Hackett powers Newark Catholic football to bounce-back victory against Utica

NEWARK — Newark Catholic's football team emphatically answered Saturday whether a 27-17 loss to Licking Heights would have any lingering effects.

Having No. 16 in the backfield doesn't hurt either. The special teams set up NC (3-1, 1-0) with short fields three times in the first quarter, and senior tailback Mason Hackett did the rest, scoring three of his five touchdowns during the first 6:24 of the Green Wave's 42-0 victory against visiting Utica (2-4, 0-1) at White Field to begin Licking County League-Cardinal Division play.

"(Special teams) did a great job recovering that fumble back there, and they gave us great field position," said Hackett, whose first score came three plays after a bad punt snap.

Hackett's second score came three plays after classmate Nico Richards recovered a muffed kickoff. His third came just two plays after his own 58-yard punt return.

"It was pretty easy for us to go score just because we were close to the end zone," he added. "They did a great job, and we capitalized on our opportunities."

Hackett, a 5-foot-7, 185-pound dynamo, totaled 188 yards on 15 carries, and he scored on runs of 7, 4, 8, 67 and 22 yards. His fourth score came in the second quarter when he broke free down the right sideline, and his fifth score came early in the third quarter when he bowled over and through five Utica defenders for the final 10 yards.

"They put the work in during the week to get to this point, and they play with physicality," said Hackett, praising the offensive line of seniors Tanner Wert, Bradyn Ehret, Kyle Wright and Connor Wright and junior Nate Willis.

"They sustain their blocks, and that's the only reason why we are able to run the ball down the field," Hackett added. "I tip my hat to them."

Utica moved into the NC red zone at the end of each of the first two quarters, but senior Brendan Sheehan stopped both drives with interceptions. In between, sophomore Cooper Fink returned an interception 35 yards for a score, and classmate Joey Couzins later preserved the shutout with an interception during the final minutes.

Senior Zach Heckman's 24-yard completion to classmate Hayden Smith was Utica's biggest play of the night. Utica previously has shown an ability to strike from anywhere on the field.

"We wanted to keep them lateral. We didn't want to give them much," NC senior linebacker Anthony Robertson said. "We wanted to show them we were the dominant team."

Richards, who had a tackle for loss, added, "It was really important we punch them in the mouth in a figurative sense. We did a really good job of executing on most everything."

Heckman finished 12-for-22 for 102 yards passing, and sophomore Hayden Piper added 41 yards through the air during the fourth quarter for Utica. Smith caught seven passes for 73 yards, and junior Justin Giffin ran seven times for 40 yards.

"We did not play well. We are not happy with the we played. The boys are not happy with the way we played," Utica coach Charlie Rowley said. "I don't think that's who we are, so I just told them it's done. We have to move on to Heath. That's my mentality. Bad things happened to us, and we didn't play well."

As Hackett flexed his muscles, the NC passing game took a backseat. Sophomore Miller Hutchison was 6-for-10 for 66 yards with three going to senior Grant Moore for 30 yards.

Sheehan made a team-high five tackles for the Green Wave, who visit Johnstown next week. Junior Rocco Capretta added four tackles and also made a 12-yard catch on offense.

"One of the things we preached throughout the course of the week was being accountable — accountable for our actions and accountable for our execution," NC coach Ryan Aiello said. "A big focus from an offensive standpoint was to run the football. We wanted to control the clock. If you look at last week, we couldn't get off the field defensively."

ksnyder@newarkadvocate.com

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