School: Newcastle
Nickname: Dogies
Colors: orange and black
Stadium: Schoonmaker Field
State championships: None
Times worth remembering: The Dogies underwent a renaissance of sorts when Erv Wentling took over as coach before the 1977 season. His first two seasons, the Dogies went a combined 14-2, and in his first five years Newcastle compiled an overall record of 32-8 and made the school’s only state championship game appearance (1981).
Times worth forgetting: Few teams have had a rougher five-year stretch than the Dogies died from 2001-05. In those five years, the Dogies won just two games, going 2-39 — at one point losing 29 consecutive games. Back-to-back winless seasons in 2002 and 2003, in which Newcastle was shut out nine times and lost 14 of 17 games by at least 25 points, were the low point of the streak.
Best team: Newcastle played some of its best football in the late 1940s, including what was probably the program’s best season in 1949. That year, the Dogies went 8-2, losing its season opener to Hot Springs, S.D., and its season finale to Cody in the Class A semifinals. In between, the Dogies won eight consecutive games and gave up only 40 points in those eight games, winning all but one game by at least 14 points.
Biggest win: After a 1-6 regular season, the 1996 Dogies were expected to be nothing more than first-round cannon fodder for 2A West champion Kemmerer in the first round of the playoffs. But no one told the Dogies. Jason Logan scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns – and, maybe more importantly, kicked two extra points – as the Dogies rallied from a 26-13 fourth-quarter deficit to come away with a 27-26 victory. The victory is the school’s only playoff win to date and inspiration for every Newcastle team to follow.
Heartbreaker: After 22 consecutive losing seasons, the 2006 Newcastle team finally made up for all the struggles of its predecessors. Until the playoffs. After losing its first two games, Newcastle won six games in a row and came into the playoffs with the No. 2 seed from the East and a home playoff game — the school’s first home postseason game in almost five decades. However, Big Piney, a playoff-savvy team that wasn’t fazed by the long trip east, gave the Dogies all they could handle. And then, with 2.4 seconds remaining in regulation, Seth Linn’s 15-yard touchdown catch — still disputed up in Newcastle as to whether or not it was caught inbounds — gave the Punchers a 12-6 victory and left the Dogies again on the outside of the championship hunt.
Hello, glad to see this very memorable game has stuck in another person’s memory other then my own. I just happened upon your website while searching the internet for highlights from my three years of H.S. football. What an interesting site, full of knowledge and history. Just an interesting tidbit concerning that game. I had missed that whole week of practice passing a kidney stone. That Fri. morning before we were to leave for Kemmerrer it looked like I wasn’t going to be able to go. Then that morning a couple hours before leaving I passed the stone and was able to travel with the team. I almost wasn’t able to play a part in Newcastle’s “Biggest win”. Sure glad it worked out that I did. Thank you for your time and effort put into your website.
Regards,
Jason Logan
P.S. Do you have access to any video footage of Newcastle 94,95, and 96 seasons? I would love to share these memories with my children. Thanks!
Thanks for the kind words, Jason. I appreciate you sharing your story about the kidney stone. Ouch! Glad that everything worked out for you and for the team.
I don’t have any video for Newcastle around then; your best bet would be to contact the school directly. Those tapes have a way of getting shoved in a box and putting hing on a shelf and sitting there for years. If they exist, that’s probably where they are. I know when I was playing, I was always amazed to see game tapes from 15 years earlier in our equipment storage room; kind of makes me wonder if they are still there. Hmmm….
Anyway, thanks again!
–patrick