CURWENSVILLE – For the fourth consecutive week the Curwensville Area High School football team went head to head with a top Allegheny Mountain League foe.
This week Elk County Catholic took a trip to Riverside Stadium in Curwensville, and when it was all said and done the Golden Tide lost its fourth straight game, 23-6, to the now 6-2 Crusaders.
It was a back and forth scoreless affair until the very end of the first quarter when Crusader quarterback Nate Dacanal found Jared Braun on an 81 yard scoring toss with 30 seconds left in the first quarter.
Dacanal then found Dan Stauffer in the back of the end zone for the two point conversion on a muffed PAT attempt to go up 8-0.
ECC then took a 15-0 halftime lead as Braun scored on a 14 yard run with 6:04 to go before the break. Sophomore Tyler Dilley added the extra point.
Neither squad found a way to put points on the scoreboard in the third quarter. And for the Golden Tide that made it seven straight quarters without a score.
Curwensville was blanked last week 28-0 against Ridgway and hadn’t scored since the fourth quarter of the Brockway game, losing that contest 56-20.
The Tide ended its scoring drought and made a game of it in the fourth quarter when senior fullback Kaleb Witherite powered his way through the line of scrimmage and ended up going the distance, 81 yards to pay dirt to put points on the board for Curwensville. Witherite was one of two Golden Tide backs to rush for over 100 yards in the game. Witherite finished with 106 yards on just eight carries, while workhorse back Nick Stewart gained 161 yards on 35 totes.
The extra point attempt was blocked, but the Golden Tide were back in it, trailing 15-6, with 7:57 to go.
All hopes of a Tide win were dashed when, with 3:49 to go, Stauffer ran 15 yards for a Crusader touchdown.
The two point conversion run by Ryan Heary gave Elk County Catholic a three score lead, 23-6, assuring a win for the Crusaders.
Curwensville (4-4) will hit the road for its final regular season game on Friday, traveling to Bradford to play the Owls. Bradford, a Class AAAA squad, is 3-5 on the year after losing to Brockway Friday night 63-21.
Stewart is soon set to become just the third back in D9 history to eclipse the 5000 yard mark for career rushing. The first two are also gridders fron Curwensville – Nick Sipes (5963) and Alex Holland (5754).
Listen to the Tide and Owls on WOKW-FM, 102.9, beginning with the pre-game show at 6:40 pm.
SCORING SUMMARY
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 8 7 0 8 23
CURWENSVILLE 0 0 6 0 6
1st QUARTER
ECC :30 Nate Dacanal 81 yard pass to Jared Braun, Dacanal pass to Dan Stauffer – two point conversion 0 8
2nd QUARTER
ECC 6:04 Jared Braun 14 yard run, Tyler Dilley PAT 0 15
4th QUARTER
CURW 7:57 Kaleb Witherite 81 yard run, PAT blocked 6 15
ECC 3:49 Stauffer 15 yard run, Ryan Heary two point conversion run 6 23
Golden Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 08/26 | CAMERON COUNTY | 37 – 20 | 1 – 0 |
| 09/02 | SMETHPORT | 41 – 21 | 2 – 0 |
| 09/10 | @ Sheffield | 43 – 0 | 3 – 0 |
| 09/16 | PORT ALLEGANY | 63 – 6 | 4 – 0 |
| 09/23 | KANE | 12- 43 | 4 – 1 |
| 09/30 | @ Brockway | 20 – 56 | 4 – 2 |
| 10/07 | @ Ridgway | 0 – 28 | 4 – 3 |
| 10/14 | ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC | 6 – 23 | 4 – 4 |
| 10/21 | @ Bradford |