ST. MARYS – It was a repeat of last season’s opener for the Curwensville Area High School football squad as it lost Friday night to Elk County Catholic (ECC), in St. Marys, 21-0 in new Golden Tide head coach Jimmy Thompson’s debut.
Last year the Crusaders defeated the Tide 34-14 at Curwensville in game one behind Stephen Bobby’s three rushing touchdowns.
Same result this year as Bobby scored three more rushing touchdowns in the ECC victory.
Both squads found the going tough on offense in the first quarter as the Tide couldn’t really mount any sort of serious threat while the Crusaders did get into Curwensville territory without putting points on the board.
The game’s first score came with 10:36 to play before the half when ECC defender Ryan Schatz tackled Curwensville freshman quarterback Daniel McGarry in the end zone for the two point safety.
Elk County Catholic would build the lead to 8-0 minutes later when Bobby scored on a 22 yard romp to pay dirt with 6:57 to play in the second quarter. Bobby’s extra point attempt was blocked.
The Crusaders, who spent a lot of time in Tide territory all night, pushed across another score at the 8:37 mark of the third frame on a Bobby eight yard run. This time the extra point attempt from Bobby was good and after three quarters ECC held a 15-0 edge.
ECC made the final score 21-0 on a 13 yard Bobby scamper to the end zone with 4:47 left in the contest with the PAT attempt being blocked.
For Curwensville, which never had a serious scoring threat, the offense is obviously a work in progress, but the defense played tough as it was constantly challenged by the Crusaders and its strong running attack.
Junior Jake McCracken had an interception for the Golden Tide.
Curwensville will open its home schedule on Friday against visiting Cameron County with kick-off scheduled for 7 pm.
Cameron County, beaten last year by the Tide 58-6, did not have a scheduled game for week one.
Listen to the Golden Tide-Raiders game on WOKW-FM, 102.9, Starting with the pre-game show at 6:45 pm.
SCORING SUMMARY
CURWENSVILLE 0 0 0 0 0
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 0 8 7 6 21
CURW ECC
1st QUARTER
NO SCORING
2nd QUARTER
ECC 10:36 Daniel McGarry tackled in end zone for safety 0 2
ECC 6:57 Stephen Bobby 22 yard run
PAT attempt blocked 0 8
3rd QUARTER
ECC 8:37 Bobby 8 yard run
Bobby PAT 0 15
4th QUARTER
ECC 4:47 Bobby 13 yard run
PAT attempt blocked 0 21
