COUDERSPORT 28, CURWENSVILLE 26

Nov. 11, 2005 - District 9 Class A Playoffs - Semifinals

Some of the Information for this story was found in the Nov. 12 addition of a Bradford Era story written by Greg Clark.

COUDERSPORT – Boomer Wetzel’s 54-yard touchdown pass to David Babcock with 2:01 to play helped Coudersport to a 28-26 win over Curwensville, a team it had beaten 41-13 two weeks ago, in the District 9 Class A semifinals Friday night at Coudersport.

The pass originally hit off Babcock’s hands, but the senior was able to control it, catch it and out race the Golden Tide defenders to the end zone.

"Oh my God," Coudersport head coach Paul Simcoe told the Bradford Era’s Greg Clark following the game. "He was juggling it and bobbling it. He catches it, and I know he is gone because he runs a 4.5 40. I’m glad for him, because he wasn’t feeling well and was throwing up early in the game. I don’t know what he had, but it took him a while to get going."

Coudersport’s dream season almost came to and end one play before the touchdown when the Falcons (11-0) faced fourth-and-7 from their own 37. But Wetzel found Sam Decker for a first down at the Coudersport 46.

"Boomer and out receivers did a good job in the second half," Simcoe told Clark. "We ran some different patters, and they seemed to work."

The Falcons almost didn’t have a chance to go on the game-winning drive.

Curwensville’s Jason Null picked off a Wetzel pass at the Coudersport 42 with 6:02 left to play and the Tide leading by four.

The Golden Tide (7-3), who were trying to defend last year’s D9 Class A title, were able to run off almost three minutes moving to the Coudy 27, but Curwensville turned the ball over on downs at the Coudy 34 with 3:14 to play.

After three plays gained just three yards, Wetzel came up with the season-saving pass to Decker and then the touchdown strike to Babcock.

The late passes capped a great game by Wetzel, only a sophomore, he was 10-for-22 passing for 268 yards and three touchdowns. Two Falcon receivers topped the 100-yard mark with Babcock catching four passes for 151 yards and Decker six for 115.

Despite the prolific passing attack by Coudy, Curwensville gave the Falcons all they could handle just two weeks after being trounced by the same team 41-13 at home in the AML Title game.

The Golden Tide out gained Coudersport 450-290 and had 21 first downs to the Falcons 12. But turnovers proved costly for Curwensville. It fumbled the ball seven times losing five of them.

Curwensville led 18-6 at halftime before Coudy rallied for 16 unanswered points to take a 22-18 lead early in the fourth quarter.

But the Golden Tide responded with a 96-yard drive to retake the lead. Calling it a drive probably won’t be accurate considering the scoring play was an 82-yard run by Nick Sipes with 6:19 to play.

The run was just one of many for the junior who carries the football 38 times for 262 yards. That gives him 3,976 career yards through three years. He needs 24 yards to become the fourth player in D9 history to gain 4,000 career yards.

"He is a great player," Simcoe told Clark. "We had him stopped, and he made a great run."

It was Sipes' arm not his legs that staked Curwensville to an early 6-0 lead.

The junior threw a 57-yard halfback option touchdown pass to Bart McGary with 1:47 left in the first quarter.

Sipes’ legs then made it 12-0 when he scored on a 1-yard run with 7:27 to play in the opening half.

Coudersport took a play out of Curwensville playbook – actually it was probably the other way around – to close to within 12-6 with 4:48 left in the first half. The touchdown came on an 11-yard halfback option pass from Sam Decker to Logan Hathaway on third-and-goal. Decker’s receiving played a big role in the drive as well, as he caught three passes for 71 yards on the drive.

Later in the half, the Falcons appeared poised to tie the game or take the lead when Brandon Smith recovered a fumble at the Curwensville 28.

Coudy then moved inside the Tide’s 5-yard line before a controversial 12-point swing took place.

Babcock appeared to have scored a touchdown on a 5-yard run, and two officials gave the touchdown signal. But after the officials huddled, it was determined Babcock had fumbled the ball at the 2-yard line with Curwensville recovering.

"How can you change the call when you signal touchdown?" Simcoe asked Clark. "I don’t understand that. Maybe they got it right. They are down there, and I’m way over here on the sideline."

The officials then played a role in helping Curwensville go ahead by 12 at halftime calling two straight pass interference calls against Coudersport that coupled with a 42-yard Sipes run moved the ball to the Falcon 13.

That led to a 10-yard McGary touchdown catch on a Shawn Sopic pass with 9.3 seconds left in the opening 24 minutes giving Curwensville an 18-6 halftime lead.

"We really screwed up in the first half," Simcoe told Clark. "How many chances did we squander? We made some mistakes with a dropped pass and turnovers. We lost two touchdowns."

Simcoe, his staff and his players made some adjustments at halftime, came out of the locker room and started to take control of the game.

A defensive stop on fourth-and-1 on Curwensville’s first possession of the half gave the Falcons the ball their own 38.

Wetzel then completed a 30-yard pass to Babcock before hitting Decker with an 18-yard touchdown pass making that coupled with a 2-point conversion pass from Wetzel to Andy Chisholm cut Curwensville’s lead to 18-14 with 6:52 left in the third quarter.

Coudersport then stopped Curwensville again and went ahead for the first time 22-18 in the game on a 34-yard touchdown pass from Wetzel to Babcock and a 2-point conversion pass to Hathaway with 3:19 left in the third quarter.

The Falcons now await the winner of Saturday night’s other semifinal game between Clarion-Limestone and Clarion. The title game will be played next week at a time, site and date to be determined. Coudersport is looking for its first District 9 title since 2001.

COUDERSPORT 28, CURWENSVILLE 26

Score by Quarter

CV 6 12 0 0 8 – 26

CD 0 6 16 6 – 28

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

CV – Bart McGary 57 pass from Nick Sipes (Sipes kick failed), 1:47

Second Quarter

CV – Sipes 1 run (Conversion failed), 7:27

CD – Logan Hathaway 11 pass from Sam Decker, (Caleb Morris kick blocked), 4:48

CV – McGary 10 pass from Shawn Sopic (Conversion failed), 0:9.3

Third Quarter

CD – Decker 18 pass from Boomer Wetzel (Andy Chisholm pass from Wetzel), 6:52

CS – David Babcock 34 pass from Wetzel (Hathaway pass from Wetzel), 3:19

Fourth Quarter

CV – Sipes 82 run (Sopic run), 6:19

CD –Babcock 54 pass from Wetzel (2-point conversion failed), 2:01

TEAM STATISTICS

CV CD

First Downs 21 12

Rushes-Yards 59-322 26-11

Passing Yards 128 277

Passing: Comp-Att-Int 7-19-1 11-24-3

Total Yards 450 288

Punts-Avg. 1-31 3-41

Fumbles-Lost 7-5 2-1

Penalties-Yards 4-30 9-75

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – Curwensville: Nick Sipes 38-262, Philip Solley 11-36, Shawn Sopic 9-21, Brandon Hess 1-3. Coudersport: David Babcock 14-15, Mike Cole 4-14, Sam Decker 5-(-1), Boomer Wetzel 3-(-17).

Passing – Curwensville: Shawn Sopic 6-for-18, 71 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception. Nick Sipes 1-for-1, 57 yards, 1 touchdown. Coudersport: Boomer Wetzel 10-for-22, 268 yards, 3 touchdowns, 3 interceptions. Sam Decker 1-for-1, 11 yards, 1 touchdown, David Babcock 0-for-1, 0 yards.

Receiving – Curwensville: Bart McGary 6-114, Adam Pennington 1-14. Coudersport: David Babcock 4-151, Sam Decker 6-115, Logan Hathaway 1-11.