KANE — Kane entered Friday night’s game undefeated at 4-0. So did Curwensville.
But 220 yards and four touchdowns from running back Erik DeLong plus the Wolves’ stout defense holding Curwensville to 115 yards of total offense was too much as the three-time defending District 9 champions routed the Golden Tide, 57-0, in the Allegheny Mountain League South division opener for both squads.
DeLong — the reigning Big 30 Offensive Player of the Year and two-time defending D9Sports.com Player of the Year — scored on runs of two, 29, 43 and 14 yards for his biggest rushing performance of the season and the fourth occasion he’s topped 200 yards in a game.
“I think Erik DeLong made a bit of a statement tonight,” Kane head coach Todd Silfies said. “It was a great game by him both on offense and on defense.”
The Wolves churned out 360 ground yards and 423 total for the game. Ange Costanzo added in 70 yards on 10 carries and a touchdown, while Jake Alcorn — who lined up as a receiver, running back and quarterback — carried eight times for 60 yards and scored on a late quarterback keeper for the final score.
“Those two guys (DeLong and Alcorn) are some of the most athletic guys I’ve ever played with,” Costanzo said. “The nice thing about that is, whenever they don’t get the ball, they’re blocking really hard for whoever gets it. We have a nice three-man rotation going. Whoever gets the ball is unselfish. The offensive line…we give credit to them. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to do anything, so I give them all the credit.”
DeLong showed his prowess on both sides of the ball early in the second quarter. A drive after quarterback Reed Williams tossed a long 43-yard touchdown pass to Ray Maze, Curwensville faced a third-down play around their own 20.
DeLong came up with the sack of Golden Tide quarterback Bryce Timko, backing the visitors up to their own three-yard line, forcing a punt. With the ball at Curwensville’s 43, DeLong took a handoff and charged up the middle to cap the one-play drive and bring the score to 22-0.
DeLong opened the second-half scoring with his 14-yarder. Not to be outdone, the Wolves’ defense got on the scoreboard on the next possession as senior lineman Gunnar Fryzlewicz scooped-and-scored a sack-fumble from 20-yards out as Kane upped its lead to 43-0.
Aaron Hottel was a perfect seven-for-seven on PATs.
The win not only extended Kane’s regular-season win streak to 26 games, but came amid the natural distractions that come with homecoming festivities.
“We talked all week about not leaving any doubt in terms of maybe some different questions that are maybe personal and team-wise,” Silfies said. “I thought that our guys responded in a fashion that was maybe a little bit unprecedented. Homecoming brings with it a bunch of distractions. My hat’s off to the assistants and the senior class in terms of just making sure that all the fun we had today, the page got turned and we come out and play football. Then we crown the queen and we turn that page again and we play 24 minutes of football. I’m just really proud of the squad from top to bottom.”
Nick Stewart, the newly minted all-time leading rusher in District 9 history, managed just 48 yards against Silfies’ defense. His longest run was 19 yards and lost yards on three of his 12 carries. Twelve of the yards came on the Golden Tide’s (4-1, 0-1 AML South) final drive against Kane’s junior varsity squad.
“I have to speak about our JV defense there at the end and just taking pride in the zero,” Silfies said. “Those are guys that get thumped all week. They give us a great look on the scout team. They had the JV game that was supposed to be Monday and got canceled, so they got an opportunity to get out there today and played their tails off.”
The Wolves travel next to Elk Catholic (2-3, 0-1 AML South) for a Saturday matchup to start the second-half of the 10-game regular season. So how are the Wolves faring?
“We’re not near where we need to be yet, but I think we are in a great spot as of now,” Costanzo said. “I think our conditioning has held up well, our assignments have been pretty good so far. I think between Week 1 and now, I think we’ve made tremendous strides this year.”
BY QUARTERS
Curwensville 0 0 0 0 — 0
Kane 15 14 21 7 — 57
TEAM STATISTICS
Rushes/Yards Rushing: Curwensville 29-65, Kane 45-360; Yards Passing: Curwensville 50, Kane 63; Comp-Att-Int: Curwensville 7-21-0, Kane 5-11-2; Punts: Curwensville 7, Kane 1; Penalties: Curwensville 7-45, Kane 4-25; Fumbles-Lost: Curwensville 1-1, Kane 1-0; Total Yards: Curwensville 115, Kane 423; Offensive Plays: Curwensville 50, Kane 50
Individual statistics
Rushing: Curwensville: Nick Stewart 12-48, Avery Francisco 12-37, Bryce Timko 5-(-20); Kane: Erik DeLong 20-220-4, Ange Costanzo 10-70-1, Jake Alcorn 8-60-1, Reed Williams 1-(-7), Aiden Hulings 6-17.
Passing: Curwensville: Timko 7-20-60, Noan Van Gunden 0-1-0; Kane: Williams 5-11-63-1-2.
Receiving: Curwensville: Jake Terry 4-46, Devan Barrett 1-4; Kane: Ray Maze 3-48-1, Alcorn 1-8, Costanzo 1-7
Scoring summary
First quarter
Kane — Erik Delong 2-yard run (Hottel kick), 5:02
Kane — Erik DeLong 29-yard run (Alcorn run), 1:52
Second quarter
Kane — Erik DeLong 43-yard run (Hottel kick), 9:26
Kane — Ray Maze 40-yard catch (Hottel kick), 6:17
Third quarter
Kane — Erik DeLong 14-yard run (Hottel kick), 8:41
Kane — Gunnar Fryzlewicz 20-yard fumble recovery (Hottel kick), 6:30
Kane — Ange Costanzo 5-yard run (Hottel kick), :13
Fourth quarter
Kane — Jake Alcorn 1-yard run (Hottel kick), 4:26
