CURWENSVILLE 35, RIDGWAY 12

Nov. 11, 2006

District 9 Class A Playoffs - First Round

CURWENSVILLE – It was a record-setting night for Nick Sipes and a victorious one – 35-12 – for his Curwensville Golden Tide in the opening round of the District 9 Class A Playoff vs. Ridgway Saturday night in Curwensville.

With three touchdowns – all in the second half – Sipes set the District 9 record for touchdowns giving him both the D9 mark for rushing yards (5,716) and touchdowns (81). Clearfield’s Dave Richards held the previous scoring mark with 80. He ran 32 times for 163 yards in the game.

"It’s a great feeling to have the record," Sipes told the DuBois Courier Express. "But it won’t have happened if I wouldn’t have had the good lines up through the years. I still never expected all that to happen after running behind my brother (Nate) and having the torn ACL. I couldn’t be happier."

Sipes three second-half scores including two in the third quarter broke open a close game at halftime that saw the third-seeded Tide (9-2) leading sixth-seeded Ridgway (6-4) 15-6.

But for all of his offensive exploits, it was a defensive play by Sipes that allowed Curwensville to start to pull away.

With the Golden Tide clinging to the 15-6 lead midway through the third quarter, Sipes recovered a fumble by Ridgway’s Jerico Weitzel at the Ridgway 32.

That led to a 13-yard touchdown run by the senior, his first of the game, with 6:21 left in the quarter that gave the Tide a 21-6 lead.

Curwensville’s defense that made sure Ridgway won’t mount a comeback when Philip Michaels picked off a Nick Dickant pass – Michaels’ fifth pick of the season – to set the Golden Tide up at the Ridgway 49.

A few minutes later, Sipes’ finished 9-play drive with an 8-yard touchdown run with 37 seconds left in the quarter to basically pit the game away at 27-6. The touchdown tied Richard’s D9 record.

Sipes then broke the record late in the fourth quarter on a 22-yard run with 3:05 left to play giving Curwensville a 35-6 lead.

Weitzel scored his second touchdown of the game on a 1-yard run with 13 seconds left to set the final score.

Curwensville jumped all over Ridgway in the first quarter taking a 15-0 in the first eight minutes thanks to the play of senior quarterback Shawn Sopic.

Sopic got the scoring started with a 75-yard run 3:30 into the game. The senior then hit Jesse Hoover with a 71-yard scoring pass with 3:56 to play in the opening 12 minutes.

Ridgway closed the gap early in the second quarter on an 18-yard scoring run by Weitzel.

Weitzel had a nice game for the Elkers carrying the ball 21 times for 112 yards and two touchdowns. But he was almost the entire offense for Ridgway, which managed 169 yards total on the day.

Curwensville, meanwhile, had 373 including 291 on the ground. Sopic gave the Tide two runners over 100 yards with 14 carries for 120 yards while going 2-for-5 passing for 82 yards and the score.

Third seeded Curwensville now travel to second seeded Redbank Valley (8-3) for a semifinal match-up either Friday or Saturday.

NOTES – Curwensville is looking for its fourth trip to the D9 Class A title game. The Tide won titles in 2000 and 2004 and lost to Coudersport in 2001 … Sipes is one of just 41 runners in state history to reach 5,000 career yards … Sopic is now 32-8 as Curwensville’s starting quarter and is now 128 of 299 passing for 2,247 yards, 26 touchdowns and 22 interceptions. He has also run 240 times for 1,375 career yards and 18 touchdowns … Curwensville has won 29 of its past 34 games against District 9 opponents and 32 of its past 38 games overall.

Ridgway 0 6 0 6 – 12

Curwensville 15 0 12 8 – 35

C – Shawn Sopic 75 run (Nick Sipes run), 9:30

C – Jesse Hoover 71 pass from Sopic (Sipes kick), 3:56

R – Jerico Weitzel 18 run (run failed), 8:12

C – Sipes 13 run (kick blocked), 6:21

C – Sipes 8 run (run failed), 0:37

C – Sipes 22 run (Brandon Hess run), 3:05

R – Weitzel 1 run (conversion failed), 0:13

First Downs 8 14

Rushes-Yards 31-117 50-299

Passing Yards 52 82

Passing: Comp-Att-Int 3-13-1 2-5-0

Total Yardage 169 381

Fumbles-Lost 3-1 1-1

Penalties-Yards 3-20 6-55

Punts-Avg. 7-36.6 4-29.5

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – Ridgway: Jerico Weitzel 21-112, Elliott Pontious 3-11, Andy Aiello 1-1, Nick Dickant 6-(-7). Curwensville: Nick Sipes 32-163, Shawn Sopic 14-120, Brandon Hess 3-20, David Kalgren 1-(-4).

Passing – Ridgway: Nick Dickant 3-for-13, 52 yards, 1 interception. Curwensville: Shawn Sopic 2-for-5, 82 yards, 1 touchdown.

Receiving – Ridgway: Shane Lindgren 1-26, Jerico Weitzel 1-14, Barry Wilson 1-12. Curwensville: Jesse Hoover 1-71, Philip Michaels 1-11.

Interceptions – Curwensville: Philip Michaels.