CURWENSVILLE – The Curwensville Area High School football squad finally played its first home game of the 2020 season Friday night at Coach Andy Evanko Stadium.
The Golden Tide hosted visiting Keystone, and what a dandy it was.
Curwensville, shutout in the two game it has actually played this season by a combined score of 89-0, found its offense and gave Keystone all it could handle before the Panthers (3-1) rallied for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to win 26-16.
The Panthers scored on its first possession, driving 60 yards, as Nick Weaver scored on a 14 yard run and Nick Cosper added the extra point to make it 7-0 Keystone with 7:54 to go in the first 12 minutes. For Weaver it was his first of four TD runs on the night. Weaver ran for 146 yards on 26 carries.
Curwensville picked up its first points of the year with just 27 seconds to play before the second quarter on a three yard quarterback sneak by Danny McGarry. Jake Mullins added the extra point to tie the contest at 7-7 heading to the second.
Game on !
With 8:26 before halftime, Mullins gave Curwensville the lead on a 33 yard field goal but Keystone went ahead before the intermission with 2:37 to play on a Weaver four yard run. The Panthers missed the extra point, but still took a 13-10 edge before the second half.
The Golden Tide, after a Panther turnover, went out in front again as McGarry found Thad Butler on a 24 yard TD toss at the 10:57 point of the third quarter with the extra point being missed.
Neither team scored the rest of the third as Curwensville took a 16-13 margin into the final frame.
Unfortunately for the Tide, the offense went in reverse in the fourth quarter as Keystone took advantage of the Curwensville lack of offense and scored two times to put the game away.
Weaver scored his third touchdown, the game winner, with 9:26 left in the battle on a two yard run with Cosper’s PAT giving the visitors a 20-16 lead.
Keystone ended any hopes the Golden Tide had of an upset when Weaver crossed the goal line from one yard out with 7:11 to play. The PAT was missed but the Tide still trailed by two scores.
The Panthers had four turnovers on the night, two fumbles and two interceptions, while the Tide had three, two interceptions and one fumble.
Tide quarterback Danny McGarrry finished 14 of 22 for 122 yards, Ty Terry being his leading receiver with six receptions for 52 yards. Butler accounted for 70 yards of total offense via 30 yards rushing and 40 receiving.
Curwensville, now 1-3, is on the road for next Friday’s contest when it journeys to Brockway to play the Rovers in a 7 pm kick-off. The Tide lost last season to Brockway 35-15.
Listen to the Golden Tide-Brockway game on WOKW-FM, 102.9, beginning with the pre-game show starting at 6:45 pm.
SCORING SUMMARY
KEYSTONE 7 6 0 13 26
CURWENSVILLE 7 3 6 0 16
1ST QUARTER
KEY 7:54 Nick Weaver 14 yard run
Nick Cosper PAT 0 7
CURW :27 Danny McGarry 3 yard run
Jake Mullins PAT 7 7
2ND QUARTER
CURW 8:26 Mullins 33 yard field goal 10 7
KEY 2:37 Weaver 4 yard run 10 13
3RD QUARTER
CURW 10:57 McGarry 24 yard pass to Thad Butler
PAT missed 16 13
4TH QUARTER
KEY 9:26 Weaver 2 yard run
Cosper PAT 16 20
KEY 7:11 Weaver 1 yard run
PAT missed 16 26