Following two weeks of being on the road and in very tough weather conditions, the Curwensville Golden Tide returns home on Friday night. Their opposition this week will be the Johnsonburg Rams.
The season is getting down to its end, with teams vying for positioning in the District 9 playoff standings. Curwensville secured their playoff spot last week with their 28-8 win against Elk County Catholic. Currently, the Tide is seeded No. 3 with just two games left in the regular season. Three other teams have the same record, so victories are becoming more important as the season draws to a close.
This game last year showed both the good and bad in each team. The game was marred by penalties on both sides of the ball, including six personal foul calls. Head coach Andy Evanko said afterwards that it was “an ugly game.”
However, despite that statistic, Curwensville put together a spectacular game as they doubled up Johnsonburg for the 42-21 victory. Leading the way on that night was Jed Greslick, who had his best game of the entire season. Greslick ended the night with 136 yards rushing and four second-half touchdowns. Not to be outdone, Curwensville quarterback David Kalgren had his arm working very well as he threw for 285 yards and a touchdown against the Johnsonburg defense.
Greslick has played exceptionally well this year. He is just 68 yards away from 1000 on the year. Those yards have been hard to come by the last three weeks as the Tide has dealt with heavy rain and muddy fields. This Friday may have some of the same as the forecast is again calling for rain starting in the afternoon and going into the evening. If that’s the case, watch for Greslick to be the workhorse of the team.
One of the surprises coming out of last week’s victory had to be quarterback Sam Gardner. The harsh conditions did not look to favor any passing game, but Gardner proved otherwise. He ended the night going 5 of 6 for 88 yards and throwing for two touchdowns.
Coach Evanko was crediting his quarterback for his play and that will give him a lot of confidence heading back home against the Rams.
Johnsonburg is also in the thick of the playoff hunt, but have not yet clinched their spot. Sitting at 3-4, the Rams are coming off of a 41-20 loss to Brockway.
This is no cake walk for the Tide. The Rams have shown that they can compete with the top teams this year in the Allegany Mountain League. Johnsonburg could surprise a lot of people coming into Friday night.
Quarterback Andy Nortum has thrown for nearly 900 yards this year and eight touchdowns, with six of those scores going to wide receive Joe Holmberg. The Rams also have two very good runningbacks in Vince Vavala and Trey Dececchis.
Curwensville is not taking Johnsonburg lightly. This will be a great game even if the weather doesn’t cooperate. Kickoff at Riverside Stadium will be at 7 p.m.