Newark Catholic Green Wave used a robust defense to smother the Utica Redskins 42-0

Tagged under: Beyond The Keystone, Game Photos, Gameday Hub

David Burnworth | September 25, 2022

Last night I made another trip to White Field in Newark, Ohio to watch the Newark Catholic Green Wave battle league foe Utica Redskins. Last week the Green Wave fell to a good Licking Heights team by the count of 2-17. A late turnover did the Green Wave in. The Redskins came in fresh off of the annihilation of Indian Creek 41-20. As the teams were warming up I thought this was just like old times when Newark Catholic use to play all of their home games on Saturday night and I would attend them all.

The beginning of the nightmare that was to be for Utica started with a bad snap of their first punt of the night where Logen Fisher would race back to his own 23-yard only to be beaten to the ball by Owen Helms. Newark Catholic would need three plays to make this a 6-0 game with Mason Hacket exploding in from 7-yards out. With Rocco Capretta holding Jose Lopez nailed the point after kick to make this a 7-0 game at the 8:08 mark of the opening quarter.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Redskins hesitated to go after the ball allowing Nico Richards just enough time to race downfield and pounce on the ball like a hungry alley cat giving Newark Catholic the ball just 32-yards from the Utica endzone. Three plays later we had a 14-0 with Hacket running through a gargantuan hole opened up by his offensive line to go 4-yards for the score, with 7:35 still left in the quarter. Hacket set up the touchdown run with a 14-yard run where he broke a tackle after the offensive line had opened the hole.

After making quick work of the Redskins offense Hacket would break off a nice 58-yard punt return to set up his third touchdown of the game which came on an 8-yard run at the 5:34 mark making this a 21-0 game. At this point, Hacket looked like former Newark Catholic great Rob Kelly and the stunned Utica defense looked like a boxer who had suffered a barrage of punches from Rocky.

Richards would drop Tyler Collura for a loss of two yards at the 4:01 mark of the one-sided quarter. Zack Heckman would compete a nicely thrown pass to Hayden Smith where Smith bobbled the ball tipping it in the air before securing the catch. The same combo would strike again with a completion of two yards down to the Green Wave ten. Brenden Sheehan would end the hopes of the Redskins when he stepped in front of the Heckman pass at the two-yard line to end the quarter.

Chase Bennett would sack Miller Hutchinson for a 9-yard loss one of the few times things would go astray for Newark Catholic. Hacket would right the ship with his 67-yard touchdown run to make this a 28-0 game, with 8;30 left in the half. Hacket is listed at 5-foot-7, 185-pound, and has speed to burn. seniors Tanner Wert, Bradyn Ehret, Kyle Wright, Connor Wright, and junior Nate Willis the offensive line for the Green Wave made things as easy as could be for Hacket. That unit for this game reminded me of some of the great lines that JD Graham, the legend had back when he coached Newark Catholic to several state titles.

Sophomore Cooper Fink would make this a 35-0 game when he returned an interception 35 yards for the score. The young man would use some nice field vision along with some nice downfield blocking to easily score. The last 7:04 of the half would see Utica get a 22-yard run from Justin Griffin and for Newark Catholic, Rocco Capretta and Sheehan would record interceptions.

With the running, the entire second half went by really quickly as was expected. The third quarter would see Grant Moore catch a pass for 24-yards and then Hacket looked like a hammer bowling ballas he plowed over four or five Utica would-be tacklers to score from 21-yards out to make this a 42-0 game, which turned out to be the final score. In the final frame, the biggest play was another pick by Neward Catholic with Joseph Couzins doing the deed.

Unofficial stats

Utica

63 plays

182 yards

Passing, 15-33 4 int’s

Newark Catholic

44 plays

251 yards

Passing, 6-11

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