CURWENSVILLE – On a night that saw the crowning of Jefferson Thomas and Hannah Long as homecoming king and queen, the Curwensville Golden Tide gave the packed stands a lot to cheer about as they muscled past the Otto-Eldred Terrors, 48-12. Head Coach Andy Evanko was pleased with the performance of the team.
“We’re coming together, guys,” said Evanko to his team shortly after the game.
The Golden Tide did not start the game the way they wanted as Otto-Eldred started with an 80-yard drive that put the Terrors up 6-0 early. A majority of the yardage on the drive came on a pass from Shawn Barnish to running back Mark Beckwith. Shortly afterwards, Drew Coscia ran in from six yards.
“Giving up that long run on the first drive is not what we wanted to do,” said Evanko.
The Golden Tide answered back, going 85 yards on only four plays. Quarterback David Kalgren capped off the long drive with a 20-yard pass to Jesse Hoover to tie the score, 6-6.
Momentum shifted quickly on the next drive for the Terrors as Barnish threw an interception right to Kalgren, who returned the ball 32 yards for the touchdown. With the two point conversion, Curwensville went ahead 14-6.
The Terrors were forced to punt on their following drive, but the punt was downed inside the one-yard line. That didn’t seem to bother Curwensville as the offense drove 99 yards on nine plays, capped off with another passing touchdown from Kalgren to Hoover. The extra point was missed, leaving the score 20-6.
Otto-Eldred could not get momentum back in their favor as Barnish threw his second interception of the game; this time being picked off by Ben McGary. Curwensville took advantage of the second turnover and scored again on a three-yard run by Nick Opaliski. A successful two-point conversion made the score 28-6. On the next Terrors possession, Barnish was intercepted a third time by Hoover, and the Tide turned it into points as Kalgren threw his third touchdown pass of the night to Sam Gardner. Another successful two-point conversion made the score 36-6 at halftime..
“We were just taking what they were giving us. We’ve got a heck of a quarterback and our running backs were blocking real well,” said Evanko.
The second half saw more of the same as Curwensville took the opening second half kickoff down to the Terrors 39-yard line. Three minutes later, Kalgren got his fourth passing touchdown on a five-yard strike to Derek Dixon. A failed extra point made the score 42-6.
After an Otto-Eldred three-and-out, Curwensville scored its final touchdown on a Ben McGary three-yard run. Another missed extra point made the score 48-6.
The Terrors managed to put together a 12 play, 77 yard drive in the fourth quarter capped off with a three-yard touchdown run from Beckwith.
Otto-Eldred (0-2) hosts the Ridgway Elkers next week, while Curwensville (2-0) is on the road to face the Coudersport Falcons.
STATISTICS:
Otto-Eldred Curwensville
First Downs: 9 15
Rush Yards: 102 225
Pass Yards: 101 168
Total Yards: 203 393
Fumbles/Lost: 1/0 2/0
Turnovers: 3 0
Time of Possession: 26:15 21:45
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS:
RUSHING- TIDE: Jed Greslick- 61 yards, TD
TERRORS: Logan Kellogg-23 yards
PASSING- TIDE: David Kalgren-9/10, 168 yards, 4 TD,
TERRORS: Shawn Barnish: 5/13, 101 yards, 3 INT
RECEIVING- TIDE: Jesse Hoover: 78 yards, 2 TD, Sam Gardner: 43 yards, TD
TERRORS: Mark Beckwith: 76 yards
BOX SCORE:
First Quarter:
TERRORS: 6 yard run by Coscia (Kick Failed), 9:11
TIDE: 20 yard pass from Kalgren to Hoover (Kick Failed), 7:54
TIDE: 32 yard Interception return by Kalgren (2-point conversion successful), 6:51
Second Quarter:
TIDE: 37 yard pass from Kalgren to Hoover (Kick Failed), 10:43
TIDE: 3 yard run by Greslick (2-point conversion successful), 2:44
TIDE: 43 yard pass from Kalgren to Gardner (2-point conversion successful), 0:07
Third Quarter:
TIDE: 5 yard pass from Kalgren to Dixon (Kick Failed), 8:57
TIDE: 3 yard run by McGary (Kick Failed), 1:24
Fourth Quarter:
TERRORS: 6 yard run by Beckwith (Kick Failed), 5:44