmother. After our freshman year, we parted ways and transferred to different schools, but we came back last year. Other than that, we’ve been playing together since second grade.

“On the bubble route, I made a move and broke the defender off. All I heard was ‘Ooh.’ I ran for like six or seven yards and I noticed my teammates and the coaches on the sidelines getting hype with me. I just turned it on from there. Julian didn’t put it in the right spot, but he said I made a good adjustment.”

The 10 years of playing together has afforded Cox and McPhatter a considerable amount of chemistry on and off the football field.

“We built up chemistry again last year,” McPhatter said. “It’s very important. Chemistry is a big part of this game and it makes everything more crisp. You have to build it up. If you run a slant with one quarterback, the ball could be right there and then run it with another quarterback and you’ll have to adjust to where he throws it.”

McPhatter missed New Castle’s thrilling 46-42 win over Blackhawk in Week 6 and their 37-31 loss to West Allegheny in Week 7 after suffering an ankle injury against Chartiers Valley in Week 5.

“It was devastating, because this is my senior year,” McPhatter said. “I didn’t want to miss any games this year and unfortunately, I had to. It’s devastating, because you have to watch the game and there’s stuff you know you could do to help the team and you can’t.

“When I first came back, it was kind of hard jogging that first day. As the week went along, I knew my ankle was going to get better and I would be able to do different things. I had to go with my instincts to make things happen. I’ve been doing my rehab and doing whatever I can to get back to being Jake McPhatter. When Jake McPhatter is Jake McPhatter, that’s a problem for other teams.”

The New Castle offense — already featuring Drew and Stew Allen, Cox, Malik Hooker and Tevin McCaster — got even stronger with the return of McPhatter, who has rushed for 114 yards on 21 carries and caught 14 passes for another 341 yards.

“Jake brings an added dimension to everyone else that we have on offense,” Cowart said. “With him, we have like a five-headed monster on that side of the ball with Drew and Stew Allen, Malik and Julian and Tevin then you add Jake into that. We have a lot of gentlemen that can take it to the house on any given play and Jake has been one those guys. Now, he’s as healthy as he’s been.”

McPhatter’s largest contributions to his football team come on the defensive side of the ball.

“On the defensive side of the ball, he can tell anybody from the defensive line to the linebacker level to the secondary what they need to do and where they should be,” Cowart said. “He’s vocal about telling them what they need to do. He’s grown into our best leader. He’s got a winner’s mentality. He wants the ball in his hands in crunch moments and he’s shown the ability once he gets it in his hands that there’s not too many guys that can stop him from getting into the end zone.”

McPhatter and Co. learned Monday night they earned the No. 10 seed in the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs and will travel to Natrona Heights to face seventh-seeded Highlands.

“There’s no words to describe it,” McPhatter said. “I’m ready. I’m excited. I’ve never been to the playoffs in my four years in high school and to make it with my brothers is a blessing. We’re going to do what we’ve got to do.”

There’s no doubt in McPhatter’s mind that the ’Canes can do some damage in the playoffs after going punch-for-punch with Parkway champion West Allegheny a few weeks ago.

“We will do what we have to do,” he said. “It’s just a matter of us being crisp and doing the little things. West Allegheny, we showed we can play with them. It’s not showing that we can play with them. We can play with them. Unfortunately, we didn’t come out on top. We’re going to do what we need to do. We’ve gotten better with every week. Improvement, improvement, improvement, that’s all there is.”

THE JAKE MCPHATTER FILE

POSITION: Running back/slot receiver/defensive back

TEAM: New Castle

GRADE: 12

PARENTS: Jake and Kiley McPhatter.

KNOWN FOR: Having two touchdowns among his three receptions and 100 yards in New Castle’s 42-21 drubbing of Hopewell.

FAVORITE PRO PLAYER AND WHY: “I can’t say that I have a favorite professional player, so I’ll have to go with my grandpa (the late Donnie Ray Sherman). He was a boxer. He taught me to make adversity my playground.”

FAVORITE PRO TEAM AND WHY: Philadelphia Eagles. “I love all the Philly teams.”

FUTURE PLANS: “I want to go to college and play football. I haven’t made my decision, yet, but it’s coming.”
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