CURWENSVILLE-As the clock read all zeroes on Saturday night, the Curwensville Golden Tide looked as though all the air in their balloon had been let out in a slow fashion. Despite a strong gameplan heading into their contest against the West Branch Warriors, quarterback Tyler Biggans found a way to get the ball moving against the opposition, handing Curwensville a 43-14 loss in front of a rowdy crowd at Coach Andy Evanko Stadium.
Curwensville’s plan was to stop the run game, and did so by holding them to less than 30 yards on the ground. But, by contrast, Biggans used that to his advantage and caught the Tide through the air on multiple occasions, racking up five touchdown passes in his efforts. Afterwards, head coach James Thompson was asked if it was the gameplan that was not correct, or if the Warriors simply had the answer.
“A bit of both. We didn’t want to have them get running, but at the same time you have to make decisions in what to focus on. And in football, you only get 11 guys,” he said. “So you have to make a choice if you want to load up on the run, you will be more susceptible in some of the pass concepts. Credit to them, we made other guys make plays, and they did.
“We wanted to force them to throw the ball to the outside, and they did it well enough to make big plays.”
The lone score of the first quarter set the tone for the night. Curwensville drove into West Branch territory, but found itself stalled out and turned the ball over on downs at the Warrior 28. Two plays later, Biggans found Craig Fluck on a deep shot down the right field line, punching the ball in for a 66-yard strike. The missed P.A.T. left he game at 6-0, where it remained through the remainder of the quarter.
Both teams kept jockeying for position, stalling out on fourth down two times a piece. But, a huge sack on Tide quarterback Tyler Dunn with half a quarter to go before halftime changed the complexion. Curwensville was forced to punt, but backed up to their own 1-yard line meant a tight fit to get the ball out. West Branch took advantage, surging from the right side of the line and blocking the punt out the back of the end zone. The defensive safety put the lead to 8-0, but it was that moment that the game took on a whole new outlook.
West Branch would rally off on back-to-back drives to put Curwensville in a tough place to come back from. Biggans called his own number on the drive following the safety and free kick, punching the ball in from four yards out after driving down on two long pass plays. It less than a minute it was 15-0. Dunn tried to rally on the first play following, only to be picked off by Ethan Dale. Two plays later, Biggans tossed his third passing touchdown, this one Nick Stavola, from 35 yards away.
Sixteen points in just over one minute meant an uphill climb from the Tide, but they tried to get things going as Dunn found his workhorse, Braden Holland, for a 62-yard pass up the Tide sideline to end the shutout and get Curwensville on the board. The 22-7 score would last until just before halftime as Biggans showed off his big arm to find Azadio Vargas for a 20-yard touchdown. Heading into halftime, the 29-7 advantage clearly wore down the home squad, and Thompson knew it. Much like quicksand, one thing went wrong, then another, and another, sucking the team into a place they were unable to recover from.
“I felt like we took a step back, maturity wise, because you can’t let things snowball. I felt like we’ve done a really good job against tough teams, just battling and staying in games,” Thompson said. “That sequence of the blocked punt, then a few plays after in the end zone. We have to do a better job, both as a staff and as a team, in being more mature and handling those situations.”
Curwensville’s turnover woes continued as they fumbled the ball on the first drive of the second half, giving the Warriors great field position at their own 45 to start their drive. Biggans only missed two passes on the drive, finishing off with his fourth touchdown pass, this one landing in the hands of Wyatt Schwiderske, from five yards out.
West Branch scored again on their next possession courtesy of a 20-yard reception by Frank Leskovansky. Both extra points on each drive were good, putting the running clock in effect at 5:14 in the third quarter with a 43-7 lead. Biggans finished the night tossing passes to seven different receivers, going 17-for-27 on the night for 278 yards.
Still looking to make something out of a bad situation, Holland showed off his legs on the next drive, setting up a go-ahead score from reserve Tide quarterback Dante Lezzer to help set the final. Holland would finish with a game-high 108 yards rushing along with a receiving touchdown.
Thompson knew that this win would sting, but made it clear that the hurt of the loss could not linger, especially this week.
” (We) Just (have) to let it go, and move on. We have a quick turnaround,” he said. You can’t let a team beat you twice, so we have to be able to move onto the next opponent.”
It is a shorter week to prepare for Curwensville (1-5) as they have one less day to get ready for next Friday’s contest on the road in another Inter County Conference matchup. This one comes against the Moshannon Valley Black Knights, who are coming off back-to-back losses, the most recent against Juniata Valley, 39-20. Kickoff in Houtzdale is at 7 p.m.
SCORE BY QUARTER
West Branch 6 23 14 0 – 43
Curwensville 0 7 0 7 – 14
BOX SCORE
1st Quarter
- WARRIORS: Biggans 66-yard pass to Fluck (kick failed), 8:24
2nd Quarter
- WARRIORS: Blocked punt out of end zone for safety, 5:39
- WARRIORS: Biggans 4-yard run (Bucha kick), 4:44
- WARRIORS: Biggans 35-yard pass to Stavola (Bucha kick), 4:27
- GOLDEN TIDE: Dunn 62-yard pass to Holland (Addleman kick), 3:12
- WARRIORS: Biggans 20-yard pass to Vargas (Bucha kick), 0:11
3rd Quarter
- WARRIORS: Biggans 5-yard pass to Schwiderske (Bucha kick), 6:45
- WARRIORS: Biggans 20-yard pass to Leskovansky (Bucha kick), 5:14
4th Quarter
- GOLDEN TIDE: Lezzer 2-yard run (Addleman kick), 7:08
GAME STATISTICS
West Branch/Curwensville
- First Downs: 10/6
- Rush Yards: 29/138
- Pass Yards: 318/64
- Penalties-Yards: 8-71/4-40
- Total Yards: 347/202
- Turnovers: 0/2
- Time of Possession: 26:23/21:37
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
- West Branch: Biggans-9 carries, 19 yards, TD; Vargas-5 carries, 13 yards; Gibson-2 carries, 16 yards; Danko-2 carries, (-11) yards; Fluck-1 carry, 3 yards; Kephart-1 carry, 1 yard; Dunlap-1 carry, 0 yards; Team-1 carry, (-12) yards.
- Curwensville: Holland-15 rushes, 108 yards; Dunn-13 carries, 34 yards; Lezzer-2 carries, (-3) yards, TD; Pentz-1 carry, (-1) yards.
Passing
- West Branch: Biggans-17 for 27, 278 yards, 5 TD; Danko-2 for 5, 40 yards.
- Curwensville: Dunn-5 for 12, 64 yards, TD, INT.
Receiving
- West Branch: Leskovansky-5 catches, 73 yards, TD; Vargas-4 catches, 47 yards, TD; Fluck-3 catches, 79 yards, TD; Schwiderske-3 catches, 11 yards, TD; Stavola-1 catch, 35 yards, TD; Emigh-1 catch 33 yards; Espositi Jr-1 catch, 32 yards; Williamson-1 catch 8 yards.
- Curwensville: Butler-2 catches, 0 yards; Holland-1 catch, 62 yards, TD; Luzier-1 catch, 5 yards; Pentz-1 catch, (-3) yards.
