Ringgold knocked off by NC
MARS – This time, there would be no miraculous finish for Ringgold High School’s football team.
And there will be no trip to Heinz Field, either.
Geno Stone saw to that.
The do-everything quarterback and safety for New Castle scored five touchdowns, had three interceptions and tipped another pass that was intercepted to help New Castle defeat Ringgold, 38-17, in the WPIAL Class 4-A semifinals Friday night at Mars High School.
Stone scored on runs of 42, 3, 13 and 23 before scoring the game-clincher, a 2-yard run with 2:01 to play that put the game out of reach.
“He’s a great player,” said Ringgold head coach Nick Milchovich. “He made more plays than we did.”
New Castle moves to 8-4 and will play Thomas Jefferson in the championship game. Ringgold finishes its season at 8-3.
“It will be one of the greatest feelings of my life, being at Heinz Field,” said New Castle head coach Joe Cowart. “We’re so excited to be going.”
The Rams trailed 17-0 heading into the final quarter but roared back to come within a score, 24-17, after Max Maciejewski’s second touchdown grab of the quarter. He also caught the two-point conversion pass from George Martin.
But Stone scored the next two touchdowns that put the game away.
“I knew I could do it. It’s the greatest feeling knowing we’re going to Heinz Field,” Stone said. “This is probably the best game I had in my life.”
Martin unofficially completed 20 of 37 passes for 271 yards but was intercepted five times by New Castle matching his season total. One of Martin’s interceptions was by Stone at the New Castle 1-yard-line and he returned it to the Rams’ 24.
“We made mistakes, we dropped too many passes and we just didn’t make enough plays and they did,” said Milchovich. “That’s really the story of the game.”
Marcus Hooker rushed for 171 yards on 31 carries for New Castle. Ringgold, playing without Brenden Small, who was injured in last week’s playoff game against Mars, did not rush once in the fourth quarter and had 24 yards on the ground in the game. Small rushed for 184 yards in last week’s win over Mars.
New Castle built a 10-0 halftime lead in a wild and contentious first half.
New Castle struck first on an ordinary keeper to the left side of the Red Hurricane line and broke free for a 42-yard touchdown. Brayden Cartwright added the extra point to make it 7-0 with 9:17 left in the first quarter.
Ringgold had a golden opportunity to tie the game, driving to the New Castle 9-yard line. Tyrese Youngblood took a handoff around right end and seemed to go down at the one. But the football came out and New Castle recovered in the end zone for a touchback.
“That was a horrible, horrible call,” said Milchovich.
The allowed New Castle to amass a 10-play drive that resulted in a 32-yard field goal by Cartwright to make it 10-0 on the first play of the second quarter.
Ringgold had some other opportunities slip through its fingers, once literally. Midway through the first quarter Martin threw a near-perfect pass to wide receiver Octavius Vassar that just brushed past his fingers.
Martin was intercepted twice in the second quarter, once by Kymani Summers off a tip by Stone and the second by Stone on a Hail Mary pass near the end of the half.