CURWENSVILLE — Coach Andy Evanko Stadium; a sight befitting of the chilly Saturday evening atmosphere, where the Golden Tide faithful came out in support of their guys, as they set up to host the 4-2 Moshannon Valley Black Knights. Moshannon Valley dropped their first two contests, 18-0 on August 23 to North Star, and then 20-7 to Everett just a week later—both home games.
Since the start of September, Moshannon Valley has been perfect with a capital P, they’ve done all manner of winning—they’ve won clean, they’ve won ugly, they’ve won easy and they’ve won hard. The common denominator has been the results, and Curwensville looked to put a stop to that, coming off a 28-16 win over West Branch and looking to set up a streak of their own on their home field.
The Black Knights got possession to start the game, and after Curwensville was given a second opportunity to kick off after the first went out of bounds, Moshannon Valley would set up at their own 24. RB Rocco Reifer, at 5’10”, 190 lbs, would set off on what would become a busy evening for him, capping the drive with a 44 yard touchdown rush set up by a 6 yard Mason Abernethy reception.
After Mo Valley notched the extra point, the Golden Tide would have their chance to match the six play, 64 yard drive starting from their own 42. Their answer drive was not as powerful, after an ineffective rush and a short three yard completion to Cael Butler, Dante Lezzer would eat an 11 yard sack bringing about a punt.
The ensuing two drives were a showcase of solid run defense, helped along by penalties on both sides of the ball, Moshannon Valley would start their drive from the 39. A holding penalty backed them up to a 1st and 20, and Curwensville would up the pressure recording a sack, forcing an incompletion and after yet another penalty by Moshannon Valley, a punt.
The Tide would, themselves, struggled with penalties as they suffered a holding call between two short completions, where they would punt yet again. The Black Knights would be up against the lofty task of starting from their own 6-yard line, and they were intent on delivering this time around, starting off with a 7-yard rush, followed immediately by a 16 yard rush by Landon Buck.
The rushing attack would prove effective in setting the tone for the rest of the drive, which spanned the remainder of the first quarter, a 13 play drive full of angry running, and was capped off by a 26 yard touchdown for Brady Kephart, though dampened by a failure to convert on a fake PAT try, put his troops up 13-0, where the score would remain until halftime.
Four drives to follow would go scoreless, though not without its splash plays, including a 5 yard sack by Josh Legars, huge in helping Curwensville to force a three and out and getting the ball back. Curwensville would bring the offense out, amounting to a matching three and out, before the Black Nights would begin driving from the 20 following a touchback. They offered a diverse menu of short routes and draw plays, which they dished out with authority on yet another slow drive, including 17 and 22 yard rushes by Rocco Reifer, though ultimately not moving the needle before half.
The second half would start no quicker, the pair of teams would trade possessions, with three consecutive punts, followed by two matching turnovers on downs. Curwensville, aided by a long penalty and solid rushing by the duo of Andrew Pentz and Lincoln Hoyt, would journey inside the 15, needing a 4th and 5 to convert and needing points to stay alive—Lezzer would underthrow Cael Butler by just a hair, turning the ball over.
From here, Moshannon Valley would mount their decisive put-away drive, notably on 2nd and 1 from their own 18, when a Rocco Reifer 69 yard rush would bring the Knights into the red zone. Curwensville would hold firm on first down, and force and incompletion on second, but they would break for five yards on 3rd and 12, and were out of gas when Mason Abernethy would haul in a pick pass from Brady Mihalko to extend the lead to 19 early in the fourth frame.
JC Smith’s extra point made it an even 20-0, and while Curwensville would answer on the kickoff with a 55 yard return by the freshman Tuck Tkacik, though the offense struggled yet again to do anything with it, and after just underthrowing Connor Luzier, Mo Valley would take over from their own 22. Landon Buck would manage a first down, however not much came after, as a hold pushed them back midfield, where they would go for it on a 4th and long, and would not gain the line.
Curwensville came out passing on the following drive, to mixed success, driving it down inside the redzone, stalling out again on four straight passes. The drive, put to rest when Dante Lezzer led just a little too far for Cael Butler, served as something of a microcosm to how the game had gone to that point, with just 2:20 to go in the 4th quarter, with the game all but out of reach.
The Knights would set out from their own 15, capitalizing on good blocking to the tune of two rushes for a combined 16 yards, one for 10 by Brady Kephart, and the next two would be the final 7, of a 234 yard, 2 TD performance for Rocco Reifer, who would get a much deserved rest on 4th and 5 at their own 30—from which point, Landon Buck would make a statement rush of his own, breaking off for a 70 yard touchdown, with the clock having drained to under a minute to go.
The Tide were playing for pride on the final drive with under 34 to go as they returned the kickoff for 9 yards- another tough incompletion for Dante Lezzer was then made into a mere blemish compared to the open cut that was an interception on 2nd and 10, which Chase Mital would return for a modest gain to the 21, allowing Brady Mihalko to kneel it down and close out a shutout for the Black Knights, piling onto their now five game win streak, and taking some wind out of Curwensville’s sails.
For the Black Knights, the win serves as reinforcement to their already-strong month of September, winning the first of a three game road stretch, as they use their dangerous rushing attack to scheme for Claysburg Kimmel on the 11th, and West Branch a week later on the 18th. They’ll close out their season at home with Berlin Brothersvalley, and look to use the win for momentum in the playoffs to rebound strong from their 0-2 start.
For Curwensville, the loss proves itself as simply another of a growing list of setbacks this season, for a team that has been codependent on the passing attack, being down Senior quarterback Tyler Dunn was a tough blow for the Tide, however Curwensville head coach James Thompson maintained that the expectation was to compete and to win, even without him.
He was confident when asked about the effect of not having Dunn on the field may have had on the players and the game plan, recounting “…I love our kids, they didn’t say anything about who wasn’t here [the team] fully expected to win with the guys they had”, which reflects greatly in the team’s adjustment to running the football.
He had high praise for Moshannon Valley RB Rocco Reifer, and was specifically at terms with the fatigue that comes with stopping big, powerful runners like him play after play, noting that “playing that type of offensive motif; it’s built to grind and grind and eventually pop a play”, when asked directly about the emphasis on the rushing attack on both sides of the ball.
When asked about whether they expected such a ‘war of attrition’, specifically about their preparation for stopping the explosive delay draws, Thompson was once again emphatic, pointing out “…they’re a heavy ‘run’ team, and when you have two really good backs like that, they’re gonna run the ball”, expressing a great deal of respect to the strong rushing attack of Moshannon Valley, while also giving a window into the kind of preparation they were committed to going into tonight’s game.
Curwensville’s next test will be on the road at Juniata Valley, where they look to beat the Hornets to avoid falling to 2-6; on the other side, the Hornets host the Tide hoping not to avoid a repeat of their 46-0 slaughter, at the hands of Mount Union on Friday Evening.
GOLDEN TIDE SCOREBOARD:
Date Opponent Score Record
08/23 MEYERSDALE 6 – 34 0 – 1
08/30 @ Windber 0 – 44 0 – 2
09/06 MT. UNION 7 – 49 0 – 3
09/13 SOUTHERN HUNTINGDON 52 – 20 1 – 3
09/20 @ Claysburg-Kimmel 28 – 34 1 – 4
09/27 @ West Branch 28 – 16 2 – 4
10/05 MO VALLEY 0 – 27 2 – 5
10/11 @ Juniata Valley
10/18 @ Glendale
10/25 TUSSEY MOUNTAIN