When New Castle travels to Aliquippa on Friday for a Week 5 matchup, one of the teams will enter the game with an unbeaten record.
But get this: The team with the perfect record isn’t Aliquippa.
“Yeah, that seems a little odd to say the least,” New Castle coach Fred Mozzocio said.
New season, but not the same old New Castle. A program that went 1-9 each of the past two years has come alive this season, with the Red Hurricanes storming to a 4-0 start for the first time since 2002.
“It’s been a nice ride up to this point,” said Mozzocio, who is in his first season. “The people in the community have rallied around these young men. Everywhere you go, people are talking about New Castle football again.”
Athletically, New Castle is known most for its success in boys basketball, but the Red Hurricanes have a tradition-rich football program that has won 11 WPIAL titles, third most of any school, and are one of the winningest programs in state history. But the last one of those WPIAL championships came in 1998. Since that 4-0 start and 9-2 finish in 2002, New Castle has had 10 winning seasons and even reached the WPIAL final in 2016, but it has been a while since the Red Hurricanes have been a consistent winner.
Four wins in four games is pretty consistent. The latest of those wins was a heart-thumping 42-32 triumph against Knoch in which the Red Hurricanes scored three touchdowns in the final 3:24 to rally back from 12 points down in the fourth quarter.
Mozzocio has yet to lose in his first season at New Castle following a successful 12-year run at Neshannock where he won more than 100 games. A 1985 graduate of New Castle, Mozzocio brought five assistants with him from Neshannock, including offensive coordinator Ron DePorzio and defensive coordinator Ryan Firmi.
“We felt that we could come in and make an impact, turn the program around and get it back to respectability,” Mozzocio said.
Offensively, it has been night and day compared to last season when the Red Hurricanes averaged just 13.5 points per game. That number has risen to 40 points a game this season, making them the third-highest scoring team in Class 4A. Among the standouts have been senior running back Kaevon Gardner, senior quarterback Kyrell Harris and senior wide receiver Nate McKnight. Gardner, a former WPIAL 100-meter champion in track, sprinted to a 192-yard, four-touchdown performance against Knoch.
“They’ve been lights out,” Mozzocio said. “They’re all tremendous athletes and they can all do a lot of things. When they get their hands on the ball, they’re dangerous. One play they can take it the distance.”
Following an outstanding start, the question now is can New Castle finish? The Red Hurricanes last reached the postseason in 2021 and last won a playoff game in 2016. The next two weeks should be telling considering the team opens Parkway Conference play with road games against the top two teams in Class 4A — No. 1 Aliquippa (2-1) and No. 2 Montour (4-0).
Argiro breaks state record
Grant Argiro’s 54-yard field-goal attempt easily had the distance but sailed wide left Friday.
“He probably had it by 10 yards, but it was 2 yards left,” Pine-Richland coach Jon LeDonne recalled.
No problem. The Pine-Richland senior with a booming leg had five other three-point chances in a 43-7 win at Plum, and he converted each and every one of them.
Argiro had a night to remember, converting five field goals and four extra points. The five three-pointers tied a state record, and the 19 kicking points is believed to be a state record.
“Hats off to Grant,” LeDonne said. “The way he practices, he’s a kicker, but he’s at practice right from the beginning of stretches to the very end. He’s got a really powerful leg, but the consistency and effort he gives in practice is what makes him so successful.”
Peters Township’s Bob Milspaw, who holds the WPIAL career record with 35 field goals, converted five of them in a game back in 1994, a feat matched by Garden Spot’s Walker Martin in 2021. Milspaw had 17 total kicking points in that 29-17 win against Thomas Jefferson, which stood as the record prior to Argiro’s performance Friday.
Argiro’s field goals traveled 25, 34, 35, 46 and 44 yards. Considered one of the WPIAL’s top kickers, Argiro had two field goals this season coming into the game, and his current collection of seven matches his season total from last year. He’s a three-year starter who also serves as Pine-Richland’s punter. Akron has offered him, and LeDonne said that several other schools are showing interest, including West Virginia.
Sieg back throwing
Fort Cherry’s Matt Sieg is back to being a dual threat again.
Sieg, a junior quarterback-defensive back and one of the WPIAL’s top players, had been limited to only running the ball and not passing it after suffering a broken right thumb (his throwing hand) in a season-opening win against Northgate. But after going three games without attempting a pass, Sieg was back at it Friday, going 7 of 14 for 96 yards and two touchdowns as Class 1A No. 1 Fort Cherry rallied for a 35-14 win at Monessen. He tossed a 31-yard touchdown to Braydon Cook and found favorite target Shane Cornali for a 17-yard score.
“It feels back to normal, so I’m excited about that,” Sieg said Saturday.
Sieg’s return to being a dual-threat quarterback came eight days after he had his cast removed. He played with a brace on it while playing defense Friday, but was brace-free on offense. Sieg said he threw some passes without any difficulty the Tuesday prior to the game, and by Wednesday he felt even better.
“So we said, ‘We’ll give it a shot,’” added Sieg, who said that if he’s not 100%, he’s pretty close to it.
Sieg had a great night running the ball against Monessen, racking up 208 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries. He’s averaging 9 yards per carry on the season as he has rushed for 653 yards and 11 touchdowns overall.
PUP Bites
• Norwin is keeping its fingers crossed that its star quarterback didn’t suffer a significant injury in Friday’s 36-14 loss at North Allegheny. Senior Tristyn Tavares, a four-year starter, went down with a knee injury early in the second quarter and did not return. Norwin led North Allegheny, 14-8, at the time, with Tavares accounting for two rushing touchdowns. Of the knee, Tavares said he “just jammed it into the ground.” Tavares set school single-season passing yardage and touchdown records last season and has thrown for 699 yards and collected eight total touchdowns this season.
• Cade Yacamelli had an outstanding career at Penn-Trafford, leading the Warriors to their first WPIAL and PIAA titles in 2021 when he led the team in rushing and receiving. Yacamelli is now a running back at Wisconsin (he’s the second-leading rusher on the team and averaging 7.3 yards a carry), but his younger brother is a promising freshman at Penn-Trafford who scored his first varsity touchdown in Friday’s 33-7 win at Kiski Area. Cody Yacamelli, a quarterback, saw action late in the game and used his first varsity carry to run for a 20-yard touchdown.
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.