CURWENSVILLE – Golden Tide head football coach Jimmy Thompson is now in his third year at Curwensville Area High School. The first two years were tough on the young coach and his squad as the Tide were 1-8 in 2019 and 1-6 last year in a COVID shortened season.
Things won’t be any easier this season, even with a veteran team, due to the fact the Curwensville school board decided a few years ago to join the very competitive Inter-County Conference (ICC) in 2021 in all sports.
Throw in the unknown of perhaps another season with many COVID-19 questions and issues, one can see some tall and slippery mountains for the Golden Tide to climb.
However, the Golden Tide are loaded with 19 returning letter winners, the most in a long time for Curwensville.
Coach Thompson knows that he has his most veteran team coming into the new season in his third year at the helm, saying, “Our leaders set a goal of 1,000 days in the weight room and seven on seven competitions from January 1, and we accomplished that as a team before the end of summer even hit.”
Offensively the Tide are led by third year starter at quarterback in junior Danny McGarry, with returning running backs in senior Thad Butler and Chase Irwin, a junior, manning the ground game.
Ty Terry, Jake Mullin and Andrew Freyer, all seniors, are wide receivers that have loads of playing time and experience with McGarry that should help Curwensville connect through the air.
Others who will see action at wideout will be Irwin and freshman Hunter Tkacik.
Up front senior Brennen Moore, who anchors the offensive line, will be joined by fellow seniors Matt McCracken and Trenton Hipps. Three sophomores, Ethan Siegel, Blaine Witherite and Trenton Guiher will see plenty of action in the trenches. Freshman Matt Shaw is also in the mix to pick up playing time.
The defensive line has Moore, Hipps, Siegel, McCracken, Witherite, senior Cael Butler and sophomore Grady Hoyt all challenging for playing time.
Irwin, Carson Spencer, senior Mitchell Sutika and sophomore Braden Holland are battling for time at linebacker for the Tide.
The secondary will also have serious experience in McGarry, Cooper Spencer, Freyer, Jacobson., Terry and Butler.
Thompson also had more to say about the effort of his squad, commenting, “The team work ethic is great. These kids have built a culture over the last two years that expects you to work hard every day and put the extra time in to get better.”
Getting better each and every day is a goal for all teams and Thompson likes what he sees in his team, “Our team has a great grasp of how to improve. Make a choice each day to get better, bring relentless effort, and believe in the coaches enough that they will give us the tools in the weight room or on the field to make it happen. And with that said, I am excited to see this group compete together for the 2021 season.”
The Golden Tide kick off the 2021 season with a home game this Friday against the Warriors of Everett as kick-off is set for 7 pm.
Listen to Curwensville football all season long once again on WOKW-FM, 102.9, with the pre-game show starting at 6:45 pm.
ROSTER:
SENIORS: Cael Butler, *Thad Butler, *Alan Farley, *Andrew Freyer, *Trenton Hipps, *Collin Jacobson, Kaleb Lee, Matt McBride, *Matthew McCracken, *Brennen Moore, *Jake Mullins, *Mitchell Sutika, Landon Swatsworth, *Ty Terry
JUNIORS: Damian Brady, *Josh Bloom, *Chase Irwin, *Dan McGarry, *Carson Spencer, *Cooper Spencer
SOPHOMORES: *Jarrett Anderson, Trenton Clyde, *Trenton Guiher, Braden Holland, Grady Hoyt, Alex Shaffer, *Ethan Siegel, *Blaine Witherite
FRESHMEN: Hunter Babcock, Owen Caldwell, Tyler Dunn, Caleb McDonald, Andrew Pentz, Matt Shaw, Raiden Stauffer, Merek Sutika, Hunter Tkacik
- Denotes returning letter winners
SCHEDULE:
AUGUST 27 EVERETT – HOME
SEPT 3 MT. UNION – HOME
10 AT MEYERSDALE
17 GLENDALE - HOME
24 AT NORTHERN BEDFORDOCT 1 AT BELLWOOD-ANTIS
8 AT PURCHASE LINE
15 AT SOUTHERN HUNTINGDON
22 MOSHANNON VALLEY - HOME
29 WEST BRANCH - HOMENOTE: ALL GAMES KICK-OFF AT 7 PM UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.