Homecoming for the Juniata Valley Hornets was a fine one, on home field where they would play host to the Curwensville Golden Tide as the Fridays get chillier and chillier.
Luckily for Juniata Valley, they had their rushing offense to keep them warm throughout the game, riding a four touchdown performance from running back Vincent Hoover, who amassed over 100 yards to complement an all around dominant performance on the ground.
On enemy field, Curwensville struggled to get anything going to match, held scoreless in the first half, only treading into Hornet territory three times, which amounted in no redzone trips and, subsequently, no points. It would be their defense that would provide a much needed spark, where Cael Butler would snag an interception that set up Curwensville’s most effective drive of the evening.
Lincoln Hoyt would take a pass 27 yards to the house to close the gap to just two scores, with time to go in the second half, and the defense continued to scrap away, forcing a fumble at their own 30 yard line setting up another offensive possession. This was answered with an Interception pulled in by Juniata Valley’s Bobby Hess, setting his offense up at the Curwensville 37 with a prime opportunity to widen the gap.
The Hornets would score yet again, eating much of the third quarter to do so, and the Tide would continue to struggle on offense from there forward, ending the third quarter by throwing a pick-six to Juniata Valley’s Jett Rand, who took it back 20 yards to effectively salt the game away, setting up a tough fourth quarter.
The two would trade possessions in a collection of different ways, most notably, an Andrew Pentz fumble recovery that sat them up near midfield, but ultimately didn’t move the needle where it mattered on the scoresheet, as the offense would punt it away and the volley of possessions would continue, ending with a fumble by Curwensville recovered by a young man the homecoming crowd saw a lot of, Vincent Hoover.
Juniata Valley, after braving a couple of tough losses in Moshannon Valley on September 27th, then being shut out at home by Mount Union, got back in the green column with tonight’s win, with their record improving to 3-5 with 2 games remaining in their schedule, both on the road—they’ll visit South Huntingdon to take on the 1-7 Rockets on October 18th, and on the 25th, they’ll close it out against a 6-2 Windber group that’s looking to finish strong, as they’ve now won three straight.
On the polar opposite half, Curwensville has now dropped their second straight, having been outscored 59-6 in that span. At 2-6, they’ll aim to make the tough climb out of that hole, as they visit Glendale on the 18th looking to dish them out their 3rd loss in 4 weeks. Following that, they’ll host Tussey Mountain on the 25th, looking to close their season with a homecoming victory and end the year on a high note.