JOHNSONBURG 22, CURWENSVILLE 16

Sept. 16, 2005

CURWENSVILLE – Curwensville’s AML dominance came to an abrupt halt Friday night when Johnsonburg used a strong defense and tough special teams to upset the Golden Tide 22-16 Friday night in Curwensville.

The loss broke a 14-game regular-season win streak for Curwensville (2-1 overall, 2-1 AML South), which last lost in the regular season Oct. 10, 2003, 37-36 to Ridgway.

Johnsonburg (2-1, 2-1) held Curwensville to just 267 total yards of offense, the fewest yards for Curwensville since a 14-7 Week Two win against Brockway last season.

Curwensville led 16-8 at halftime, but Johnsonburg came up with a couple of big play in the third quarter to take the lead.

The first big play was an interception by Josh Feronti of a Shawn Sopic pass attempt early in the quarter that gave the Rams the ball at the Golden Tide 35.

That interception set up a 15-yard scoring run by Calvin Grumley that coupled with a 2-point conversion pass from Anthony Imbrogno to Judd Zilcosky tied the game at 16 with 9:01 left in the quarter.

Later in the quarter, a Curwensville special teams mistake led the Rams second touchdown of the quarter.

A bad snap on a punt attempt turned into complete disaster when punter Brandon McDonald retrieved the bad snap but was hit as he tried to pick it up by Zilcosky. Zilcosky then picked the ball up at the 16-yard line and sprinted into the end zone for the touchdown giving the Rams a 22-16 lead with 3:15 to play in the quarter.

After taking the lead, the Johnsonburg defense came up with two more big defensive plays and a big special teams play to seal the win.

The first big play came with 7:09 left to play when Grumley tackled Sopic four yards shy of a first down on a fourth down play from the Johnsonburg 18.

Johnsonburg’s offense then ran 6:01 off the clock on a 12-play drive before having to punt the ball away. Grumley boomed a 48-yard punt that pinned Curwensville at its own 15-yard line.

Jesse Dennis then picked off a Sopic pass on the first play after the punt to secure the win.

Curwensville scored first in the game on a 5-yard run by Philip Solley that made it 8-0 with 3:41 left in the first quarter.

Johnsonburg wasted little time tying the game scoring on an 11-yard halfback pass on fourth down from T.S. Launer to Zilcosky with 1:44 left in the quarter.

The Golden Tide then took the 16-8 halftime lead on a 4-yard Solley run with 4:31 left in the half.

Johnsonburg managed just 145 yards of offense including just 78 on the ground on 27 carries but the Rams turned the ball over just once compared to three times for Curwensville.

Grumley rushed 9 times for 45 yards while also coming up with a number of good defensive and special teams plays. Zilcosky had two catches for 48 yards and a touchdown, while adding the fumble return for a touchdown and a 2-point conversion.

Nick Sipes rushed 25 times for 107 yards but was held without a touchdown for the just the fourth time in two years including just the second time in the regular season. Solley rushed 13 times for 58 yards and two scores.

Score by Quarter

Johnsonburg 8 0 14 0 – 22

Curwensville 8 8 0 0 – 16

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

C – Philip Solley 5 run (Nick Sipes pass from Shawn Sopic), 3:41

J – Judd Zilcosky 11 pass from T.S. Launer (Anthony Imbrogno run), 1:44

Second Quarter

C – Solley 4 run (Cody Botzman pass from Sopic), 4:31

Third Quarter

J – Calvin Grumley 15 run (Zilcosky pass from Imbrogno), 9:01

J – Zilcosky 16 fumble return (kick failed), 3:15

J C

First Downs 8 16

Rushes-Yards 27-78 52-203

Passing Yards 67 64

Passes: Comp-Att-Int 3-6-0 5-11-2

Total Yards 145 267

Punts-Avg. 3-45.0 1-28.0

Fumbles-Lost 4-1 1-1

Penalties-Yards 3-39 6-52

Rushing – Johnsonburg: Calvin Grumley 9-45, Josh Feronti 3-17, Anthony Imbrogno 4-(-3), TS Launer (9-23), Team 1-(-4). Curwensville: Nick Sipes 25-107, Philip Solley 13-58, Shawn Sopic 9-48, Brandon Hess 4-17, Team 1-(-28).

Passing – Johnsonburg: Anthony Imbrogno 2 of 5, 567 yards. TS Launer 1 of 1, 11 yards, 1 TD. Curwensville: Shawn Sopic 5 off 11, 64 yards, 2 Int.

Receiving – Johnsonburg: Judd Zilcosky 2-48, TS Launer 1-19. Curwensville: Cody Botzman 3-45, Brandon Hess 1-11, Derek Caldwell 1-8.

Interceptions – Johnsonburg: Josh Feronti, Jesse Dennis.