CURWENSVILLE DOMINATES CLARION IN CAPTURING CLASS A TITLE

By Chris Rossetti and Jonathan Shaffer

DuBOIS – Curwensville used a stiff defense and a strong running game to upset Clarion, the No. 1 team in the state according to the PA Football News, 23-0 and claim the District 9 Class A Football title for 2000 at DuBois’ E.J. Mansell Stadium.

"This feels great," Curwensville first-year head coach Andy Evanko said. "I know the work that went into it. I know the time the kids spent every Saturday in the weight room and everything they put into it. I feel absolutely great for the kids. They certainly have worked for it."

The Golden Tide (11-0) became the first team to shutout the Bobcats (10-1) this season, as Clarion had been averaging 50.2 points per game.

"I have to give them credit," Clarion head coach Larry Wiser said after watching his team lose in the District 9 title game for the second straight season. "I have no excuses to make. They moved us off the ball. They did what they needed to do to beat us."

Curwensville’s defense limited Clarion to minus 4 yards of offense on just 36 plays for the night while holding the Bobcats to one first down. Clarion’s junior halfback Kyle Cathcart was held to just 10 yards on 15 carries.

"I think that is where the field condition came in," Cathcart said. "It didn’t bother me at all, but I am sure it was tough for our linemen to find their footing. Curwensville did a good job mixing up their blitzes. Their defense is a lot tougher than anyone in the state was giving them credit for."

"I think they put people in the right spots to stop us," Wiser said. "(John Kester) and Todd Delucia killed us all night. I thought we came out with a new formation, but we couldn’t get it going."

The Clarion defense traded blows evenly with Curwensville for the first half, as the teams went into the lockerroom tied at zero.

"We felt pretty good at halftime because we were able to move the ball on them in the first half," Evanko said. "We knew we could move the ball. We just knew that we needed to finish the job and score some points to win."

But the Golden Tide finally got their offense in gear in the second half, scoring one third-quarter touchdown and adding two in the fourth quarter along with a safety on a bad punt snap.

Curwensville’s offense, meanwhile racked up 296 yards on 70 plays including 220 on 60 carries on the ground and nearly scored as many points in one game as Clarion had let up all season. The Bobcats had only given up 25 points on the season in the first 10 games.

"We knew it was going to be won up front," Evanko said. "And the kids just went after it."

"They did a good job of mixing it up on us," Cathcart said. "They gave the perfect balance of pass and run. There was nothing we could do. They kept us on our toes all night. I give them a lot of credit for that."

The Golden Tide got the only score they would need when Brian Marino scored from nine yards out with 4:09 left in the third quarter. A 31-yard pass from Matt Harnish to Jim Thompson put the ball at the 9-yard line to set up the score.

"That first touchdown was the turning point in the game," Cathcart, who is also a linebacker, said. "They had a nice drive going, and they straight up went in and scored. I didn’t expect them to do that on our defense, and they did. They took it to us and won the game, that’s it."

Curwensville then started to put the game away early in the fourth quarter when Marino scored on a 2-yard run with 11:11 left in the game. The touchdown game moments after Matt Harnish hit Adam Donahue on a 12-yard pass on third-and-goal from the 14-yard line.

"We had some huge passes tonight," Evanko said.

Clarion’s offense seemed to get a spark after the second Curwensville touchdown when Brock Luke got the Bobcats biggest gain of the night on an 18-yard run that put the ball at midfield. The run gave Clarion its only first down of the night.

Curwensville’s defense, though, stiffened, and the Golden Tide got the ball back when a Mario Bernardi pass for Cathcart fell short with just over eight minutes to play.

Clarion’s defense looked like it was going to get the Bobcats’ offense the ball back with about eight minutes left when it forced Curwensville to punt. Luke, however, ran into the punter, Donahue, and was called for a 15-yard roughing the punter penalty giving the Golden Tide a first down.

Clarion did get the ball back after the penalty, but two precious minutes had expired off the clock.

But the time didn’t really matter, as the Bobcats offense couldn’t get anything going, and they gave the ball back to Curwensville on downs.

Once the Golden Tide got the ball back, they wasted little time putting the game away. Mark Harnish, Matt’s twin brother, put the explanation mark on the game with a 19-yard touchdown run with 3:42 left to play.

Curwensville’s final score came with 2:24 remaining when a Clarion punt snap was bad forcing Cathcart to recover the ball at the Clarion 3-yard line. Instead of falling on the ball and be tackcled to give Curwensville ample opportunity to score another touchdown, Cathcart pitched the ball through the back of the end zone for the safety.

Matt Harnish led the way with 66 yards rushing on 11 carries while going 5-for-10 passing for 76 yards. Marino added 91 yards on 26 carries and the two touchdowns. Mark Harnish had 12 carries for 45 yards and a score, and Joe Bennett had eight carries for 18 yards.

Bernardi was just 2-for-12 for nine yards and one interception. Luke was the Bobcats leading rusher with four carries for 15 yards.