CURWENSVILLE – For the ninth straight year the Curwensville Area High School football team opened a new season with a victory under long time Head Coach Andy Evanko.
Friday night at the Golden Tide’s Riverside Stadium Curwensville stopped the Red Raiders of Cameron County with a 37-20 win.
Junior running back Nick Stewart led the Golden Tide offense with 230 yards on 19 carries and scored four rushing touchdowns. With those four scores Stewart now has reached the end zone 49 times in his career.
With expected opening game mistakes and penalties, the first quarter ran close to 40 minutes in length as flags flew and fumbles hit the ground for both sides.
Stewart scored his first touchdown on a 55 yard run at 7:43 of the opening quarter and then added the two point conversion giving Curwensville an early 8-0 edge.
Junior Quarterback Adam Streich for the Red Raiders scored with 0.7 remaining in the first quarter on a 29 yard run. The try for two was unsuccessful and the Tide had an 8-6 lead after one quarter.
The Tide would score two more times in the second frame to one for the Red Raiders.
A bruising 10 yard run by junior Matt Carter gave Curwensville a 14-6 margin after the failed extra point attempt on a bad snap at the 8:46 mark of the second. Carter, who was hit by four to five Raider defenders, ended up literally carrying a few of them into the end zone with him.
Cameron County struck back with 6:43 to go before halftime on a six yard pass from Streich to running back Tristan Reed. Once again the Raider try for two failed making it 14-12 in favor of the Tide.
Stewart stretched the Curwensville lead before the intermission with 3:32 on the clock on a five yard run and the two point conversion run by junior quarterback Bryce Timko upped the Tide lead to 22-12 at the break.
Curwensville scored the lone touchdown of the third quarter with Stewart scoring from 10 yards out, his third of the contest. Sophomore kicker Madison Weber added the extra point making it 29-12 Golden Tide with 3:24 to go before the final stanza.
The squads traded scores in the final 12 minutes. Stewart for the Tide on a nine yard run and back-up running back Luiz Patricio of the Red Raiders on an eight yard scamper.
Stewart picked up the two point conversion on a run as did Patricio for Cameron County setting the final at 37-20 in favor of Curwensville.
The Tide are home again in week two, taking on visiting Smethport with kickoff scheduled for 7 pm for the Friday night battle.
Smethport lost to Bradford Friday night, 41-6.
As always, listen to Golden Tide football on WOKW-FM, 102.9, with the pre-game beginning at 6:40 pm.
SCORING SUMMARY
CAMERON COUNTY 6 6 0 8 20
CURWENSVILLE 8 14 7 8 37
1st QUARTER
CURW 7:43 – 55 yard run by Nick Stewart, Stewart two point conversion run 8 0
CAM CO 0.7 – Adam Streich 29 yard run, Try for two point conversion no good 8 6
2nd QUARTER
CURW 8:46 – 10 yard run by Matt Carter, PAT attempt no good 14 6
CAM CO. 6:03 – 6 yard pass from Streich to Tristan Reed, Try for two point conversion no good 14 12
CURW 3:32 – 5 yard run by Stewart, Bryce Timko two point conversion run 22 12 `
3rd QUARTER
CURW 3:24 – 10 yard run Stewart, Madison Weber PAT 29 12
4th QUARTER
CURW 10:08 – 9 yard run by Stewart, Stewart two point conversion run 37 12
CAM CO – 13.5 Luiz Patricio 8 yard run, Patricio two point conversion run 37 20
Golden Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 08/26 | CAMERON COUNTY | 37 – 20 | 1 – 0 |
| 09/02 | SMETHPORT | ||
| 09/10 | @ Sheffield | ||
| 09/16 | PORT ALLEGANY | ||
| 09/23 | KANE | ||
| 09/30 | @ Brockway | ||
| 10/07 | @ Ridgway | ||
| 10/14 | ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC | ||
| 10/21 | @ Bradford |