Jason Blose scored the eventual game-winning touchdown for Cameron County - Photo by Randy Frey - See game recap
Craig Carrow scores a TD during Johnsonburg's win over Otto-Eldred - Photo by Wade Aiken - See game recap
Dirk Cowburn scored a pair of TD's in Coudersport's win over ECC Friday night - Photo by Paul Burdick - See game recap
CAMERON COUNTY 27, KANE 26, OT
EMPORIUM — In a rematch of last year’s District 9 Class A Championship game, it came down to a missed extra-point kick in overtime as Cameron County avenged its playoff loss to Kane with a 27-26 win.
After Ross Nicholson’s touchdown got Kane within a point in the extra session, the Wolves failed on the the tying point-after kick and lost by the single point. It was the third point-after kick Kane missed in the game.
Cameron County scored first in overtime on a Jason Blose 1-yard run with Hunter Bardo nailing the point-after kick.
The Red Raiders won despite six turnovers. Quarterback Jason Blose scored on runs of 3 and 1 yards and threw a 56-yard TD pass to Andy Baer. Andrew Kesterholt also scored on an 8-yard run.
Nicholson scored three touchdowns for Kane, the one in overtime, a 7-yard run in the third quarter and a 16-yard pass from quarterback Kenny Kane in the first quarter.
RIDGWAY – Elliott Pontious rushed 15 times for 202 yards and four
touchdowns to first-year Ridgway head coach Mark Heindl an easy 51-0 win over Sheffield in the season
opener for both teams Friday night at Ridgway.
Pontious, who added one catch for eight yards, put Ridgway ahead 19-o at
halftime on runs of 41, 12 and 67 yards and then bumped the score to 25-0 with a 1-yard scoring run in
the third quarter.
The Elkers also scored two defensive touchdowns with Alan Buehler
returning a fumble 31 yards for a score and Kevin Kilhoffer returning an interception 100 yards (he
actually caught it a yard deep in the end zone) for the final score of the night.
Jesse Parsons ran for 29 yards and Kyle Reynolds 28 to lead Sheffield.
DUKE CENTER - Johnsonburg scored 27 points in the second quarter and led 34-0 on its way to a 40-0 win at Otto-Eldred in the season opener for both teams Friday night.
Zane Zelehoski scored two touchdowns, both coming in the second quarter on a 23-yard run and 86-yard punt return. Ren Yonker returned an interception 92 yards for another score.
The Rams’ Trey Dececchis led the team with 97 yards rushing on only eight carries. He scored the final touchdown of the game on a 7-yard run in the fourth quarter.
The Rams outgained the Terrors, 364-180. Drew Coscia led Otto-Eldred with 70 yards rushing on nine carries.
CURWENSVILLE 23, PORT ALLEGANY 8
CURWENSVILLE – Curwensville outscored Port Allegany 15-0 in the second half to beat the Gators 23-8 in the season opener
Tied at 8-8 at intermission, the Golden Tide got two 1-yard TD runs from quarterback David Kalgren and Ben McGary in the second half. Kalgren’s came in the third quarter while McGary’s came in the first minute of the fourth quarter.
Curwensville also added a safety in the third quarter when it tackled Port running back Seth Lowery in the end zone.
Jesse Hoover’s 67-yard punt return accounted for the Tide’s only score in the first half.
The Gators scored their only touchdown late in the first half when quarterback Camrin Stuckey tossed a 5-yard TD pass to Paul Woods with five seconds left in the half.
COUDERSPORT 29, ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 16
COUDERSPORT – Dirk Cowburn scored twice including once on a 75-yard run to lead Coudersport to a season-opening 29-16 win over visiting Elk County Catholic Friday night.
The Falcons led 13-0 at halftime thanks to the 75-yard run by Cowburn and a 68-yard scamper by Brett Whitman and then added 16 more points in the third quarter including a 37-yard field goal by Cooper Bonczar, an 18-yard scoring run by Tim Thomas and a 22-yard run by Cowburn to make it 29-0 heading to the fourth quarter.
Matt Bauer got ECC on the board with a blocked punt return before Kyle Gerber’s 1-yard run ended the scoring.
Tom Marconi had 26 yards rushing and 35 yards receiving for ECC, while Gerber picked up 31 yards and the touchdown on 17 carries.
Coudersport stats will be posted when we receive them.
KNOX – Keystone scored on its first six possessions on its way to a 48-20 win over visiting A-C Valley in the season opener for both teams Friday night at Keystone.
The Panthers used that fast start to take a 40-6 halftime lead.
Dan Reed led the way for Keystone with 100 yards rushing and three touchdowns, while Ben Black was 10 of 13 passing for 143 yards and a touchdown pass to Nick Bowser. Zach Smith added five carries for 84 yards and two scores.
A-C Valley, which has now lost 23 straight games, got scoring runs of 15 yards from Luke Walker and six yards from Brent Hindman and a touchdown pass from Michael Orrvick to Walker. The 20 points are the most in a game by the Falcons since putting up 20 in 23-20 loss to Union Oct. 6, 2006, and were just 32 fewer than they scored all last season.
REDBANK VALLEY 36, CLARION-LIMESTONE 6
NEW BETHLEHEM – Behind 111 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 16 carries from Alex Bladel, Redbank Valley gave first-year head coach Brandon Rapp his first win in his first game with a 36-6 victory over visiting Clarion-Limestone.
The Bulldogs built a 21-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and 36-0 at the half.
Shiloh Buchleitner, making his first career start at quarterback, added two touchdown passes while going 4 of 12 for 79 yards and an interception. He hit Jerrett Rankin with a 32-yard heave and Kameron Rankin with a 10-yard strike. Rankin also returned an interception 34 yards for a touchdown.
C-L scored on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Dan Miller to Taylor Port.
KARNS CITY – A short-handed Karns City notched its 21st straight KSAC win while handing Punxsutawney its first-ever KSAC loss with a 21-0 win over the visiting Chucks Friday night.
Josh Stimac led the Gremlins, who according to the Punxsutawney Spirit were without 12 seniors and three underclassmen because of two off-the-field incidents and some injuries, with 78 yards rushing and a touchdown on 11 carries, while Levi Buck added a 7-yard touchdown run and Chris Price threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Cody Williams with just 49 seconds left in the first half.
Nick Wehrle led Punxsutawney, which has lost 11 straight games and was making its KSAC debut, with nine carries for 63 yards. But the Chucks has a team ran for just 23 yards. Logan Weaver was 8 of 12 passing for 90 yards with Easton Weaver, Logan’s cousin, catching six of the passes for 71 yards.
Three of Karns City top offensive players – returning starting quarterback Anthony Stimac, running back Markus LaVan and wide receiver Josh Callender – didn’t play. It is not known if the three were part of the off-the-field incident or were injured. According to the story in the Punxsutawney Spirit, nine of the missing players were part of the off-the-field incidents and the rest of the missing players were injured.
FAIRVIEW – Fairview made just a couple of more plays than Bradford in getting a 16-6 opening-game victory over the visiting Owls Friday night.
The Tigers built a 9-0 lead early in the second quarter and then got an insurance touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
Bradford’s lone score came on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Grand to Pat Pascarella midway through the second quarter. The Owls missed on two other golden opportunities to score when they had a 77-yard punt return for a touchdown by Ed Pascarella called back on an illegal block and when Cody Nuzzo missed a 29-yard field goal attempt.
Mike Pascarella led Bradford with eight carries for 72 yards while also making 14 tackles.
Peter Jackson led Fairview with 27 carries for 131 yards and a touchdown, while Jared Lane added 13 carries for 72 yards.
