ECC UPSETS CURWENSVILLE IN DOUBLE OVERTIME

First Round of District 9 Class A Playoff

Elk County Catholic 27, Curwensville 24, 2 overtimes

Nov. 8, 2008

District 9 Playoff Home

Information for this story is courtesy of the DuBois Courier-Express/Tri-County Sunday

CURWENSVILLE – Joe Jacob’s 1-yard touchdown run in double overtime lifted sixth-seeded Elk County Catholic to a 27-24 upset of third-seeded Curwensville in the opening round of the District 9 Class A playoffs Saturday night in Curwensville.

Curwensville (7-3) had taken a 24-21 lead in the second extra session on a 26-yard Nathan Russell field goal, but ECC picked up the 10 yards needed to win in three plays on its possession.

The Golden Tide, who at one point in the first half led 13-0, forced overtime when David Kalgren hit Andrew Starr with a 40-yard touchdown pass and then found Jesse Hoover with the two-point conversion pass with 1:51 left in the regulation.

Both teams had field goals blocked in the first overtime.

ECC (7-3), which became the second lower seed to beat a higher seed in two nights, looked to be in complete control of the game following a 20-yard Ricky Pearsall touchdown run with 3:52 to play that gave the Crusaders a 21-13 lead.

But Josh Catalano’s squib kickoff attempt turned out to be more like an on-side kick that Curwensville recovered setting up the game-tying touchdown pass.

Curwensville, which beat ECC 22-12 Oct. 10, looked like it was going to cruise to a second victory over the Crusaders when it jumped out to a 13-0 lead less than 10 minutes into the game.

Hoover got the Tide rolling when he returned the opening kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown. Jed Greslick then made it 13-0 with a 2-yard touchdown run with 2:28 left in the opening quarter.

ECC, which is now 3-0 in overtime this season, rallied back in the second quarter to take a 14-13 halftime lead.

Jacob put the Crusaders on the board with a 1-yard touchdown run with 4:34 left in the half and then put ECC ahead at the break on another 1-yard scoring run with three seconds left before halftime.

Neither team mustered much offense in the game. ECC had 153 yards including 141 on the ground, while Curwensville had 179 including 68 rushing. Both teams turned the ball over twice.

Pearsall led ECC with 78 yards rushing on 22 carries, while Greslick had 54 on 16 carries for Curwensville. Kalgren was also 12 of 26 passing for 111 yards, the touchdown and two interceptions. Hoover had six catches for 42 yards.

On defense, Pearsall picked off a pair of passes for ECC with Kalgren getting an interception for Curwensville.

ECC now faces seventh-seeded Clarion, a 19-0 winner over Redbank Valley, in the semifinals either Friday or Saturday at a site and time to be determined.

NOTES – Prior to Clarion’s win over second-seeded Redbank Valley Friday night, lower seeds had been 0-15 vs. higher-seeds in the first round since District 9 expanded to an eight-team Class A bracket in 2004. Lower seeds are now 2-17 vs. higher seeds … ECC and Clarion have played once in their histories with Clarion getting a 20-16 win in the opening round of the 2005 District 9 Class A playoffs at Clarion.

ECC 27, CURWENSVILLE 24, 2 overtimes

Score by Quarters

ECC 0 14 0 7 0 6 – 27

C-ville 13 0 0 8 0 3 – 24

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

C – Jesse Hoover 89 kickoff return (Nathan Russell kick), 11:47

C – Jed Greslick 2 run (run failed), 2:28

Second Quarter

E – Joe Jacob 1 run (Josh Catalano kick), 4:34

E – Jacob 1 run (Catalano kick), 0:03

Fourth Quarter

E – Ricky Pearsall 20 run (Catalano kick), 3:52

C – Andrew Starr 40 pass from David Kalgren (Hoover pass from Kalgren), 1:51

Second Overtime

C – Russell 26 field goal

E – Jacob 1 run

Team statistics                    ECC                Curwensville

First Downs                        8                      9

Rushes-Yards                     49-141             29-68

Passing Yards                     12                    111

Passes: Comp-Att-Int         1-8-1                12-26-2

Total Yards                                    153                  179

Fumbles-Lost                     3-1                   0-0

Penalties-Yards                  7-32                 7-55

Punts-Avg.                         5-31.2              4-15.3

Individual Stats

Rushing – ECC: Ricky Pearsall 22-78, Tom Marconi 10-30, Josh Catalano 2-3, Joe Jacob 6-4, Matt Meholic 8-25, Kyle Gerber 1-1. Curwensville: Jed Greslick 16-54, Ben McGary 3-9, David Kalgren 5-minus 10, Cory Bloom 1-2, Nick Opaliski 3-12, Jesse Hoover 1-1.

Passing – ECC: Jacob 1-for-8, 12 yards, 1 interception. Curwensville: Kalgren 12-for-26, 111 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 interceptions.

Receiving – ECC: Catalano 1-12. Curwensville: Hoover 6-42, Andrew Starr 1-40, Sam Gardner 1-15, Opaliski 1-6, Greslick 2-6.

Interceptions – ECC: Pearsall 2. Curwensville: Kalgren.