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Golde Tide thump Sheffield
Monday, October 29, 2012
By Jon Christoff Sports Writer
SHEFFIELD - When you play the Curwensville football team and time is winding down at the end of the first half, you better play every snap until the buzzer or the Golden Tide will make you pay.
For the fifth time this season, Curwensville ended the second quarter on a positive note, and it parlayed into big things in the second half on Saturday at Sheffield.
The Tide held a 14-7 lead with just under two minutes to play and the ball on their own 5. Instead of just trying to get some breathing room and just go into the locker room, head coach Andy Evanko's team did what it does best in that situation - get the ball into the end zone.
Brad Coudriet sparked the eight-play, 95-yard drive with a 44-yard run on a counter and capped it from 2 yards out a couple plays later to extend Curwensville's lead to double digits for good.
The Tide responded by scoring 30 points in the third quarter en route to a 50-28 win.
"It's a lot better being up two scores (at halftime) instead of one," Evanko said, "so it was big. You could see our confidence starting to build as that drive was going on. It was a huge game for us.
"We were trying to get down there and put points on the board. Every time the offense has the football, that's what we're trying to do. We had a couple of turnovers that hurt us, but we took our time and hit a couple of big runs. We got that big run from Brad, and it put us in pretty good shape."
Coudriet wasn't the only Curwensville ball carrier to have success against the porous Wolverine defense, as Zach Tibbens and Josh Greslick each went over 100 yards and Alex Olson scored a pair of touchdowns.
In all, the Tide racked up 380 yards on 40 carries with Tibbens (157) and Greslick (111) leading the way.
Tibbens scored three times for Curwensville, which is off this week before facing the loser of the Allegheny Mountain League championship game between Port Allegheny and Brockway the following week in the District 9 Class A playoffs.
"We're a resilient team," said Evanko. "We have tough kids, a good offensive line, and they just stepped up to the plate. The kids come to play and they play hard. You can't knock these guys. They're just a tough bunch of kids."
After Coudriet's plunge came with 15 seconds on the clock, Curwensville received the opening kickoff of the second half and drove the ball down the field to make the double-digit lead even bigger.
Tibbens ran it in from 7 yards out and added the conversion to make it 28-7.
Sheffield's Adam Higby connected with Dylan McNeal on a 32-yard strike to cut the deficit to 14, but Tibbens and Co. answered back - quickly.
Tibbens ran in his second score from 35 yards away just five plays after Higby's completion, and Curwensville put the game away and got the running clock with the mercy rule with touchdowns on consecutive offensive plays shortly thereafter.
Greslick ran a pitch 28 yards to paydirt after a Wolverine punt was booted into the back of the offensive line, while Olson added his second score after Greslick recovered a fumble.
The final two Tide scores came just 62 seconds apart.
"We wanted to get back on track," said Evanko, whose team lost 13-12 to Elk County Catholic last week, "and win a football game, and remember what it was like to win a football game. We wanted to go into the playoffs strong, so this was big for us."
Sheffield finished the scoring with 14 points in the fourth quarter against the Tide's junior varsity defense.
Higby and Shequan Wright combined to throw for 198 yards and two scores, the second of which came from Wright to Tyler Fitzgerald with 9:38 remaining in the game. Wright capped the scoring with a 2-yard run less than four minutes later.
The Wolverines close the season at Youngsville on Friday.
Tibbens had a pair of 2-point runs for Curwensville, which also got one apiece from Olson and Coudriet.
EXTRA POINTS: Curwensville quarterback Hunter McCracken was 6-for-6 through the air for 73 yards with Jordan Russell leading the way with four grabs for 41 yards. ... Olson and Coudriet finished the game with 56 and 53 yards total on four carries apiece. ... The Tide rushed for 380 yards on 40 carries, while the Wolverines toted the ball 35 times for 51. ... Fitzgerald was Sheffield's leading receiver with four catches for 70 yards.
Curwensville 50, Sheffield 28
Score By Quarters
Curwensville 8 12 30 0-50
Sheffield 0 7 7 14-28 First Quarter
C-Olson 3 run, (Olson run), 3:28.
Second Quarter
S-Johnston 2 run, (Wright kick), 11:10.
C-Tibbens 7 run, (run failed), 8:29.
C-Coudriet 2 run, (kick failed), :15.
Third Quarter
C-Tibbens 7 run, (Tibbens run), 8:34.
S-McNeal 32 pass from Higby, (Wright kick), 6:49.
C-Tibbens 35 run, (Tibbens run), 4:50.
C-Greslick 28 run, (Coudriet run), 2:22.
C-Olson 26 run, (run failed), 1:20.
Fourth Quarter
S-Fitzgerald 9 pass from Wright, (Heeter pass from Wright), 9:38.
S-Wright 2 run, (pass failed), 5:47. TEAM STATISTICS
C S
Total First Downs 18 14
Rushes-Yards 40-380 35-51
Comp-Att-Int 6-6-0 13-21-0
Passing Yards 73 198
Total Plays-Yards 46-453 56-249
Fumbles-Lost 3-3 4-2
Punts-Avg 0-0 4-24.8
Penalties-Yards 5-44 4-17 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Curwensville-Tibbens 15-157, Greslick 11-111, Olson 4-56, Coudriet 4-53, Royer 2-3, Billings 3-0, Lamoreau 1-0.
Sheffield-Johnston 11-27, Wright 13-13, Fitzgerald 6-7, Winslow 1-7, Barr 1-1, Team 1-(-1), Higby 2-(-3).
Passing
Curwensville-McCracken 6-of-6, 73 yds.
Sheffield-Wright 9-of-17, 137 yds., TD; Higby 4-of-4, 61 yds., TD.
Receiving
Curwensville-Russell 4-41, Jacobson 1-18, Coudriet 1-14.
Sheffield-Fitzgerald 4-70, McNeal 3-47, Barr 2-40, Johnston 2-21, Winslow 2-15, Sutton 0-5.
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