CURWENSVILLE — For three quarters, it was a close contest between the Curwensville Golden Tide and the Coudersport Falcons at Riverside Stadium Friday night.
Both teams traded blows back and forth like a heavyweight battle, as Curwensville held a 14-6 lead. But in the final quarter, Curwensville turned it up a notch and soundly defeated the Falcons 33-6 to earn a date with Ridgway next week in the PIAA Class A District 9 semifinals.
Golden Tide running back Nick Stewart ran for 248 yards and four scores, including two long runs for touchdowns that put the game away. Curwensville’s defense only let up 41 yards on the ground and 168 total yards of offense.
“Defensively, it’s a testament to our kids,” Curwensville assistant coach Chris Folmar said. “We had a defensive plan in and basically ended up scratching it and went back to some of our base stuff. Our seniors, Eli (Jacobs), (Zach) Marshall, Bryce Timko, Kaleb Witherite, all those guys as far as the perimeter (did well). Our corners, (Josh) Terry and Marshall … they did a great job adjusting and they basically took that upon themselves after the first couple of series.”
“They just took over the game from the line of scrimmage,” Falcons head coach Ben Cary said. “That’s the name of the game in football is you’ve got to win on the line of scrimmage. And they did a good job … of taking care of business. My hat’s off to Curwensville. They’re a good football team. They’ve got a heck of a coaching staff. (Head coach Andy) Evanko’s been doing this for a long time and he’s a fantastic coach. I wish Curwensville the best. They wanted it more tonight than we did and they executed more plays.”
The Golden Tide outgained the Falcons in total yards by a 425-168 margin, including 339 of those yards coming on the ground.
“Nick Stewart is a special kid,” Folmar said. “We know that and he works his face off, too. But he can’t do that without the guys upfront and the guys on the edge, especially Avery Francisco, Eli (Jacobs), Kaleb (Witherite) … and along with our interior linemen. These guys do a great job.”
Stewart and the Golden Tide didn’t waste any time in the opening drive, methodically moving down the field for a five yard score with 8:27 left in the first quarter, giving Curwensville a 7-0 lead. Coudersport answered right back on a 16-play, 65 yard drive that capped off with a Derek Keglovits 8-yard touchdown reception from Aaron Wolfinger with 2:38 left in the first quarter. Coudersport went for two and the run failed, giving the Golden Tide a 7-6 lead.
Coudersport led its attack on the arm of Wolfinger, as he went 14-of-26 for 127 yards.
“Our thought process coming in was that it was going to be tough to run the ball,” Cary said. “They’re pretty stout upfront and we’re obviously undersized. And that’s not an excuse, but we knew they would pack the box in our run formations and make things difficult for us, and they did that. We did have some success through the air. Obviously we would’ve loved to had more success, but they’re a good football team.”
Curwensville got on the board once again in the middle of the second quarter with a one-yard score by Kaleb Witherite. Madison Weber’s extra point gave Curwensville a 14-6 lead.
From there, the score stayed the same until early on in the fourth quarter, thanks in part to some defensive stops by both teams. After Coudersport was in Curwensville territory and turned it over on downs, the Golden Tide only needed two plays from there to stretch the lead. Stewart took a handoff up the middle from the team’s own 38-yard line and went 62 more yards to the house. Weber’s extra point gave Curwensville a 21-6 lead with 11:12 left in the game.
Coudersport was picked off on the next drive by Josh Terry and Curwensville essentially ended Coudersport’s playoff chances with its next score with 5:28 left in the game. The Golden Tide went for it on fourth-and-14 at the Falcons’ 28-yard line. Timko threw it up to Stewart in single coverage and the running back was able to come down with the ball near the sidelines for a 28-yard score. Stewart and Curwensville added another touchdown for extra measure just 1:01 later in the game, setting the final score at 33-6.
Folmar was extremely pleased with the team’s effort, as they will play one-seed Ridgway in the PIAA Class A District 9 semi-finals at a neutral site and time to be determined.
“We’ve done a lot of growing up the past couple weeks,” Folmar said. “We’ve come to practice and have worked really hard. We’re excited. We’re taking it one day at a time. We’re going to get ready and keep working hard this week. As long as our kids want to come and work hard … We’ve grown up some. We’re back, we’re healthy and we’ll have one more shot at it.”
Coudersport finishes its season with a first round playoff exit after going 5-4 in the regular season.
Our program is going in the right direction,” Cary said. “I told the kids before we left the field, we’ve made so many steps in the right direction and there’s steps that people wouldn’t even realize, unless you were a coach or part of the program. It’s just the little things, and the little things is what’s going to turn around the program … and get Coudersport football back to where it should be — at the top of the AML and battling for district championships and AML (titles) every year. But it takes works … you’ve got to go to work … that’s what we’ll do and hopefully build upon this season into the next year.”
