PORT ALLEGANY — Curwensville’s Nick Stewart became District 9’s all-time rushing leader with 229 yards and five touchdowns in the unbeaten Golden Tide’s 56-13 victory over Port Allegany in Allegheny Mountain League football action Friday.
Stewart, a senior, carried the ball 17 times and now has 6,046 yards for his career. The old record of 5,963 yards was set in by former Tide running back Nick Sipes.
Stewart scored two touchdowns in the first quarter on runs of 11 and 15 yards, but then exploded for three scores in the third period. He opened the second half with a 70-yard burst, followed that with a seven-yard scamper and closed out his night with a 55-yard run.
Despite the final score, Gators’ fans were able to enjoy the fact that their team put the first points of the game on the board when Trey Stiles returned the opening kickoff 75 yards for the score. The PAT was no good but Port was on the board and had the lead.
Curwensville took control from there with Avery Francisco’s four-yard TD knotting the score at 6-6. Quarterback Bryce Timko’s pass to Stewart added the conversion and put the Tide in the lead for good, 8-6.
Two Stewart TD runs closed out the first quarter, with the guests up 22-6.
With 3:32 left in the second period, Timko found Franciso open for a 17-yard scoring strike and Madison Weber kicked the PAT to make it 29-6 at the half.
Stewart capped his night with three scores in the third period, while Timko picked up his second touchdown pass of the game and Weber converted all three of his extra point kicks for a 56-6 lead headed into the final 12 minutes of play.
The Gators closed out the night’s scoring on a Jared Mahon pass completion to Trey Stiles that was good for 55 yards and a Bryce Baker kicked extra point for the final 56-13 margin.
BY QUARTERS
Curwensville 22 7 27 0—56
Port 6 0 0 7—13
TEAM STATISTICS
First Downs: Curwensville 21, Port 8; Rushes/Yards Rushing: Curwensville 37-309, Port 26-54; Yards Passing: Curwensville 150, Port 70; Comp-Att-Int: Curwensville 13-18-0, Port 3-9-0; Punts: Curwensville 0-0, Port 5-34.2 avg; Penalties: Curwensville 9-70, Port 8-70; Fumbles-Lost: Curwensville 1-1, Port 3-2; Total Yards: Curwensville 459, Port 124; Offensive Plays: Curwensville 55, Port 35
