Red Hurricane rip Tornado
NEW CASTLE — Butler has the physical side of playing football down.
The mental side? Stay tuned.
The Golden Tornado offense struggled Friday night and New Castle burned their defense for a few big plays in a 25-0 loss at Taggart Stadium.
"Basically, it was missed assignments," said Butler first-year coach Jim Rankin. "These kids play the game hard. They practice hard.
"We've got their heart. Now we have to get their brains," he added. "Confidence is all about believing you can do something that you haven't done before. We haven't got that yet."
Butler's defense stopped New Castle on downs deep in Tornado territory on the hosts' first two possessions. The game was scoreless until late in the first half, but Butler managed only two first downs in the first two quarters.
The Red Hurricane finally broke through when John Matarazzo connected with Marcus Carter on a 52-yard bomb down the left sideline. That play set up a Matarazzo 4-yard touchdown run with 2:56 left in the half.
Butler crossed midfield for the first time with a Jordan Lumley carry on the ensuing possession, only to have disaster strike. Lumley fumbled at the end of his 13-yard run and Carter recovered for New Castle at the Hurricane 38.
Matarazzo hit Corey Eggleston for 22 yards and a screen pass to Justin Fleo that went for 37 yards more to the Butler 3-yard line.Fleo scored on a 2-yard run with 31 seconds left in the half.
"We had man-on-man on that screen pass and missed him," Rankin said. "If not for a couple of plays, this game is 0-0 at halftime. That would have been pretty good against an explosive team like that."
The Tornado threatened to cut into the lead early in the fourth quarter when Tyler Hays recovered a fumble at the Hurricane 39-yard line.
Lumley connected with David Hohn on passes of 19 and 18 yards, the latter moving the ball to the New Castle 12 line.
On third-and-2 from there, Lumley was stopped for a loss and the Tornado were flagged for tripping. On third-and-19, Lumley was sacked for a 7-yard loss and Butler was forced to punt.
"Our defense was tremendous tonight," New Castle coach Frank Bongivengo Jr. said. "We were able to come up with big plays when we needed them."
Following the Tornado punt, New Castle drove 80 yards in nine plays. Fleo scored on a 1-yard run with 4:40 to play.
Fleo had 25 carries for 137 yards. Matarazzo completed 10 of 14 passes for 208 yards.
"Justin has to be our workhorse this season. Tonight was a good start for him," Bongivengo said.
Nico DeJohn recovered a fumble on Butler's kickoff return. Jalen Holmes scored the game's final points on a 17-yard run shortly thereafter.
With backups in the lineup for both teams, Butler nearly averted the shutout on the game's final play, but Jeremy Taggart couldn't handle Zach Rader's 24-yard pass into the end zone.
"I saw plenty of positives out there," Rankin said. "This is going to be a good football team this year. I just can't say when it's going to happen."
