In his 42 years as a head coach Blackhawk's Joe Hamilton figured he had seen it happen before -- there isn't much he hasn't seen -- but he couldn't remember when.

Blackhawk did an outstanding job of playing keep-away Friday night against New Castle.

The Red Hurricane didn't run an offensive play against the Cougars until there was 11:12 left in the second quarter in the Class AAA Parkway Conference game at Northwestern Stadium in Darlington. That's right, 11:12 of the second quarter.

New Castle did get its hands on the football in the first quarter for all of about three seconds.

Here's what happened.

Blackhawk took the opening kickoff and proceeded to put together a nifty 16-play drive that carried from its 29 to the New Castle 3. Twice the Cougars converted on third-down plays and twice they converted on fourth downs, although one of those came via a New Castle penalty.

The drive stalled at the New Castle 3 and Blackhawk settled for a 27-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead with 42 seconds left in the quarter.

New Castle's Jajuan Jay then fumbled while returning the ensuing kickoff and Blackhawk recovered on the 'Canes 39. The Cougars ran two plays and the quarter ended.

"I suppose I have seen it happen before, but it's been a while," Hamilton said. "If you've got the ball, the other team can't score. So that's a good thing."

At the end of the quarter, Blackhawk had run 18 plays to none for New Castle. By the end of the contest, which Blackhawk won, 38-14, the Cougars' time of possession was 29:49 to 18:11 for New Castle.

It's been a long time

New Castle is one of the more storied football schools in the WPIAL with more than 600 victories. Which is why it's surprising to learn it hasn't defeated Blackhawk for a long time.

"Gosh, I'll bet they haven beaten us since the early '90s," Hamilton said. "That's why they really want to beat us."

Hamilton has a good memory, but it has been longer than the 1990s.

The last time Blackhawk lost to New Castle was the final game of the 1987 season, 25-0.

Since then, Blackhawk has won 15 consecutive contests against the 'Canes. The two teams did not meet in six years during that span because New Castle was in Class AAAA.

When a team scores 62 points, it must be doing a lot of good things on the offensive line. So when Chartiers Valley coach Chris Saluga was asked if he had an unsung hero from the Colts' 62-0 win against Belle Vernon, he said he had five players who would qualify.

"I'd say our whole offensive line," Saluga said. "They played about as perfect a game as you could ask for."

It's hard to argue with that after looking at the statistics. The Colts finished the night with 530 yards total offense, 407 of it rushing.

The starting linemen are left tackle Ian McNeill, left guard Tim Yaksick, center Cory Rekasie, right guard Kevin Landy and right tackle Dylan Croftcheck.

"We put in a spread offense and it has taken them some time to come together, but they're starting to click as a unit," Saluga said. "Three of those guys are first-year starters, but now they're communicating with each other and really starting to play well.

Chartiers Valley will play host to West Mifflin Area tomorrow night.

When the season started, Ambridge officials figured all the Bridgers' home games would have to played Saturday afternoons because renovations to Moe Rubenstein Stadium were not completed.

The Bridgers played their opener against Aliquippa in the daylight, but the rest of the home contests, beginning with tomorrow's game against West Allegheny, will be at the traditional 7:30 p.m. time Fridays.

What happened is the school revamped the construction schedule so that the permanent light standards on the visitor's side were ready. Portable lights have been brought in to illuminate the home side, thanks to a variety of corporate and private donations to cover the cost.

The rest of the home schedule has the Bridgers playing Moon (Oct. 3), Beaver (Oct. 10) and Blackhawk (Oct. 24).

Here are four games to check out tomorrow evening for those who don't have a favorite team.

In the Class AAA Parkway Conference Hopewell (3-0) takes its undefeated record to New Castle (0-3).

In Class AA, Aliquippa (2-1) will try to shake off last week's loss to Beaver Falls, but it doesn't get any easier. The Quips play at Beaver (3-0).

In Class A, Shenango (2-1) plays at Monaca (2-1) in the Big Seven Conference. Both are 0-1 in the conference, but this one is important for tiebreaking purposes. And in the Eastern Conference, Springdale (1-2) takes on Carlynton (2-1) at storied Honus Wagner Field in Carnegie.