CURWENSVILLE – It was all Curwensville Friday night in the first quarter and a half against the visiting Bradford Owls at Riverside Stadium, on the Golden Tide’s home turf.
The Tide jumped out to a 14-0 lead over the Owls and looked like they had the game somewhat under control at that time.
However, the Golden Tide never added any more points to its side of the scoreboard as Bradford tacked on 23 unanswered points to win 23-14 and improve to 7-2 on the 2017 season for the AAAA school.
With the defeat the Curwensville squad is now 7-2 on the year with one more regular season game on the schedule.
Tide quarterback Bryce Timko found Josh Terry for a 46 yard touchdown pass at 1:06 of the first quarter to open the scoring.
Terry made a leaping jump to grab the ball out of the air at the seven yard line and with some nifty running after the catch found his way into the Owl end zone. Terry finished with 86 yards on four receptions on the night as Timko was nine of 21 for 139 yards passing.
The extra point attempt was no good and the Tide had a 6-0 margin heading into the second quarter.
At the 9:05 mark of the second 12 minutes Nick Stewart ran for a 40 yard score, and when Timko hit Stewart for the two conversion pass the Golden Tide looked, well, Golden, up 14-0. Stewart would end the game with 122 yards rushing.
Then after a very slow offensive start for Bradford, the Owls got rolling.
With just :26 seconds before intermission Bradford’s big running back, senior John Eaken (listed at 6’ 2” and 234 pounds) put the Owls on the board with a 14 yard run with Caleb Nuzzo adding the point after.
At the half Curwensville was still in front at 14-7.
Only a safety would be scored during the third quarter when Curwensville punted deep inside its own territory and the snap went over punter Avery Francisco’s head which the Tide junior fell on in the end zone giving Bradford two more points.
Still ahead 14-9 in the fourth quarter, the Tide offense just couldn’t get rolling like it did the first half as Bradford scored two rushing TD’s that did in Curwensville.
Eaken scored both fourth quarter touchdowns for the Owls, one on a 26 yard scamper at 10:51 of the final frame, and then a seven yard run with 5:14 to play.
The Owls had the PAT blocked after the first score, but Eaken ran in the two point conversion on the final score.
Eaken ran 24 times for 191 yards during the contest.
Curwensville will be home once again next Friday, hosting the Philipsburg-Osceola Mounties, with kick off at 7 pm.
Listen to the Curwensville-Philipsburg-Osceola game on WOKW-FM, 102.9, starting with the pre-game show at 6:45 pm.
SCORING SUMMARY
BRADFORD 0 7 2 14 23
CURWENSVILLE 6 8 0 0 14
1ST QUARTER
CURW 1:06 Bryce Timko 46 yard pass to Josh Terry, PAT failed 6 0
2ND QUARTER
CURW 9:05 Nick Stewart 40 yard run, Timko to Stewart two point conversion pass 14 0
BRAD :26 John Eaken 14 yard run, Caleb Nuzzo PAT 14 7
3RD QUARTER
BRAD 1:34 Avery Francisco tackled in end zone for safety 14 9
4TH QUARTER
BRAD 10:51 Eaken 26 yard run, PAT attempt blocked 14 15
BRAD 5:14 Eaken seven yard run, Eaken two point conversion run 14 23
Golden Tide Scoreboard:
Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
08/25 | @ Cameron County | 38 – 8 | 1 – 0 |
09/01 | @ Smethport | 48 – 0 | 2 – 0 |
09/08 | SHEFFIELD | 56 – 8 | 3 – 0 |
09/15 | @ Port Allegany | 56 – 13 | 4 – 0 |
09/22 | @ Kane | 0 – 57 | 4 – 1 |
09/29 | BROCKWAY | 15 – 13 | 5 – 1 |
10/06 | RIDGWAY | 14 – 11 | 6 – 1 |
10/13 | @ Elk County Catholic | 43 – 12 | 7 – 1 |
10/20 | BRADFORD | 14 – 23 | 7 – 2 |
10/27 | PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA |