WESTMINSTER-ALLEGHENY Castillo drills game-winning kick

The Fitch High graduate accounted for all of the Titans' points.
By BILL ALBRIGHT
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MEADVILLE -- For Westminster and Allegheny, it was deja vu one more time Saturday at Robertson Field.
During their meetings in both 2003 and 2004, the teams battled to overtime with the visiting team winning both contests.
Saturday, the clubs completed the three-peat performance, as the Titans (1-1) outlasted the Gators (0-1) for a 12-9 win in the first overtime.
"This is a huge win for us," said Westminster coach Jeff Hand. "When you can pull out a win like this one, you just have to be real proud of the entire team as well as the program. As ironic as it is, the last three years have been overtime and it has kind of swung back forth and, today, it swung our way."
Career best
With the game on the line, Titan kicker Chris Castillo (Fitch) drilled a career-best 43-yard field goal for the game-winner. For Castillo, the game-winner was his fourth field goal of the game in as many attempts as he scored all 12 of Westminster's points.
Castillo's first field goal of the game was a 23-yard effort to give the Titans a 3-0 lead, and his next two, which covered 22 and 29 yards, respectively, brought Westminster from a 9-3 deficit to a 9-9 tie, setting up his overtime heroics.
"I just remind myself to do the same thing every single time," said Castillo about his perfect afternoon. "I don't try to focus on the yardage, I try and block out the crowd and I just take my steps back, line up and kick the ball."
As for the game-winner, Castillo admitted that he felt a little more pressure with the game on the line.
"Definitely, definitely," Castillo said. "Mentally I started preparing myself before we even got to fourth down. In regulation, once we get to the 50-yard line, I begin preparing myself for the possible kick. That way when I get out there, there is nothing to stress over and I just do what I have to do."
While the game was very satisfying for Castillo and his teammates, it was somewhat bittersweet for Gator tailback Patsy Malie (Mooney). Coming off the bench, Malie led all rushers with 168 yards on 18 carries, his best effort of 19 yards coming on Allegheny's first play from scrimmage in the overtime that carried to a first-and-goal at the Westminster 6-yard line.
"I am happy with my effort, but I would trade it in a minute for the win instead of the tough loss," said Malie. "Personally, I just have to keep working hard and trying to improve. If I do that, hopefully next week will not end up like this."
If there was a negative for the Titans it was coming away with only three points each time they penetrated the red zone.
Points are points
"I guess you can look at it that at least we got points," said Hand. "According to the stats, that makes us one hundred percent efficient in the red zone and as long as the defense was playing OK defense, we were able to hang in there."
Allegheny coach Mark Matlack was quick to point out that his team also wasted a number of opportunities.
"We fumbled the ball away twice, threw an interception, didn't have a guy on the field goal team and committed a senseless personal foul," he said. "For us right now, it is just a matter of eliminating those kinds of mistakes and, today, Westminster made more plays than we did. Right now, we are back to the drawing board and will try to crank it up again next week."
For the Titans, Sean Buggey rushed for 78 yards on 25 carries, while Eddie Williams added 64 on 18 carries.