ST. MARYS – They say that revenge can be sweet. If so, the Curwensville Golden Tide locker room after Friday night’s win at St. Marys High School football field must have been filled with sugar.
The Golden Tide got the revenge against Elk County Catholic (ECC) in the District 9 Class “A” quarter-finals by pitching a 26-0 shutout to move on to the semi-finals next weekend against top seed Smethport.
Folks may remember that the Crusaders marched into Riverside Stadium this past August 24 and defeated the Tide by a score of 34-14 in the season opener for both teams.
This time around Curwensville proved who the better team was after the season opener.
Running back Cole Bressler was too much for the ECC defense to contain as the senior back scored three rushing touchdowns and added two point conversion runs twice to account for 22 of the Tide’s tallies. For the game, Mullins accounted for 157 yards on the ground on 16 carries.
Bressler opened the scoring at 3:13 of the first quarter on an 11 yard run that was followed by freshman kicker Jacob Mullins making good on the point after.
The only score of the second 12 minutes was not a touchdown, but a 27 yard field goal by Mullins with 7:44 left before halftime sending the Tide into the lockers up 10-0 at the break.
Curwensville would add two more scores in the second half, one in the third quarter and one in the fourth, both from Bressler.
The third quarter TD came at 2:32 as Bressler romped for a 55 yard pay dirt run and then added the two point conversion.
In the fourth quarter Bressler finished the evening’s scoring with 15 yard run at 3:19, and once again added the two point conversion.
Meanwhile, the Golden Tide defense was on a mission to blank the Crusaders, and that mission was accomplished with the playoff shutout, despite ECC’s Stephen Bobby rushing for 194 yards on 35 carries.
The Tide defense forced five turnovers – two interceptions and three fumble recoveries.
The Crusaders end its 2018 season with a record of 7-3.
Curwensville (7-4) will now play number one seeded Smethport next weekend at a neutral site with the day and time to yet be determined.
The Hubbers, now 10-0, shutout Union/AC Valley, the eighth seed, 28-0 in its quarter-final match-up.
The Golden Tide lost to Smethport in week four, at Curwensville, 20-7.
In the other two quarter-final games it was number two Clarion-Limestone taking care of number seven Otto-Eldred by a 48-18 dumping and Coudersport at the sixth seed, upsetting and thrashing Redbank Valley, who came in as the three seed, 52-7.
Clarion-Limestone and Coudersport will also meet next weekend with the day and time to be scheduled.
The two teams also met in week four with Clarion-Limestone winning 34-22.
And thanks again to Rusty McCracken for providing this writer with game information.
SCORING SUMMARY
CURWENSVILLE 7 3 8 8 26
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 0 0 0 0 0
1ST QUARTER
CURW 3:13 Cole Bressler 11 yard run. Jacob Mullins PAT 7 0
2ND QUARTER
CURW 7:44 Mullins 27 yard field goal 10 0
3RD QUARTER
CURW 2:32 Bressler 55 yard run. Bressler two point conversion run 18 0
4TH QUARTER
CURW 3:19 Bressler 15 yard run. Bressler two point conversion run 26 0