RIMERSBURG – The Union/AC Valley Falcon Knights (3-0) remained perfect on the 2020 season in high school football Friday evening, defeating the visiting Curwensville Golden Tide 45-0.
Curwensville held its own through most of the first quarter and only trailed 7-0 with just a couple of minutes to play before the second stanza was about to start.
It seemed, however, that when the Falcon Knights scored with 1:06 remaining in the first that some of the spirit was taken out of the Tide, as Union/AC Valley took a 13-0 margin into the second quarter.
Quarterback Tanner Merwin of Union/AC Valley opened the scoring with a one yard run at the 7:56 mark of the first quarter with Colton Murray adding the point after.
Curwensville then took the ball inside the five yard line of the Falcon Knights and on fourth down and two at the three yard line elected to go for a 20 yard field goal attempt. The kick by junior Jake Mullins was missed, but the Tide was still in the hunt.
Then came the Union/AC Valley score with 1:06 to play in the first on a 22 yard run by Eli Penny. The extra point try was missed and after 12 minutes of play it was 13-0 in favor of the Falcon Knights.
Union/AC Valley scored another two touchdowns in the second quarter on Caden Rainey’s 11 yard run and Kylar Culbertson’s seven yard score. Each two point attempt failed, and at the half the Falcon Knights were in control at 25-0. Rainey finished with 100 yards on seven carries, and also led in receptions with four for 74 yards.
The second half kick off went to Union/AC Valley and the home team took just 1:34 off the clock to score on an 18 yard TD toss from Merwin to Karter Vogel with Murray adding the PAT to give the Falcon Knights a 32-0 edge.
The mercy rule came into play at the 2:35 point of the third quarter when Merwin scored from 12 yards out as Murray then added another PAT making it 39-0.
Senior Gavin Bowser ended the scoring in the fourth quarter on a 12 yard run with the point after being missed setting the final at 45-0.
The Golden Tide passing game was a positive as sophomore quarterback Danny McGarry found junior wideout Ty Terry for several completions gaining a fair amount of yards on the night. McGarry finished 17 of 33 for 79 yards, with Terry the leading receiver with eight receptions for 58 of those yards.
Thad Butler led the ground game with 20 yards on six carries.
Curwensville did pick up a forfeit win when Sheffield cancelled its season last week.
The Tide,1-2 on the year, is scheduled for its first 2020 home game next Friday when Keystone comes to Coach Andy Evanko Stadium with kick-off set for 7pm. Last year Keystone defeated the Golden Tide 14-7.
As always, listen to Curwensville football on WOKW-FM, 102.9, starting with the pre-game show at 6:45 pm.
This Curwensville football schedule change will now have the Tide hosting Bucktail on Friday, October 23 at 7 pm. Curwensville was to travel to Sheffield on Saturday, October 24, but that game was forfeited by Sheffield due to the school shutting down the entire 2020 season following low numbers of players.
SCORING SUMMARY
CURWENSVILLE 0 0 0 0 0
UNION/AC VALLEY 13 12 14 6 45
1ST QUARTER
UN/ACV 7:56 Tanner Merwin 1 yard run
Colton Murray PAT 0 7
UN/ACV 1:06 Eli Penny 22 yard run
PAT missed 0 13
2ND QUARTER
UN/ACV 8:55 Caden Rainey 11 yard run
2 point attempt failed 0 19
UN/ACV 5:25 Kylar Culbertson 7 yard run
2 point attempt failed 0 25
3RD QUARTER
UN/ACV 10:26 Merwin 18 yard pass to Karter Vogle
Murray PAT 0 32
UN/ACV 2:35 Merwin 12 yard run
Murray PAT 0 39
4TH QUARTER
UN/ACV 8:30 Gavin Bowser 12 yard run
PAT missed 0 45