COUDERSPORT'S SIMCOE WINS 200TH GAME AS HEAD COACH

Coudersport 28, Port Allegany 7

Sept. 29, 2007

Coudersport head coach Paul Simcoe takes a shower courtesy of starting quarterback Boomer Wetzel after picking up his 200th career win Saturday at Port Allegany - Photos courtesy of Paul Burdick - 708 S. Main St. Coudersport, Pa. 16915; 814-274-8772

PORT ALLEGANY – With a 28-7 win at Port Allegany Saturday, Coudersport head coach Paul Simcoe became the first District 9 coach to win 200 career games.

Simcoe, who has a career record of 200-75-9, is in his 29^th season at Coudersport. He is the just the 68^th coach who has spent part of his career coaching football in Pennsylvania to reach 200 career wins and the second this week joining George Washington’s (Philadelphia) Ron Cohen, who won his 200^th game last night (36-0 over Germantown).

Going into this season only 24 Pennsylvania high school coaches had won 200 career games at the same school – Pete Antimarino, who coached at Pitcairn and Gateway could be considered the 25^th considering Pitcairn became Gateway after a merger.

Simcoe is one of 29 active Pennsylvania high school football coaches with 200 career wins including Cohen.

The game wasn’t without some controversy, as the Port Allegany sideline was upset with Simcoe and the Falcons for going for it on fourth-and-10 from the Gators 45-yard line with around a minute to play at Coudersport leading 21-7. The play resulted in a 50-yard scoring pass from Justen Kinder to Dirk Cowburn.

In the Sunday, Sept. 30, edition of the Olean Times Herald (OTH), Simcoe defended the move by saying he wasn’t going to punt the ball when Port way sending everybody for the block. He said he wasn’t looking to score but was looking to get the first down.

Port Allegany head coach Mike Bodamer believed differently. He told the OTH that he had called time-out to put some junior varsity kids in the game to get a couple of plays and that he wished Coudersport “hadn’t done that (bleep) at the end. The kids played their hearts out and to get stomped on at the end like that…”  

Coudersport’s defense was the difference in the contest, as the Falcons limited Port Allegany, which entered the game ranked eighth in District 9 in rushing yards per game (207), to 124 yards on the ground including just 79 after an opening drive that saw the Gators pick up 45 on the ground.

The opening drive resulted in a Port Allegany touchdown thanks to a 3-yard scoring run by Derick Morey.

But after that it was all Coudersport.

Senior quarterback Boomer Wetzel hit Brett Whitman with a pair of touchdown passes and Cowburn with a third to build the 21-7 advantage.

Wetzel finished the day 16 of 22 passing for 229 yards and three scores, while Whitman had six catches for 95 yards and two touchdowns and would have had a third if he hadn’t fumbled a catch at the 1-yard line. Cowburn added three catches for 99 yards and two touchdowns while running 14 times for 43 yards. Cowburn also added 12 tackles and recovered a fumble.

Coudersport had to rely on the passing game, as the Falcons managed just 68 yards rushing on 27 carries.  

Mark Larson led the Gators with 14 carries for 50 yards while Nick Nichols had 13 for 43.

NOTES – Coudersport is 4-1 on the year. Port Allegany is 3-2 … Coudersport is the 2-time defending District 9 Class A champions, and the Falcons have won four District 9 titles under Simcoe (1994, 2001, 2005, 2006), who started coaching prior to District starting a district championship in 1987 … Simcoe has been either a head coach or an assistant coach at Coudersport for 35 years.

THE SIMCOE YEARS