ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 53, CURWENSVILLE 20

Sept. 7, 2007

CURWENSVILLE – Eric Mastrogiacomo ran for 294 yards and five touchdowns and returned an interception for a sixth score to led Elk County Catholic to a 53-20 win at Curwensville Friday night.

The 53 points are the most for ECC in 1978 when the Crusaders beat Cameron County 55-6, while the 53 points allowed by Curwensville are the most allowed by the Tide since 1992 season when Mt. Union beat them 64-6 and Penns Valley beat them 55-28.

The night belonged to Mastrogiacomo, who rushed for the most yards in District 9 since Sept. 15, 2006, when Brookville’s Max Kutz had 321 yards rushing vs. St. Marys. He had scoring runs of 79, 1, 39, 28 and 80 yards while also returning an interception 35 yards for a touchdown. He ran 19 times and added one catch for 13 yards. 

The contest didn’t start out like it was going to be a blowout as the teams exchanged scores twice during the first quarter with ECC (2-0 overall, 2-0 AML South) leading 14-12 at the end of the quarter.

But the Crusaders started to pull away in the second quarter scoring 14 unanswered points to go ahead 28-12 at halftime before an early third-quarter touchdown made it 34-12. Mastrogiacomo then scored twice in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter and the route was on.

ECC ran up 422 yards of total offense including 363 on the ground but did allow Curwensville 299 yards of offense.

Ben McGary paced Curwensville (0-2, 0-2) with 19 carries for 109 yards and two touchdowns while adding one catch for 27 yards and an interception on defense. David Kalgren was 7 of 18 passing for 121 yards but he threw three interceptions. He did have an interception on defense as well.

Curwensville struck first on a 6-yard McGary run to take a 6-0 lead before ECC came back with two Mastrogiacomo touchdowns (70 yards, 1 yard) to take a 14-6 lead the first just 13 seconds after McGary’s touchdown. The Tide answered with an 8-yard McGary run making it 14-12 at the end of 12 minutes.

ECC then broke the game open with a defensive touchdown and a special teams’ touchdown in the final 4:40 of the first half.

First, Mastrogiacomo picked off a Kalgren pass at the Curwensville 31 and returned it to the house making it 20-12 Crusaders.

About two minutes later, ECC blocked a Curwensville punt, and Tom Jovenitti picked up the ball and returned it 23 yards for a 28-12 lead.

Mastrogiacomo then scored on a 39-yard run in the opening minutes of the second half before the senior scored on runs of 27 and 80 early in the fourth quarter. Jovenitti then added a 15-yard scoring in the final two minutes.

Curwensville ended the scoring on a 60-yard run by Jed Greslick with 56 seconds left.

NOTES – ECC is 2-0 for the third time in the past four seasons, while Curwensville is 0-2 for the first time since starting 0-3 in 2003 … Mastrogiacomo’s 297 yards rushing are the third most in District 9 over the past three seasons behind Kutz’s 321 last season and Clarion Chris McSwain’s 315 in the District 9 Class A semifinals in 2005.   

ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 53, CURWENSVILLE 20

Score by Quarters

ECC 14 14 6 19 – 53

C-Ville 12 0 0 0 8 – 20

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

C – Ben McGary 6 run (kick failed), 7:35

E – Eric Mastrogiacomo 70 run (kick blocked), 7:22

E – Mastrogiacomo 1 run (Mastrogiacomo run), 5:56

C – McGary 8 run (run failed), 2:52

Second Quarter

E – Mastrogiacomo 31 interception return (kick blocked), 4:40

E – Tom Jovenitti 23 blocked punt return (Nick Brennen pass from Kyle Garner), 2:27

Third Quarter

E – Mastrogiacomo 39 run (kick blocked), 9:32

Fourth Quarter

E – Mastrogiacomo 28 run (Josh Catalano kick), 9:53

E – Mastrogiacomo 80 run (kick failed), 7:17

E – Tom Jovenitti 15 run (kick blocked), 1:41

C – Jed Greslick 60 run (Ben McGary run), 0:56

 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing: ECC – Eric Mastrogiacomo 19-294, Tom Jovenitti 10-60, Tom Marconi 2-4, Josh Catalano 1-(-3), Justin Stubber 1-5, Kyle Garner 3-3. Curwensville – Ben McGary 19-109, David Kalgren 6-3, Jed Greslick 2-60, Levi Guy 2-6, , Cory Bloom 6-1, Dane Johnson 1-(-1).

Passing: ECC – Kyle Garner 4-for-10, 59 yards, 2 interceptions. Curwensville – David Kalgren 7-for-18, 121 yards, 3 interceptions.

Receiving: ECC – Nick Brennen 3-46, Eric Mastrogiacomo 1-13. Curwensville – Jesse Hoover 2-50, Mark Dell’Antonio 2-4, Jed Greslick 1-24, Ben McGary 1-27, Nick Opaliski 1-16.