CURWENSVILLE – On the final home game of the season for the Curwensville Golden Tide, head coach Andy Evanko’s squad wore down the Elk County Catholic Crusaders on the ground, but utilized their passing game to put points on the board in a 22-12 victory. Coach Evanko was quick to praise his quarterback David Kalgren, who went 9 of 13 for 114 yards with three touchdowns plus an interception on defense.
“It was pretty evident that Kalgren had a huge night for us on both sides of the football,” said Evanko after the game.
The Crusaders had success on the ground all night, gaining 209 yards against the Tide defense. Leading rusher Ricky Pearsall accounted for 138 of those yards, including one touchdown. Quarterback Joe Jacob accounted for the other score for the Crusaders, while only going 1 for 6 passing for only six yards, including an interception.
Scoring was hard to come by early in the game, with the first score coming three minutes into the second quarter via Kalgren’s first touchdown pass on the night to Jed Greslick. The extra point gave Curwensville a 7-0 lead. However, Elk County Catholic responded by going back to fundamental football, driving 80 yards in 12 plays, consuming nearly seven minutes of the second quarter. The drive was capped off by Jacob rushing three yards for the score, but the missed extra point left the score 7-6 at halftime.
After a three-and-out by Curwensville to start the third quarter, the Crusaders once again went back to the ground game, but it was Ricky Pearsall breaking free from the Golden Tide defense for a 40-yard touchdown run to give Elk County Catholic its first lead in the game. The failed two-point conversion made the score 12-7.
The Crusaders kicked the ensuing kickoff out of bounds, which would have given the Tide the ball at their own 40, but Evanko elected to have Elk County Catholic kick the ball again from the 35-yardline. The second attempt immediately hit a Curwensville player, yielding a loose ball, which was covered by Curwensville at the Crusader 49.. The run game worked early in the drive for Curwensville, but the Golden Tide were left with a 4th and 15 from the Crusader 30.
At that moment, the momentum began shifting, as Kalgren completed a deep pass to Sam Gardner, who got behind three Crusader defenders, for a touchdown. The ensuing two-point conversion was successful as Greslick ran in from two yards out, giving the lead back to Curwensville 15-12.
Kalgren capped off a successful night in the fourth quarter, leading an 11-play, 53-yard drive that took up half the quarter. Jesse Hoover got in on the scoring as he made a leaping grab in the corner of the end zone between two Crusader defenders. The extra point gave the Tide the 22-12 lead, which remained for the rest of the game.
Coach Evanko was quick to point out that despite the win; there was still work to be done with two games remaining on the schedule.
“We won, but we want to get better every day,” said Evanko.
Curwensville (6-1) travels to Johnsonburg (5-2) to face the Rams next Friday night, while Elk County Catholic (5-2) plays host to Brockway next Saturday night. Both games are slated for a 7 p..m. kickoff.
GAME STATISTICS
Elk County Catholic Curwensville
FIRST DOWNS 10 10
RUSH YARDS 209 87
PASS YARDS 6 114
TOTAL YARDS 215 201
COMP/ATT/TD/INT 1/6/0/1 9/13/3/0
PENALTIES/YARDS 4/31 4/30
TIME OF POSSESSION 24:58 23:02
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Elk County Catholic: Pearsall-28 carries, 139 yards, TD; Catalano-8 carries, 14 yards; Jacob-1 carry, 3 yards, TD
Curwensville: Greslick-18 carries, 17 yards; McGary-8 carries, 19 yards; Kalgren-6 carries, 24 yards; Bloom-2 carries, 10 yards
PASSING: Elk County Catholic: Jacob-1 for 6, 6 yards, INT
Curwensville: Kalgren-9 for 13, 114 yards, 3 TD
RECEIVING: Elk County Catholic: Bauer-1 catch, 6 yards
Curwensville: Greslick-4 catches, 42 yards, TD; Hoover-3 catches, 42 yards, TD; Gardner-1 catch, 30 yards, TD
BOX SCORE
2nd Quarter
GT: 10-yard pass from Kalgren to Greslick (PAT Good)
ECC: 3-yard run by Jacob (PAT failed)
3rd Quarter
ECC: 40-yard run by Pearsall (2 point conversion No Good)
GT: 30-yard pass from Kalgren to Gardner (2-point conversion Good)
4th Quarter
GT: 13-yard pass from Kalgren to Hoover (PAT Good)