CURWENSVILLE – Simply put, the young 2007 Curwensville Area High School football team has an almost impossible act to follow.
The task for coach Andy Evanko and his staff is to keep the 40-player squad focused on creating its own identity and, thus, continuing the Golden Tide\’s winning tradition of this decade.
Glancing back to the recent past would result in unnecessary pressure for a team with 12 lettermen but only three seniors, perhaps the fewest in the school\’s history.
Over the last three seasons, the Golden Tide won 22 of 25 regular-season games in the Allegheny Mountain League and was a glittering 30-7 overall, with five of the losses to AML rival Coudersport the last two years.
The 2004 squad rolled to the first of three consecutive AML-South Division titles, the AML and District 9 Class A championships and the school\’s only PIAA playoff victory before losing 20-12 to Rochester in the Western Final for a 12-1 record. The 2005 and 2006 teams lost to Coudy in the AML title showdowns as well as the district playoffs to finish 8-3 and 10-3, respectively.
Most of the dozen seniors who wore the Gold and Black for the final time last fall played on all of those teams, including a trio of All-Staters who rank among the greatest ever to play their positions at Curwensville.
Record-breaking running back Nick Sipes was selected as a first-team linebacker on The Associated Press and Pennsylvania Football News Class A All-State Team after earning second-team honors at running back as a junior, while quarterback-defensive back Shawn Sopic and offensive tackle Sam Kephart were named to the 2006 second unit by both organizations, Sopic for his sparkling play on defense.
The trio of four-year lettermen received additional honors, as did three other seniors on last season\’s team, running back-outside linebacker Brandon Hess, defensive back Philip Michaels and tight end Brandon McDonald..
Evanko lauded all of those players as well as linemen Joe Hawkins and Jared Skebo, outside linebacker Matt Holland, wideout-outside linebacker Cody Botzman, split end Evan Olson and tight end-linebacker Brandon Padgett for the impact they had on the Golden Tide program.
\”You won\’t find many classes with the success those guys had,\” Evanko said. \”And most of them played on both sides of the ball. We took some big-league hits.\”
The Curwensville offense, in particular, took a big hit. More than 96 percent of the rushing yards and 99 percent of the passing yards were accumulated by seniors.
So, did 2007 graduation signal the end of a golden era?
Evanko, who enters his eighth season at his alma mater with a 60-20 record, doesn\’t think so. He couldn\’t mask his excitement about the overall talent and attitude.
\”We may have a small senior class, but we have a good bunch of juniors and a very good bunch of sophomores and freshmen,\” he said. \”The kids have to play up to a little bit higher level. Hopefully, if we can do that, we can stay competitive. There are no breathers on our schedule. You can\’t afford to take a day off in practice. And with a nine-game schedule, every one counts.
\”Our main goal is to be a better team every time we step on to the field. That was our goal on Day One and I imagine that will be our goal in Week Nine. And we\’ve seen that in this group\’s work ethic and enthusiasm.\”
Curwensville\’s letterwinners are seniors Nick Caldwell, Trevor Horton and Derek Johnson and juniors Cory Bloom, Mark Dell\’Antonio, Derek Dixon, Levi Guy, Jesse Hoover, David Kalgren, Ben McGary, Nathan Russell and Andrew Starr.
Russell is a two-way standout who was named the AML-South center and rated honorable mention as an offensive lineman on the Pennsylvania Football News Class A All-State Team last year. Second on the team with 63 tackles and the sack leader with seven, he was honored by The (Clearfield) Progress for his defense as a down lineman and linebacker.
Horton, a two-year starter on offense, was pegged as one of the guards on the AML-South All-Star Team, while Hoover and Kalgren were named to the All-Progressland second team at split end and defensive back, respectively.
Kalgren, who was the Golden Tide\’s long snapper as a freshman, will be the new leader of the offense after two seasons as junior varsity quarterback. Limited to mop-up duty late in one-side wins last year, Kalgren completed his only pass for eight yards and kept the ball five times while running out the clock, but Evanko is very confident he will get the job done.
\”David knows the system and know what we\’re trying to do,\” Evanko explained. \”It\’s a luxury when you have someone who knows where everybody is supposed to be on every play. He\’s a very athletic and talented kid. He has big shoes to fill, but we have full confidence in him.\”
Sophomore Sam Gardner will back up Kalgren.
Hoover again will the go-to receiver after catching almost half of Sopic\’s completions. His 19 receptions produced 401 yards, eighth highest in District 9, and four touchdowns. His 21.1-yard average has to rank with the best in Golden Tide history, especially for a sophomore.
Dell\’Antonio and Johns provide very good depth at split end, while junior Jeff Thomas (4 carries, 16 yards) has been moved from running back to slotback and Dixon takes over at tight end. Slotback Shae Best and tight end Jake Pentz, two of seven freshmen on the roster, will be backups.
\”We\’re blessed with a nice group of receivers,\” Evanko said.
The underclassmen backs didn\’t get much of an opportunity to showcase their talent last fall, combining for only 142 yards for 37 carries.
Topping the list was Bloom with 68 yards for five carries, including a 37-yard touchdown against Smethport. He and Johnson will share the fullback role.
\”They\’re two different style runners,\” Evanko pointed out. \”Derek goes full speed at whatever he does and is more of a stick-in-your-face runner, while Cory has more shiftiness. Derek started for us at tight end (last year). We moved him down there to fill a void we had.\”
McGary (8-35), junior Nick Opaliski (2-6) and soph Jed Greslick will provide a change of pace at tailback for Golden Tide fans after five seasons of watching the big, powerful Sipes brothers, Nate and Nick, pound the opposition.
\”All three are very talented,\” Evanko said. \”Ben has a ton of potential, and we expect huge things from him. He\’s got speed and quickness and is very athletic. Nick brought a lot to our scrimmages. He has a great burst of speed and great vision. And we think Jed is going to make a major contribution back there.\”
Evanko is content with the running back-by-committee approach.
\”We\’ve been down this road before,\” he said. \”It\’s like going back to the early 200s, when we rotated backs. If anything, it gives us fresh legs and fresh people coming at you all the time. We\’re excited with the group we have. I think we\’ll see them make a pretty big impact back there.\”
Up front, center Russell and guards Horton and Brian Zemba, sophomore, are locked into positions. With Caldwell nursing an injury, juniors Walter Koontz and Justin Maney and sophomore Jonathan Michaels are dueling for the starting jobs at tackle. Kyle Irwin, another freshman, is expected to see action at guard, too.
Evanko believes the O-line has the potential to be a very good unit.
Defensively, the Golden Tide\’s 4-4 also needed almost a complete overhaul after losing five of the top seven tacklers in Sipes, Sopic, Holland, Michaels and Hess as well as Hawkins, McDonald and Botzman.
Evanko will reload with ends Horton, Michaels and Caldwell, tackles Zemba, Koontz, Maney and Irwin, inside linebackers Russell, Bloom and Guy, outside linebackers Hoover, Johnson and Thomas, cornerbacks McGary, Kalgren, Johns and Dell\’Antonio and safeties Gardner and Greslick. Any combination of those players could be on the field at any time.
\”The defense has come along quite a bit in practice, and we\’re happy with them,\” Evanko said.
Curwensville couldn\’t open with a tougher opponent in its 7 p.m. game at Coudersport Friday.
They\’ve been the dominant teams in the AML since Curwensville joined in 1999.
The Falcons have a 73-17 record and have won five North Division titles and tied for first place in two other years. They\’ve played in the last five AML championship games, winning the last two titles to go with the one they claimed in 2001 with an 18-13 victory over Curwensville.
The Golden Tide has a 66-24 record with five South Division crowns and AML championships in 2000 and 2004, when it defeated Coudersport 26-14.
However, Coudersport truly has become are Curwensville\’s nemesis, winning nine of 11 meetings, including the last five in a row. In 2005, the Falcons prevailed 41-13 in the AML title game and 28-26 in a District 9 Class A semifinal. Last year, they won 20-12 in the season opener, 14-6 in the AML title game and 48-21 in the 9-A championship game.
The Falcons have to be rated on the short list of AML favorites again this season, as Paul Simcoe, District 9\’s all-time winningest coach at 196-75-8 for 27 seasons, has 15 letterman who\’ve played on back-to-back 13-1 teams.
Despite the loss of nine senior standouts, eight of whom Simcoe regarded as \”tough as anybody you can get,\” the Falcons boast a talented, deep roster again.
Coudersport will not alternate seniors Brian \”Boomer\” Wetzel (5-11, 180) and Justin Kinder (5-11, 175) at quarterback this season. Kinder has been moved to wide receiver to join a corps Simcoe rates as good as he\’s ever had, giving Wetzel plenty of options in his third year as a starter.
Other returning starters are tackle Even Abplanalp (6-0, 275), wingbacks Derek Burdick (5-10, 170) and Brett Whitman (6-0, 180), fullback-linebacker Adam Foust (5-11, 185), fullback-linebacker Carin Knight (5-10, 175) and safeties Colton Corey (6-0, 175) and Dirk Cowburn (5-11, 165). Abplanalp and Whitman are juniors; Cowburn is a sophomore.
Linemen Case DeGroff (5-8, 190), Mike Dunn (6-2, 245), Skyler Gibble (5-10, 175) and Brian Smith (6-0, 210) and backs Kyle Gee (5-7, 150) and Tim Thomas (5-9, 145) also are lettermen.
Gee, Thomas, Foust and Knight are expected to shoulder the load in the backfield.
Evanko has no illusions about ranking Coudersport, which has won 39 regular season league games in a row, with Cameron County, Kane and Ridgway as AML championship contenders.
\”They\’re always well coached, always well prepared,\” he said. \”We\’re anticipating a hard-fought game. We have to come off the bus ready to play.\”
That was a hallmark of the last year\’s Golden Tide seniors.
Sipes, whose work ethic and leadership set the tone, ran and kicked his way into the Curwensville and District 9 history books in his four seasons, two of which featured his brother Nate as the No. 1 running back. Nick raised the bar for rushing yards (5,963), touchdowns (84) and points (600).
The bruising 5-11, 215-pounder, who was a second-team all-state running back after his junior season, capped his career by rambling for 1,987 yards on 336 carries and scoring 31 touchdowns and 227 points to earn The Progress and DuBois Courier\’s Tri-County Sunday Player of the Year honors for the second year in a row. Sipes, who saw his streak of 35 games with at least 100 yards rushing snapped by Coudersport in the District 9 championship game, also shared d9Sports.com\’s District 9 Offensive Player of the Year award with Coudy standout back Chris Cavallari and was third in balloting for Defensive Player of the Year after making 90 tackles and one interception.
Sopic moved into the starter\’s role early in his freshman season and went on to become Curwensville\’s finest all-around signal-caller. His career totals showed 262 carries for 1,595 yards and 20 TDs and 137 completions in 324 pass attempts for 2,414 yards and 28 TDs.
Last season, Sopic finished ninth in District 9 in rushing with 127 carries for 945 yards, a 7.4 average, and ninth in passing yards with 885 on 44 completions in 107 attempts. The 6-2, 195-pounder\’s seven interceptions were tops in District 9 players. John Yonker of Johnsonburg and D.J. Horton of Kane matched that total. Sopic was named first-team as an offensive specialist and, for the second year, defensive back by The Progress and first-team defensive back by The Courier.
Kephart\’s blocking was instrumental for the tremendous success of the Golden Tide running game the last four seasons. In addition to his all-state honors, the 6-1, 290-pounder also was a first-team all-star for the Progressland and Tri-County Sunday Teams.
All three standouts were recruited by Clarion University. Sipes, who was moved to strong safety, and Sopic, a free safety, have made the traveling squad. Kephart has decided not to continue his football career.
Sipes Sopic and Kephart were joined on the AML-South All-Star team by defensive standouts Hess and Michaels, who had more than 40 tackles apiece. Hess, also was a key cog on offense for the Golden Tide as a lead back for Sipes and the third rushing option, finishing 30th in District 9 with 424 yards for 89 carries. He caught seven passes for 138 yards and scored five touchdowns.
The Progress selected Hess and Michaels, who six interceptions, on its first-team defense and McDonald as a second-team tight end.
The 2007 Golden Tide roster, including offensive and defensive positions:
Seniors – Nick Caldwell, OT-DT; Trevor Horton OG-DE; Derek Johnson RB-OLB.
Juniors – Tyler Bennett, OL-DT; Cory Bloom RB-ILB; Mark Dell\’Antonio SE-DB; Derek Dixon, TE-OLB; Levi Guy, RB-ILB; Jesse Hoover SE-OLB; Tyler Johns SE-DB; David Kalgren QB-DB; Walter Koontz OT-DT; Ethan Makin SE-DB; Justin Maney OT-DE; Ben McGary RB-DB; Nick Opaliski RB-OLB; Nathan Russell C-ILB; Justin Smith SE-OLB; Andrew Starr WR-DB; Jeff Thomas WR-OLB; Erik Winkelman SE-DB.
Sophomores – Denton Best OL-DE; Brandon Dale SE-DB; Sam Gardner QB-DB; Jed Greslick RB-DB; Daniel Hess WR-DB; Nick Hullihen OL-DT; Richie Michael RB-ILB; Jonathan Michaels OL-DE; Brett Sutika RB-DB; Robbie Tubbs, SE-DB; Billy White OL-DE; Brian Zemba OG-DT.
Freshmen – Shae Best, WR-OLB; Jeremy Bloom, RB-ILB; Kyle Irwin OG-DE; Shelby McGary SE-DB; Jake Pentz, TE-ILB; Alec Starr RB-ILB; Jordan Stephens OL-DT.
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The Curwensville football schedules:
Varsity – Aug. 31, Coudersport (7 p.m.); Sept. 7, Elk County Catholic (7 p.m.); 14, at Brockway (7:30 p.m.); 21, at Cameron County (7 p.m.); 28, Johnsonburg (7 p.m.); Oct. 5, at Kane (7 p.m.); 12, at Smethport (7 p.m.); 19, Ridgway (7 p.m.); 26, Sheffield (7 p.m.)
Junior Varsity – Sept. 17, at Brockway (6 p.m.); 24, Cameron County (6 p.m.); Oct. 1, at Elk County Catholic (4 p.m.); 8, Marion Center (6 p.m.); 15, Kane (6 p.m.); 22, Ridgway (6 p.m.)
Junior High – Sept. 6, at Clarion (6 p.m.); 20, Cameron County (6 p.m.); 27, Elk County Catholic (6 p.m.); Oct. 4, at Johnsonburg (6 p.m.); 11, Kane (6 p.m.); 18, at Ridgway (6 p.m.); 25, Brockway (6 p.m.)
Seventh and Eighth Grades – Sept. 8, at Clearfield (10 a.m.); 18, at Northern Cambria (4 p.m.); 22, Clearfield (10 a.m.); 27, Brookville (5 p.m.); Oct. 2, at Moshannon Valley (4 p.m.); 13, West Branch (10 a.m.); 25, Brockway (5 p.m.)