PIAA CLASS A PLAYOFFS

CURWENSVILLE (11-0) vs. SHARPSVILLE (7-2)
PLACE: Sharon
TIME: 7 p.m. Saturday

ALSO SEE GAME STORY

GOLDEN TIDE LOOK TO CONTINUE PLAYOFF RUN
By RICH RHOADES
CURWENSVILLE - It's uncharted territory for the Curwensville High School
football team.

The District 9 Class A champion Golden Tide will play in their
first-ever PIAA state playoff game Saturday night when they head to
Sharon to take on District 10 champion Sharpsville. Kickoff is scheduled
for 7 p.m.

With last week's surprisingly lopsided 23-0 win over Clarion,
Curwensville improved to 11-0 and moved from 10th to fifth in the
Harrisburg Patriot-News' state rankings. Sharpsville (8-2) avenged a
regular season loss to Kennedy Christian by beating it, 14-7, in last
week's D-10 Championship game. The Blue Devils are ranked sixth in the
state by the Harrisburg Patriot-News.

Curwensville was impressive in its rout of Clarion. The Golden Tide
limited Clarion to just one first down and 31 yards of offense. Clarion
had come into the game averaging over 50 points per game.

Offensively, the Golden Tide got 102 yards rushing and two touchdowns
from senior fullback Brian Marino. Senior quarterback Matt Harnish
rushed for 72 yards and completed 5 of 10 passes for 87 yards.

Curwensville is averaging 333 yards per game offensively (231 rush, 102
pass). Running the ball, the Golden Tide use a four-man attack. Senior
Mark Harnish (143 carries, 739 yards, 15 TDs), Marino (136-649, 9),
junior Joe Bennett (110-611, 4) and quarterback Matt Harnish (53-311, 9)
have all contributed during the season.

Mark Harnish, Marino and Bennett have each rushed for 100 yards or more
in a game two times apiece. QB Matt Harnish's nine TDs attest to his
ability and his performance against Clarion probably earned him the
game's unofficial most valuable player award. Harnish's 38-yard run set
up Curwensville's second TD of the game and put away the Bobcats.

Harnish's favorite passing target all season has been senior wideout
Adam Donahue, who has caught 42 passes for 700 yards with eight TDs.

Defense has been the name of the game for the Golden Tide and last week
was no different. Linemen Nate Irwin, John Kester, Trevor Curry and Cory
Bailor won the battle in the trenches all night and really set the tone
for the Tide's win. Linebacker Todd Deluccia was another key factor as
he's been all year.

Even though the Tide turned the ball over more times than their opponent
in a game for the first time this year last week, they still own an
impressive plus-22 turnover ratio. Helping that ratio is cornerback
Donahue and safety Mark Harnish, who have seven and five interceptions
respectively.

Sharpsville has won three of the last four District 10 titles and in
1997 it won a state title. The Blue Devils lost the bulk of last year's
team that fell to District 9 champion Cameron County, 21-20, in the
first round of the state playoffs at DuBois' E.J. Mansell Stadium.

Only five seniors dot head coach Paul Piccirilli's roster and four of
them are starters. Shawn Taylor, a tight end and defensive end, is the
only senior two-way starter and the only senior starter on defense.

Statistically, Sharpsville averages 26.8 points per game and 272.7 yards
(207 rush, 65.7 pass) of offense per game. Defensively, the Blue Devils
give up 12.7 points and 165.2 yards (111.3 rush, 53.9 pass).

Sharpsville uses a committee approach offensively. Junior fullback Ron
Haywood (117 attempts, 632 yards, 5.4 per carry), junior halfback Eric
Major (93-556, 6.1) and junior quarterback Bill Stiger (92-311, 3.4) do
most of the ballcarrying. Passing the ball, Stiger is 30-of-63 for 519
yards with six touchdowns and six interceptions.

Sharpsville's other loss this season came to WPIAL team Western Beaver
in a 29-7 season-opening loss. The Blue Devils dropped a 31-10 decision
to Kennedy Christian in their first meeting. Sharpsville opened the
playoffs with a 41-16 win over Union City before beating Kennedy
Christian.

In that game, Sharpsville broke a 7-7 tie when quarterback Stiger hit
receiver Ray Rotell for a 41-yard touchdown pass with 8:49 left in the
game. Haywood scored the other touchdown and Major led the team with 126
yards rushing on 19 carries. Sharpsville limited Kennedy Christian to
only two first downs.

The winner of Saturday's game advances to the Western Region semifinals
against the District 5-6 champion, either Windber (11-0) or Bishop
Carroll (8-3). Those two teams also square off Saturday night at
Altoona's Mansion Park.

The other remaining Class A playoff teams reside in the WPIAL (District
7) where Rochester plays Greensburg Central Catholic and Monaca plays
Canevin. The WPIAL champion will play the remaining team left from the
rest of the bracket -- Curwensville, Sharpsville, Windber or Bishop
Carroll -- Dec. 1 or 2. The winner of that game would advance to the
state championship the following weekend.

 

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