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CURWENSVILLE -- Northern Bedford put up a pair of touchdowns 13 seconds apart early in the second quarter of Friday's season opener at Coach Andy Evanko Stadium, breaking a scoreless tie, and the Panthers surged to a 21-0 halftime lead on the way to a 41-14 victory over host Curwensville.
Panther quarterback Trace Baker broke the ice with a 2-yard run to cap Northern's eight-play, 75-yard drive at 10:16 of the second quarter and, after Curwensville muffed the ensuing kickoff, Zach Bowers ripped off a 30-yard score on the next offensive snap to give the visitors a sudden 14-0 advantage.
Six different players scored for Northern Bedford, which racked up 426 yards of total offense -- 286 of those coming on the ground.
"It was a team effort," Northern coach Garry Black said. "Individual guys made plays. We knew that was something we needed going into the season. Guys were stepping up and making plays."
Play of the game: Brett Cottle added a 53-yard run with 1:57 left in the half, spinning out of a tackle as two Tide defenders collided before racing down the sidelines in front of the Panther bench.
Player of the game: Panther running back Erik Swanseen carried 13 times for 100 yards and was instrumental in getting the offense going in the first half. He ran four times for 26 yards in Northern's second series before toting the ball twice for 34 yards on the first Panther scoring drive, setting up Baker's 2-yard TD with a 21-yard run. Six of his 13 runs moved the chains.
Unsung hero: Kolson Feathers came up with a pair of big defensive plays, intercepting a pass late in the first half to snuff out a Tide drive and recovering a fumble in the second half to thwart another Curwensville march. He also caught a 13-yard pass.
Feel-good win: Northern Bedford opened last year with seven straight losses on its way to a 2-9 record, something very uncharacteristic of the way the Panthers have played under Black.
"It feels great," Black said. "Guys have put in the work to make sure that isn't how things go this year. I thought we won all phases of the game, offense, defense and special teams."
Most vital statistic: Two missed tackles. Curwensville had Northern Bedford players stopped in the backfield twice in the second quarter for what looked like big losses, but both Bowers and Cottle spun away from or stepped out of tackles before scoring their 30- and 53-yard touchdowns.
Curwensville coach Brad Sopic: "We played tough tonight. We just made too many mistakes. We had so many opportunities and just didn't finish."
Black: "We'll take it one week at a time, but as long as we continue to get better -- this is a team that can compete for the things we have as goals at the end of the season."
Notable: Curwensville's Reed Hawkins ran for 107 yards and both Tide touchdowns on 20 carries. … Baker completed 6-of-10 passes for 93 yards and added 68 yards on the ground.
Records: Northern Bedford (1-0), Curwensville (0-1).
Next week: Northern Bedford hosts Juniata Valley. Curwensville visits North Star.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Northern Bedford 0 21 7 13 -- 41
Curwensville 0 0 8 6 -- 14
Second Quarter
NB--Baker 2 run (Hart kick), 10:16.
NB--Bowers 30 run (Hart kick), 10:03.
NB--Brett Cottle 53 run (Hart kick), 1:57.
Third Quarter
C--Hawkins 6 run (Gustafson run), 3:19.
NB--Weimer 1 run (Hart kick), 1:13.
Fourth Quarter
NB--Black 6 run (Hart kick), 11:54.
C--Hawkins 10 run (kick blocked), 8:12.
NB--Scheinkofer 13 run (kick failed), 1:23.
TEAM STATISTICS NB C
First downs 17 12
Total yards 426 219
Rushes-yards 32-286 38-174
Yards passing 140 45
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 8-12-0 4-10-1
Punts-avg. 1-33 4-24.3
Fumbles-lost 2-1 4-2
Penalties-yards 4-40 6-30
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Northern Bedford, Swanseen 13-100, Baker 9-68, Bowers 2-38, Brett Cottle 1-53, Weimer 1-1, Black 1-6, Free 2-6, Brennan 1-1. Schleinkofer 2-13. Curwensville, Hawkins 20-107, Gustafson 9-46, Proud 4-13, Lash 2-4, Thomas 2-4, Wisor 1-0.
PASSING--Northern Bedford, Baker 6-10-0-93, Free 1-1-0-34. Curwensville, Proud 4-10-1-45.
RECEIVING--Northern Bedford, Lloyd 2-66, Bowers 2-31, Swanseen 2-6, Brett Cottle 1-24, Feathers 1-13. Curwensville, Tkacik 2-26, Peoples 2-18.