Quick-strike Belle Vernon makes big plays, beats New Castle in Class 4A quarterfinals

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Friday, November 12, 2021 | 10:58 PM

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Concerns about New Castle’s passing game and trick plays ultimately proved groundless for Belle Vernon in the WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinals.

It’s a good thing Belle Vernon has a quick-strike offense because it didn’t get many chances to score Friday night.

Top-seeded Belle Vernon didn’t need a lot of plays to get into the end zone, but its defense got quite a workout because the Red Hurricanes owned the clock.

No. 9 New Castle moved the ball effectively and dominated time of possession, but Belle Vernon forced four turnovers and used big plays on compact drives to advance with a 45-20 victory at James Weir Stadium.

Unbeaten Belle Vernon earned every bit of its fifth straight semifinal appearance and was wiping its collective brow after playing just one game in the past four weeks. It had a first-round bye and its offense did even more resting in the playoff opener.

“We were on the field way longer than we should have been (defensively),” Belle Vernon coach Matt Humbert said. “We fundamentally based things wrong. We didn’t tackle great. We tackled high. New Castle is a good football team. We were a little sloppy. At the end of the day, we’re just happy to get out with a win.”

Belle Vernon (9-0) will play No. 5 Thomas Jefferson (8-2) next Friday at a neutral site.

New Castle (7-5) had the football for 35 minutes, 58 minutes to Belle Vernon’s 12:02. The Leopards’ longest drive lasted six plays.

“Six plays? We’ll take that,” New Castle coach Joe Cowart said. “When we were preparing for them we were asking, what do they do on third down? Nobody knows because they never get there.”

Quinton Martin ran for 124 yards and two touchdowns, and Devin Whitlock added three scores in the win, which saw New Castle outgain the Leopards, 388-357.

Whitlock completed 6 of 9 passes for 144 yards and a score.

With Belle Vernon in control, New Castle’s Kaevon Gardner made things interesting with 7:17 left in the third when he broke free for an 80-yard touchdown. Chris Hood’s conversion run cut the lead to 38-20.

With tension thick after the score, Belle Vernon forced a turnover on downs with Jake Gedekoh batting away a fourth-down pass in the end zone with about seven minutes remaining in the fourth.

Whitlock cut the tension, though, when he finally broke away for a 75-yard touchdown with 4:43 left to push it to 45-20 and give the Leopards some relief.

He rushed for 77 yards.

“It was more just knowing we have to get better at doing our job and doing our assignments to stop them from being on the field so long, on third downs,” Whitlock said. “They did a good job with (Wells) at outside linebacker. He was a head-buster. But we were doing everything we wanted to do. Even though some of the runs weren’t open on the perimeter, anything we came back with worked.”

Belle Vernon was concerned about New Castle’s trickeration because the Red Hurricanes have a penchant for gadget plays. And having a banged-up defense didn’t help. Leopards senior Cole Weightman, a tight end and linebacker who is nursing a sore knee, played sparingly after his playing status coming in was questionable. He did not play in the fourth quarter.

Logan Hoffman played tight end with Weightman out.

“There were a lot of moving pieces,” Humbert said. “We rotated our fullback, we rotated our tight end a lot. The key for us is to find out who are best personnel is for next week from a matchup standpoint.”

Dane Levi played on the defensive line, his first appearance on defense all year, and Humbert said Tanner Moody, another sophomore, also played well.

Belle Vernon scored three unanswered touchdowns after New Castle cut the lead to 14-12 to take a 35-12 lead into halftime.

New Castle, which lost three fumbles and was intercepted by Gedekoh on a halfback pass in the closing seconds of the first half, opened the scoring when Mike Wells pulled in a 40-yard scoring pass from Hood in double coverage.

The extra point failed on a bad snap.

Wells had six catches for 129 yards.

Belle Vernon quickly responded as Martin ran 31 yards up the middle, dragging a couple of defenders for a 7-6 lead late in the opening quarter.

Logan Cunningham recovered a fumble for the Leopards and four plays later, Whitlock cut back and was pushed into the end zone for a 4-yard score and a 14-6 advantage.

“Devin and Quinton are so explosive,” Cowart said. “They are so impressive to watch. I was happy with how we kept them off the field, but we exerted a lot of energy tonight. Our guys fought and I was pleased with our kids’ effort.”“

With the entire defense packed to the right, Matayo Savage went left and found himself wife open for a 13-yard touchdown reception from Hood with 5:24 until halftime. The Red Hurricanes tried to run 6-foot-4, 318-pound lineman Alex Fox on the two-point try, but he was stopped and it was 14-12.

Hood, who was 12 of 24 for 191 yards and two touchdowns, also ran for 77 yards. He went over 1,000 yards passing and rushing for the season.

“That offense is potent,” Humbert said. “They can run the ball, throw the ball … there were times we had good man coverage on them and (Mike Wells) still came down with the ball. (Quarterback Chris) Hood did his thing. He’s a tough runner. They’re tricky to stop on offense because they’re a dual threat.”

Whitlock returned the ensuing kickoff 79 yards for a touchdown, but it was called back by penalty.

The Leopards took advantage of a face mask penalty to set up Martin’s second score, though, a 5-yard run to stretch the lead to 21-12.

Another fumble, this one recovered by Belle Vernon’s Parker Jewell, set the table for a 30-yard strike from Whitlock to Logan Cunningham.

Whitlock returned a punt 39 yards before he scored from the 1 to make it 35-12.

Steve Macheska also had a fumble recovery for Belle Vernon.

Tyler Kovatch made all six of his extra points and connected on a 32-yard field goal for the Leopards.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Belle Vernon, New Castle