Facing Aliquippa, New Castle hopes to finally clear Parkway traffic in WPIAL 4A playoff bracket

By: Chris Harlan
Thursday, November 6, 2025 | 11:52 PM

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New Castle hadn’t celebrated a conference title in almost two decades, but the Red Hurricanes have a chance to win their second in three weeks.

Well, at least it feels that way.

That’s because New Castle keeps running into Parkway Conference foes in the playoffs. It was Montour in the opening round. This week, third-seeded New Castle (9-2) draws No. 7 Aliquippa (7-3) in a WPIAL Class 4A semifinal at 7 p.m. Friday in Ellwood City.

“Maybe, if things go our way, it’ll be the first time in history that we won the Parkway two times in the same year,” New Castle coach Fred Mozzocio said with a laugh.

New Castle already defeated Aliquippa once this season. That was an 18-12 victory at home when the teams met Sept. 26 at Taggart Stadium.

One difference this time around is that Aliquippa is expected to have Yale-bound quarterback Marques Council Jr. under center. Council missed the first matchup with a knee injury that had him in and out of the lineup.

The senior was later deemed out for the season, but he returned for the playoffs and threw a game-winning touchdown in last week’s 21-14 win over No. 2 seed Trinity.

Senior wideout Qalil Goode started at quarterback for the Quips in the Week 5 game at New Castle, completing 6 of 11 passes for 83 yards. Goode also started at QB last week before giving way to Council.

Mozzocio said New Castle will play whoever Aliquippa starts.

“We’re going to be ready to go,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who’s playing quarterback or running back or anything else. We’ve got a football game to play.”

The winner advances to face No. 1 McKeesport or No. 4 Thomas Jefferson in the final Nov. 15 at Pine-Richland.

The Aliquippa and New Castle programs rank first and third, respectively, in all-time WPIAL football titles won. The Quips own a record 20, including 10 since 2000. The Red Hurricanes added the most recent of their 11 titles in 1998.

New Castle hasn’t had this opportunity often in recent decades. The team last reached the WPIAL finals in 2016, so Mozzocio was anticipating a good crowd Friday at Helling Stadium.

“There’s a lot of excitement in the community and for the kids here at the school district,” said Mozzocio, a 1985 graduate in his second season as coach. “New Castle loves football. They want to have good football teams here — competitive teams — and they get behind them like no other.”

New Castle is coming off a 14-13 victory over Montour that came down to a failed two-point try with 20 seconds left. Red Hurricanes quarterback Marino Graham threw touchdown passes to Damian Harrison (56 yards) and Chase Lemmon (65 yards).

A star freshman, Graham has rolled up nearly 2,500 yards of offense. He has thrown for 21 touchdowns and rushed for 13. His top targets are Lemmon (41 receptions) and Kai Cox (35).

New Castle is only two years removed from a couple of 1-9 finishes but has enjoyed a resurgence under Mozzocio.

This year, the combination of a Graham-led offense and a solid defense saw the Red Hurricanes finish atop the conference standings for the first time since 2008. This year’s team is averaging 29.5 points per game while holding opponents to 10.7.

“We’ve been preparing well, especially on the defensive side of the football,” Mozzocio said. “A lot of attention to detail. The physicality has been there.

“Offensively, if you would have asked me in the first two or three weeks of the season, I would have told you we were a poor offensive football team at that point. But these kids kept grinding and kept working and we continued to get better and better.”

In Week 5, New Castle defeated Aliquippa, 18-12, behind a three-touchdown effort from Graham. He scored on runs of 1 and 4 yards and threw a 26-yard TD to Lemmon. Aliquippa got rushing touchdowns from J.J. Work (8 yards) and Lester Longmire (3 yards).

The win was New Castle’s first over Aliquippa since 1987, ending a streak of 10 straight losses to the Quips.

Work leads Aliquippa in rushing with 797 yards and nine touchdowns. Council has passed for 1,045 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Josh Lay, who caught Council’s winning touchdown pass last week, has a team-high 29 catches for 505 yards. Goode leads with a team-high 10 TDs.

Aliquippa had reached the WPIAL finals 16 years in a row before a semifinal loss to Thomas Jefferson snapped that streak last year.

So, the Quips have some added motivation, too.

“This is to play for a gold medal in the WPIAL championship game,” Mozzocio said. “It doesn’t get any bigger.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Aliquippa, New Castle