Information for this story is courtesy of the DuBois Courier-Express/Tri-County Sunday

BROCKWAY – It’s been Alex Holland’s season, so fittingly it’s Alex Holland that led Curwensville to its first District 9 Class A title since 2004 with a 37-21 win over Port Allegany Saturday afternoon at Brockway’s Frank Varischetti Field.

Holland ran for 298 yards and two touchdowns on 42 carries while also returning a fumble for a touchdown and in the process became the all-time single-season rushing leader in District 9 history with 2,527 yards breaking the previous mark of 2,511 set by Curwensville’s Nate Sipes during the 2004 championship season. The 298 yards is believed to be a District 9 record in a Class A title game.  

“It feels great to win (districts) because this is what the kids have worked so hard for all year long,” Curwensville head coach Andy Evanko told the DuBois Courier-Express/Tri-County Sunday. “Alex, at the beginning of the game, had some big runs for us.”  

Curwensville (11-1) led 12-7 at halftime thanks to a couple of long touchdown runs before two Golden Tide touchdowns in 54 seconds midway through the third quarter helped break the game open.

Alex Star expanded the lead to 18-7 on a 1-yard run with 6:19 left in the third quarter, and then Holland returned a fumble 13 yards for a touchdown with 5:23 left to make it 24-7. That was one of two fumble returns for scores by Curwensville, which also finished off the scoring on a 9-yard Jake Pentz fumble return for the final score of the game.

“Big plays made the difference in the game for us today,” Evanko told the Courier-Express/Tri-County Sunday. “The defensive also made some big plays

Port Allegany (7-5), which overcame a 1-3 start to the season to make the title game for the first time since 2003, tried to make it a game when Seth Lowery scored on a 16-yard run with 4:30 left in the third quarter cutting the deficit to 24-13, but Hunter McCracken hit Kyle Barrett with a 56-yard touchdown pass just under two minutes later to put an end to any serious comeback thoughts. It was the only completed pass of the game for Curwensville, which tried just six compared to 54 carries for 351 yards.

Holland started the game strong with touchdown runs of 37 and 58 yards in the first quarter for Curwensville giving the Tide a 12-0 lead before Matt Bodamer hit Tyce Miller with a 2-yard scoring pass with just 20 seconds left in the first half to get the Gators back into the game down just five, 12-7, at halftime.

“We just had to settle down a little bit (after the fast start),” Evanko told the Courier-Express/Tri-County Sunday. “I don’t know if it was the excitement or what. We let up a little bit. Against a quality team like Port Allegany, you can’t do that. They drove right down the field and stuck it in on us. Halftime was a matter of adjusting, making sure we were blocking who we had to block and what we needed to do defensively.”

Bodamer, only a sophomore, had a decent game going 11 of 24 for 179 yards and a touchdown to go with an interception. But the pick was costly, as it came inside the Curwensville 10-yard line late in the third quarter. He finishes the year unofficially with 1,986 yards passing giving him unofficially 3,225 yards in just two seasons. Camrin Stuckey was his top target with three catches for 96 yards with Lowery rushing for 62 yards on 11 carries.  

“They have a good quarterback and some great receivers,” Evanko told the Courier-Express/Tri-County Sunday/ “That was concerning. They do so much to spread you out and then they just run the ball at you. As long as we knew what we were doing, we knew we would be OK.”

NOTES – It was Curwensville’s third District 9 title. The Golden Tide also took home the championship in 2000 … Curwensville is now 3-2 in District 9 Class A title games with all five coming since 2000 … The win was the first for an AML South team in the D9 Class A title game since Kane won the title in 2007 … Curwensville will face District 10 champion Farrell, a 39-0 winner over Mercyhurst Prep in the D10 title game Friday night, in the PIAA quarterfinals next week at a site, time and day to be determined … With both Clearfield in Class AAA and Brockway in Class AA advancing to the PIAA quarterfinals as well Friday night it marks the first time since 2002 and just the second time in District 9 history that three teams are in the PIAA quarterfinals.

CURWENSVILLE 37, PORT ALLEGANY 21

Score By Quarters

Port     0          7          6          8          —        21

Curwensville  12        0          18        7          —        37

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

CUR - Alex Holland 37 run (kick failed), 8:20.

CUR - Holland 58 run (run failed), 1:54.

Second Quarter

PA - Tyce Miller 2 pass from Matt Bodamer (Kenny Kysor kick), 0:20.

Third Quarter

CUR - Alec Starr 1 run (pass failed), 6:19.

CUR - Holland 13 fumble return (kick failed), 5:23.

PA - Seth Lowery 16 run (kick failed), 4:30.

CUR - Kyle Barrett 55 pass from Hunter McCracken (run failed), 2:35.

Fourth Quarter

PA - Camrin Stuckey 65 pass from Matt Bodamer (Stuckey pass from Bodamer), 7:51.

CUR - Jake Pentz 9 fumble return (Taylor Bumbarger kick), 4:31.

            PA       CUR

First Downs    14        15

Rushes-Yards  24-64   54-351

Passing Yards 179      55

Comp-Att-Int  11-24-1            1-6-0

Total Yardage 243      406

Punts-Average            4-36.8  3-26.3

Fumbles-lost    5-4       1-0

Penalties-Yards           2-10     9-59

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing - Port: Seth Lowery 11-62, Matt Bodamer 9-(-5), Zach Ramadhan 1-11, Garrett Drabert 2-(-3), Trey Miller 1-(-1). Curwensville: Alex Holland 42-298, Zach Dimmick 6-28, Alec Starr 4-27, Team 2-(-2)

Passing - Port: Matt Bodamer 11 of 24, 179 yds., 1 TD, 1 Int. Curwensville: Hunter McCracken 1 of 5, 55 yds., 1 TD, 0 Int.; Alec Starr 0 of 1.

Receiving - Port: Camrin Stuckey 3-96, Zach Ramadhan 3-39, Tyce Miller 3-19, Charlie Buchanan 1-14, Garrett Kio 1-11. Curwensville: Kyle Barrett 1-55.

Interceptions - Port: None. Curwensville: Shae Best.