CURWENSVILLE – It started out as senior football players and band member night at Coach Andy Evanko Stadium Friday night at Curwensville where the Golden Tide hosted the West Branch Warriors on the gridiron.
In the end though it turned into Thad Butler night, as the Tide senior running back had a sensational night running the pigskin, scoring on the ground from 76 yards, then 48 yards and finally from 69 yards. On the night Butler had 256 yards rushing on just 13 carries, pushing him to 915 on the season.
Butler scored on the Golden Tide’s first snap from the line of scrimmage at the 7:41 mark of the opening quarter, the 76 yard run, and Jake Mullins added the extra point to make it 7-0 Tide.
The Warriors answered with a one yard quarterback keeper from sophomore Tyler Biggans with Dakota Fetterolf tacking on the point after to make it 7-7 after one.
Butler put the Tide back in front with a 48 yard scamper at the 8:41 point in the second quarter, but the extra point attempt by Mullins this time was no good, but still Curwensville led 13-7.
West Branch would take its only lead of the game with 51 seconds to go before halftime when sophomore running back Wyatt Schwiderske took it in from one yard out as the point after attempt by Fetterolf gave the Warriors a brief 14-13 edge. Schwiderske was a workhorse Friday night – gaining 161 yards on 31 carries.
Brief, because the Tide came back with just 26 seconds to play before the break as quarterback Danny McGarry went 36 yards on the ground to pay dirt and with Mullins adding the extra point it was the Tide in front after two frames 20-14.
Curwensville would register the only score of the third quarter as McGarry hit a very wide open senior Andrew Freyer on a 10 yard touchdown toss at 9:28 of the third. The point after attempt by Mullins was blocked, but still the Tide stretched its margin to 26-14 heading into the final 12 minutes.
Then, in the fourth, with 8:22 remaining in the battle, “The Butler” did it again. This time running 69 yards to the end zone that iced the game for the Tide at 32-14 as the extra point try was missed .
Junior Landen Pase ended the scoring for the evening with 1:40 left in the contest as the Warrior running back scored from 19 yards out with Fetterolf adding the PAT to set the final score at 32-21 in favor of the Golden Tide.
The Warriors end the 2021 season with a 3-7 record while the Tide move to 6-4.
The Golden Tide now await the first round pairings for the District 9 “A” tournament to begin this coming week-end. Before Friday’s game with West Branch, Curwensville was in fifth place in the standings (power rankings) which would have them playing on the road in the first round. The new rankings and pairings should come out Sunday or Monday from the District 9 committee.
SCORING SUMMARY
WEST BRANCH 7 7 0 7 21
CURWENSVILLE 7 13 6 6 32
1ST QUARTER
CURW 7:41 Thad Butler 76 yard run
Jake Mullins PAT 7 0
WB 2:01 Tyler Biggans 1 yard run
Dakota Fetterolf PAT 7 7
2ND QUARTER
CURW 8:41 Butler 48 yard run
PAT no good 13 7
WB :51 Wyatt Schwiderske 1 yard run
Fetterolf PAT 13 14
CURW :26 Dan McGarry 36 yard run
Mullins PAT 20 14
3RD QUARTER
CURW 9:28 McGarry 10 yard pass to Andrew Freyer
PAT blocked 26 14
4TH QUARTER
CURW 8:22 Butler 69 yard run
PAT no good 32 14
WB 1:40 Landen Pase 19 yard run
Fetterolf PAT 32 21