Gotta Love the rain: South Fayette rolls past New Castle
South Fayette’s Geavonie Love runs past New Castle’s Garrett Farah for a first-quarter touchdown Friday night.
South Fayette’s Camron Garland attempts to tackle New Castle’s Marshane McElroy Friday night.
South Fayette quarterback Drew Saxton drops back to pass Friday night against New Castle.
South Fayette’s Jonny Beck and Ray Eldridge tackle New Castle’s Freddy Solo Friday night.
South Fayette’s Geavonie Love carries the ball Friday night against New Castle.
McDONALD – With a soggy forecast, Geavonie Love knew what was coming.
A night on the run. And boy did Love run well.
Love rushed for 308 yards on 39 carries and scored four touchdowns as South Fayette rolled over New Castle, 37-13, Friday night in McDonald.
The win was the 44th straight in the regular season for the Lions, who control the Class 4-A Big Nine Conference with a 5-0 record. South Fayette is 7-0 overall.
New Castle, which came in with two losses, 49-28 to Aliquippa in a game the Red Hurricane led 28-6 at halftime and 34-7 to a talented Mars team, fell to 4-2 in the conference and 4-3 overall.
Love is believed to be the first runner in South Fayette history to rush for more than 300 yards.
“I figured that when the rain started coming down that I would have the ball a lot,” said Love, a 5-10, 180-pound senior.
“This is my best game with the most carries.”
Loved scored two touchdowns in the first half and two more in the second as the rain neutralized South Fayette’s vaunted passing attack. He scored on runs of 32 and one yards in the first half and three and 10 yards in the second half.
“We knew we would have the run game with the weather going on and we found a way to get it done,” said South Fayette head coach Joe Rossi. “We went with our bread-and-butter running plays. The run game was working so that’s what we stayed with. We’ve played in all conditions, Heinz Field in a snow storm. Rain is always an equalizer. Wet balls can slip out of your hands. We did a good job with that.”
The Lions offensive line opened the holes and Love broke numerous tackles when they didn’t.
“We’ve got the linemen to run the football,” Love said. “They did fabulous. I knew running behind them that I would get a lot of yards.”
South Fayette’s defense held New Castle to just 10 total yards in the second half and no first downs.
“With the conditions, we needed to run the football,” said New Castle head coach Joe Cowart. “We need to have the mentality that when the weather changes, we have to run the ball effectively. We weren’t able to maintain that.”
Love scored twice in the first half, giving the Lions a 17-13 lead. He accounted for all 40 yards on South Fayette’s first drive, running eight on his first and 32 on the second for the TD. Love’s second touchdown was from one yard and culminated a 15-play drive. The key play was a fumbled punt by Hooker that was recovered by – who else – Love at the New Castle 28.
New Castle matched South Fayette’s first score when Hooker snagged a 50-yard pass from Stone to tie the game 7-7. Following Trimbur’s field goal, New Castle got its first lead of the game, 13-10, when Hooker punctuated a seven-play drive with a two-yard run.
The Red Hurricane reached South Fayette’s 33 before halftime but four pass attempts fell incomplete.