CURWENSVILLE — There was no fiery Knute Rockne-type halftime speech by Curwensville Area High School Coach Andy Evanko in the Riverside Stadium Fieldhouse Friday night, but the Golden Tide gridders sure played the last two quarters like they had heard one, reeling off 38 unanswered points to turn a 14-8 deficit into a 46-29 victory over a young but scrappy and promising Cameron County team.
\”We just made some adjustments,\” Evanko reflected on the explosive turnaround that produced a third consecutive win for the once-beaten Golden Tide, which can vault to the top of the Allegheny Mountain League South Division with a successful visit to Johnsonburg next Friday. That should prove to be a stern test, for the Rams remained undefeated by rolling past Otto-Eldred 39-0 Friday night for their first 4-0 start since 2000.
Getting the message to the players that they only needed to execute on both sides of the ball was the focus of the Curwensville coaching staff at intermission.
\”We just talked to the offensive line,\” Evanko said. \”Everybody needed to block down, and we\’re going to kick out on the lead, and we just needed to protect our inside gap is pretty much what we said.
\”Defensively, it was just a matter of doing our jobs. Our tackles needed to squeeze down, our ends needed to squeeze down, and our backers needed to follow the guards.
\”It was just a matter of adjustments. And then, of course, there was a little bit about pride.\”
A pair of seniors on their way to their fourth letters exhibited that Tide Pride, All-State halfback Nick Sipes turning in his usual workmanlike performance in spite of Cameron County\’s concerted effort to slow him down and quarterback Shawn Sopic stunning the visitors with his rollouts as they accounted for all but six of Curwensville\’s points and also sparkled on defense.
Sipes was held to two runs over nine yards but managed to gain 124 yards on 29 carries, passing former Clearfield standout Dave Richards for second place on District 9\’s all-time rushing list with an unofficial total of 4,599 yards. Richards had 4,524. No. 1 is Aaron Cantafio of Brockway with 4,694.
Sipes scored three touchdowns on short runs, ran for extra points twice, kicked three extra points and drilled a 39-yard field goal — quite likely a Curwensville record — for a total of 28 points. Sopic racked up 145 yards and two TDs on only nine carries.
In the first period, the Golden Tide had only one possession, a 10-play, 66-yard drive that ended on Sipes\’ one-yard plunge with 4:00 left. The hosts went for two after a penalty on the Red Raiders, and Sipes skirted left end to make it 8-0.
Cameron County (2-2), with only three senior starters, got Curwensville\’s attention the rest of the half, scoring twice in a little over two minutes to stun the hometown crowd after coming away with nothing on its first threat when Danny Slottje\’s short field goal attempt was wide left on the second play of the second quarter.
On its second possession, Curwensville converted a fourth-and-one at its 29, but Evanko\’s second gamble failed on fourth-and-two at the 38 when Sipes was greeted in the backfield for a two-yard loss.
Given the short field, Coach Tony Defillipi\’s Red Raiders scored in four plays on their way to dominating the next 6:49. John Malizi barreled up the middle for a 13-yard touchdown with 5:14 left, and after a Golden Tide punt, Cameron Clingan found daylight over the right side, bounced to the sideline and streaked 74 yards with 3:10 left. Abram Zoschg ran for the extra points after the second TD to make it 14-8.
\”They played exceptionally well,\” Evanko said. \”They executed their offense very, very well. Their defense, they just attack. They\’re a good football team. They\’re well-coached.
\”Fortunately, our kids stepped it up in the second half.\”
Everything clicked for Curwensville. It was just the opposite for Cameron County, which suffered an interception and lost three fumbles.
Evanko attributed the fumbles to hard-hitting and trying to strip the ball.
\”I think we hit better in the second half,\” he said. \”Stripping the ball is part of our defensive practices. It\’s something we teach. It\’s something we hope they can have an opportunity to use throughout the game. And it looked like it paid off. That one drive that we stopped down on the eight yard line on a fumble, that was big.\”
Sopic jump-started the Golden Tide in the second half with his lone completion, an 18-yarder to tight end Brandon McDonald. He aired it out on the next two plays , which resulted in pass interference calls and 30 yards the easy way. Two plays later, Sopic rolled left, shook off two tackles and scored on a 14-yarder. Sipes\’ conversion put Curwensville in front 15-14 with 10:44 left in the third quarter.
The decision to come out passing was a result of Cameron County trying to take Sipes out of the offense.
\”They had almost 10 guys up in the box, so we decided we were going to throw the ball and get them off us a little bit,\” Evanko said. \”They might have been keying on Nick, but there\’s other places we have the ability to go. I thought Brandon Hess did well. And the offensive line, in the second half, absolutely dominated the game.\”
Evanko pointed out the Golden Tide front had a new look because junior center Nick Caldwell was not available because of a non-related football injury.
\”We moved (Nathan) Russell down to center and moved Jared Skebo into guard,\” he said. \”Both of those guys played exceptionally well.\”
Sopic got Curwensville back on offense in a hurry, stepping in front of Nick Malize to pick off Jordan Crane\’s sideline pass near midfield and dashing all the way across the field on a 26-yard return to the CC-22. Six plays later, Sipes plowed over left guard for a six-yard TD with 7:44 remaining in the quarter. His PAT try was blocked by Zoschg.
On second down, Golden Tide safety Phillip Michaels grabbed a Red Raider fumble in mid-air and returned 11 yards to the CC-22. A personal foul penalty cost the hosts 15 yards and they stalled at the 21, but Sipes gave them a 24-14 cushion with his field goal at the 4:03 mark.
Just when Cameron County appeared on the verge of battling back into the game, another fumble ended a 71-yard push, Curwensville\’s Trevor Horton recovering at the C-15.
Sopic, who\’s lost little of his speed though adding 20 pounds since his junior year, quickly got the Golden Tide out of trouble with another keeper and only a diving attempt by Taylor Songer at the CC-25 prevented a touchdown. The 195-pounder stumbled to the 14 for a 71-yard pickup. On second down, he finished the job with a 13-yard rollout around right end to begin the fourth period. Sipes converted for a 31-14 lead.
\”Shawn came up big for us,\” Evanko said. \”He had some tremendous runs. And the interception came at a key time for us.\”
Hess\’ one-yard run around right end that capped a seven-play, 56-yard march and Sipes\’ two-point PAT run to the left pushed the margin to 39-14 with 7:07 left.
Curwensville regained possession when Derek Johnson recovered a fumble at the CC-38 on the kickoff return, and the lead ballooned to 46-14 when Sipes walked in from the one with 3:39 to go and then kicked the extra point.
With reserves for both teams on the field, Cameron County scored twice in the last two minutes. Charlie Hellenic\’s 66-yard run set up a one-yard TD by Chad Olay, with Slottje booting the extra point. After a fumble recovery at the C-10, Jarek Holjencin hit a wide-open Andy Beer in the end zone, and Charlie Holjencin ran for the extra points.
\”I\’m just so proud of our kids (for) their effort in the last 24 minutes,\” Evanko said. \”There wasn\’t anybody that didn\’t play their heart out in the second half.
CURWENSVILLE
Ends — McDonald, Evans
Tackles — Horton, Kephart
Guards — Hawkins, Skebo
Center — Russell
Backs — Sopic, Sipes, Hess, Johnson
Subs — Hoover, Holland, Kalgren, Michaels, McGary, Botzman, Dell\’Antonio, Starr, Opaliski, Smith, Johns, Greene, Thomas, Guy, C. Bloom, Holt, Zemba, Maney, Lash, Koontz, Bennett, J. Bloom, Dixon, Padgett, Winkelman, Kahl
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Cameron County 0 14 0 15 — 29
Curwensville 8 0 16 22 — 46
First Quarter
Cur — Sipes 1 run (Sipes run), 4:00
Second Quarter
CC — N. Malizia 13 run (pass failed), 5:14
CC — Clingan 74 run (Zoschg run), 3:10
Third Quarter
Cur — Sopic 14 run (Sipes kick), 10:44
Cur — Sipes 6 run (kick blocked), 7:44
Cur — FG Sipes 39, 4:03
Fourth Quarter
Cur — Sopic 13 run (Sipes kick), 11:53
Cur — Hess 1 run (Sipes run), 7:07
Cur — Sipes 1 run (Sipes kick), 3:39
CC — Olay 1 run (Slottje kick), 1:48
CC — Beer 10 pass from C. Holjencin (Olay run), :53
TEAM STATISTICS
CC C
First Downs Rushing 11 13
First Downs Passing 1 1
First Downs Passing 1 3
Total First Downs 13 17
Yards Gained Rushing 360 336
Yards Lost Rushing 10 14
Rushes-Net Yards 42-350 54-322
Passes Att-Com-Int 10-2-1 7-1-0
Yards Passing 26 18
Punts-Average 2-33.5 2-35
Fumbles-Lost 3-3 3-1
Penalties-Yards 7-73 7-63
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Cameron County: Clingan 15-154, C.Holjencin 2-70, Zoschg 10-57, J. Malizia 7-42, Mason 2-17, Crane 3-5, Malize 1-2, Songer 1-2, Olay 1-1. Curwensville: Sopic 9-145, Sipes 29-124, Hess 9-42, Botzman 1-6, Johnson 1-5, McGary 2-2, Greene 1-0, Kalgren 2-minus 2.
PASSING — Cameron County: Crane 9-1-0-1, 16 yards, J. Holjencin 1-1-1-0, 10 yards. Curwensville: Sopic 7-1-0-0, 18 yards.
RECEIVING — Cameron County: Malize 1-16, Beer 1-10. Curwensville: McDonald 1-18.