CURWENSVILLE – If it’s high school football time in Curwensville, then that means it’s Andy Evanko time.
Curwensville’s most successful head football coach ever is in his 18th season at the helm of the Golden Tide.
Evanko’s resume is impressive, with a record of 134-56 over the past 17 years, for a winning percentage of just about 71.
And in those 17 years the Golden Tide have missed the District 9 playoffs just two times, 2002 and 2003.
Curwensville has now been in post season play 13 straight years and has thee District 9 titles – 2000, 2004 and 2010.
The Tide have also won three Allegheny Mountain League Championships (AML) in 2000, 2004 and 2009.
In 2016 Curwensville finished with a 6-5 overall record, losing its final game to Ridgway in the District 9 Class A semi-finals, 33-0.
The early part of the 2017 schedule has the Tide, with 20 retuning letter winners, traveling four of the first five weeks with games at Cameron County, Smethport, Port Allegany and Kane. Sandwiched in the middle of those four road games is a home game with Sheffield on September 8.
This year’s offense once again starts with senor running back Nick Stewart who last year rushed for 2,030 yards with a 7.2 yards per carry average and 27 touchdowns overall.
Fellow senior Bryce Timko will once again be under center for Curwensville with running backs Matt Carter, another senior, and junior running backs Avery Francisco and Blake Passarelli. Passarelli rushed for 226 yards last season while Francisco is making the transition from tight end to running back .
In 2016 Timko connected on 41 of 99 passing attempts for 619 yards with seven touchdowns and four interceptions.
Junior Noah Von Gunden will line up at slot with the wideouts featuring three seniors – Josh Terry, Anthony Winebold and Devan Barrett. Dakota Bloom, a junior, will also see action as a receiver.
Stewart, out of the backfield, had 12 catches for 179 receiving yards with Terry hauling in seven for 52 yards.
The tight end position is in the hands of senior Caleb Bloom.
The offensive line should once again be a strength of the Golden Tide which will be anchored by seniors Steven McClure and Zach Brewer. Hayden Walnock and Alec McGarry are juniors that will be upfront on the offensive line along with a sophomore, Cameron Brown.
Evanko stated this about his offensive unit recently, “We have normally been a run heavy type of offense, and of course Nick (Stewart) has been a huge part of it. Quarterback Bryce Timko, however, has worked very hard at his position, so we need to utilize his skills and talents in hopes that the defenses that we face will play us honest and not stack the box with 10 defenders.”
About his defense the long time head coach commented, “Our defense should be better this season with the inside linebacker corps being one of the team’s strengths. Our concern on defense, just like on offense, is we need to develop depth at all positions.”
At ends on defense will be McClure and Francisco, while Walnock and Caleb Bloom man the tackle spots.
Playing inside linebacker will be Carter and senior Logan Waroquier with Timko, Cole Bressler and Lincoln Giuffre, both juniors, lining up at outside linebacker.
Six Golden Tide will see action in the secondary which includes Terry, Von Gunden, Winebold, Barrett, Passarelli and Dakota Bloom.
Carter returns after recording 70 overall tackles in 2016 with McClure at 58, Francisco at 49 and Caleb Bloom picking up a total of 42.
Von Gunden led the team with four interceptions and McClure and Stewart each had five sacks.
In closing Evanko stated, “As I mentioned before, depth on both offense and defense is a concern. We have 39 players on the roster, but we are still pretty thin at some positions.
Evanko is excited about Curwensville’s big game offense, “We are excited about our passing game as well as the running attack. We have a quarterback who is capable of coming up with big plays and receivers who also can produce on the critical plays. That has us pretty upbeat that we can be multi-dimensional and not just a run oriented squad.”
Evanko then acknowledged the overall team goal for 2017, “Our main goal is to get better each and every day and to give a total effort in all that we do. During a game, or in a practice, we must turn up the intensity to be a successful team.”
As mentioned, the Tide open up on Friday night at Cameron County, a team it defeated last season in game one at home, 37-20.
Listen to all Golden Tide football games live on WOKW-FM, 102.9, starting with the pre-game show at 6:45 pm.
ROSTER & POSITION (offense/defense):
SENIORS: Devan Barrett SE/DB, *Caleb Bloom TE/DL, * Zachary Brewer OL/DL, * Matthew Carter RB/ILB, Jared Farneth SE/OLB, *Stephen McClure OL/DL, *Nick Stewart RB/OLB, *Josh Terry SE/DB, *Bryce Timko QB/OLB, *Logan Waroquier RB/ILB, *Anthony Winebold SE/DB
JUNIORS: *Dakota Bloom SE/DB, *Cole Bressler S/OLB, Shayne Derrick OL/DL, *Jeremy Dunlap TE/ILB, *Jeremiah Farley OL/ILB, *Avery Francisco RB/DL, Mason Gasper RB/DB, *Lincoln Giuffre SE/DB, Dylan *Hipps TE/OLB, Jason Koptchak, Alec McGarry OL/DL, *Blake Passarelli RB/DB, *Noah Von Gunden QB/DB, *Hayden Walnock OL/DL, *Madison Weber K
SOPHOMORES: Cameron Brown OL/DL, Benjamin Bumbarger OL/DL, Justin Hartman OL/DL, Nicholas Holbert RB/ILB, Zach Holland QB/DB
FRESHMEN: Duane Brady RB/ILB, Curtis Caldwell OL/DL, Scott Condon OL/DL, Anthony Dalesio TE/OLB, Michael Lezzer OL/ILB, Michael McCracken OL/DL, Daulton Richards SE/DB, Jayce Witherite OL/DL
(* DENOTES RETURNING LETTER WINNERS)
SCHEDULE:
AUGUST:
25 at CAMERON COUNTY
SEPTEMBER:
1 at SMETHPORT
8 HOME – SHEFFIELD
15 at PORT ALLEGANY
22 at KANE
29 HOME – BROCKWAY
OCTOBER:
6 HOME – RIDGWAY
13 at ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC
20 HOME – BRADFORD
27 HOME – PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA
NOTE: ALL GAMES ARE SCHEDULED TO START AT 7 PM.
