MEYERSDALE — The visiting Curwensville Golden Tide football team pretty much dominated the first half of the season opening match up against the Meyersdale Red Raiders, but after giving up a 56 yard touchdown pass in the final minute of the half, all they had to show for it was a 6-6 tie.
After a scoreless opening quarter, Braden Holland put the visitors on the scoreboard first with a 2-yard score.
After the missed extra point, the score remained 6-0 until with under a minute to play, Meyersdale’s Malachi Carr scored on a 56 yard passing play to even the score just before halftime. The missed 2-point conversion saw a 6-6 tie heading into the 15 minute halftime break.
The second half started off well for the visitors from Curwensville. A fumble recovery led to a 30-yard Tyler Dunn to Hunter Tkacik touchdown pass, once again giving the Tide the lead. The successful 2-point conversion had the Tide up 14-6 early in the quarter.
Unfortunately that lead was short-lived as Tristan Ohler of the Red Raiders returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards “to the house”, and after the 2-point conversion, the game was once again knotted, this time at 14-all just a couple of minutes into the third quarter.
After an interception by the Tide, game momentum had swung clearly to the hosts. A 19-yard touchdown run gave Meyersdale their first lead of the game at 20-14 just past the halfway point of the third.
If there was any doubt on who had the momentum, that was put to rest as the Red Raiders scored their second special teams touchdown with a blocked punt and recovery in the Tide endzone, making the score 26-14.
The Tide wouldn’t back down as they went on a long drive to try make it a one possession game. Unfortunately they ran out of downs in Red Raider territory. Before the quarter was over, Meyersdale put another score on the board making it 32-14 as they entered the final quarter after outscoring the Tide 26-8 in the third.
The hosts stretched the lead to an insurmountable 39-14 lead early in the fourth.
The Tide did manage to put the final points of the game on their side of the scoreboard with a 74 yard scoring strike from Dunn to Cael Butler.
The Tide (0-1) will be back in action next Friday night for their home opener against the Windber Ramblers (1-0), 51-6 winners over Glendale Friday night.
Scoring Summary:
Curwensville 0 6 8 6 20
Meyersdale 0 6 26 7 39