NTL FOOTBALL: TOWANDA FALLS TO CV ON THE ROAD (2025-08-24)
BY BRIAN FEESNorthern Tier Sports ReportWESTFIELD — When you have younger football teams momentum can be a big thing.
Both Cowanesque Valley and Towanda have younger rosters, and both wanted to get the season off to a strong start. On Saturday it was the Indians who got off to the fast start as they were dominant on the way to a 38-0 win over the Black Knights.
“That’s what we stress from day one,” Cowanesque Valley coach Jacob Lane said. “We have to start fast and finish hard and the boys did that. They came right out of the gate swinging and they did a phenomenal job.
“Both are young teams, and football is half mental as it is physical. If you can get up in that mental aspect too it usually helps out.”
Cowanesque Valley wasted little time on Saturday as they went 65 yards in seven plays to jump out to a quick 6-0 lead as Dave Hess capped the drive with a 12-yard run. At 9:51 of the opening quarter. The two-point try failed and it was 6-0. Hess had a 32-yard run to key the drive.
For Towanda, there are a lot of younger kids on the roster with six freshmen and 12 sophomores on the team. The Black Knights have just four seniors this year, after losing a talented group of seniors from last year’s roster.
After graduating 10 starters and 15 seniors from last year’s team, the Black Knights know they have to rely on kids that in some other years might be eased into the varsity lineup with JV time.
“First of all, you have to give them a lot of credit,” Towanda coach Jamie Wecker said. “That’s a good football team. They played well, they played physical, they played mature, they didn’t make at make a lot of mistakes. They took it to us early and they never let up. We, being young, it’s tough. These guys, half of them, maybe 2/3 of these guys should be playing JV football, but the situation is what it is. We have a lot of young kids. We are going to be good. These kids if they keep working, we are going to be good. But, it’s going to take some time. We are going to take our lumps.”
Right after the CV touchdown it looked like the Black Knights might tie things up as Curtis Maynard took the kickoff back 65 yards to the eight-yard line of the Indians.
But, the Cowanesque Valley stood tall and Towanda settled for a field goal try. The snap was off, and Towanda had to see the ball and the Indians got the stop.
“I have a smart, fundamentally smart, good group of kids,” Lane said. “They love football. They understand football. We have been blessed as coaches to have a group that is led by upperclass leadership. We have two seniors, but we have a bunch of juniors and the senior and junior classes have been great about being leaders, talking and being positive.”
The Indians went 80 yards on 14 plays on the next drive with Hess scoring on a seven-yard run at 11:53 of the second quarter with Gavin Churchill hitting the extra point to make it 13-0.
After a Hess interception the Indians got the ball back. They drove the ball 49 yards, but the drive stalled and Towanda got the ball back.
The Black Knights went 3-and-out and the Indians quickly went to work with Levi Stahli scoring on a one-yard run with 4:20 left in the half.
After the Indians got another defensive stop, the Indians scored on a 26-yard pass from Levi Stahli to Cam Stahli with 37 seconds left in the half. The pass came toward to receivers and Cam Stahli made a leaping catch to push the lead to 26-0 at the half.
Cowanesque Valley out-gained the Black Knights 277-13 in the first half, with Hess rushing for 135 yards at the half. Levi Stahli threw for all 95 of his passing yards in the first half.
“I think a lot of it, as good as we looked in the summer, and the kids were working their butts off all summer, all camp, all those kinds of things,” Wecker said. “The experience, there is no substitute for experience and we’ve got to get that experience. We got some valuable, and if the kids see this game film and take it the right way, very valuable experience.
“I think our kids, they are going to lick their wounds. They are going to feel bad, but we are going to get up first thing tomorrow morning and we are looking toward next week. We are going to be better next week than this week, that’s got to be the goal.”
The Indians had three drives of at least eight plays in the first half as they were able to gain positive yards on all but two plays in the game.
“That’s all you can ask,” Lane said. “You get 3-4 yards a play, you get a first down. I love the momentum aspect of it. It was great, keep chipping away a little bit at a time. My philosophy is touchdowns are hard, first downs are easy. You might have to go 60 yards for a touchdown, but you just have to go 10 yards for a first down, so if you can just keep chipping away at the first downs you’ll be alright.”
In the first half the Indians played a clean game without committing a turnover and being called for just one penalty.
“We still have stuff to adjust, but they played a very good game,” Lane said. “They played smart, fundamntal football right out of the gate and as the game goes on you get a little tired, but they played well.”
In the second half Towanda had some chances to get things going, but sometimes luck just isn’t on your side. Aiden Blokzyl had an interception on CV’s first play of the second half, but Towanda wasn’t able to get anything going offensively in the next series. Brown returned a kick for a score in the second half, but a penalty brought back the return and kept Towanda off the board. Late in the game Towanda got a big sack of CV popping the ball out on the hit, but the ball bounced right back into the hands of Hess for a seven-yard gain.
“That’s the way it goes when you are struggling,” Wecker said. “It’s all part of the game. I love the kids. They worked their butts off, we are going to get better and better. I’m still excited about this season. We will get them back in, watch game film, see the things we did well, see the things we have to fix and just keep improving.”
The Indians got a 42-yard touchdown run from Kegan Lane in the third quarter with 4:45 left in the quarter, with the kick failing, and with 9:51 left in the game Cam Stahli stripped the ball out of the hands of a Towanda back and took off 65 yards for a touchdown. The two-point try failed and it capped the scoring.
Hess ran for 143 yards on 16 carries and Lane ran for 78 in the game. Levi Stahli ran for 25 yards and was 7-for-9 passing for 95 yards. Cam Stahli had two grabs for 40 yards, Christian Perdomo had a 23-yard catch and Lane had three grabs for 20 yards, while Hess had a 12-yard catch.
Joey Montonya ran for 21 yards on threes carries for Towanda and Brown gained 41 yards in the game on 17 carries. Gabe Wolf ran for 14 yards and Tanner Vanderpool and Curtis Maynard each ran for six yards. Reese Sluyter had a two-yard completion to Brown.
The last time the Indians beat Towanda was 26-19 in the 2021-22 season.
Towanda hosts Hughesville at 7 p.m. on Friday night and the Indians are at Wyalusing on Friday.
CV 38, TOWANDA 0
TOWANDA 0 0 0 0 — 0
Cv 6 20 6 6 — 38
FIRST QUARTER
CV; Dave Hess 12 yard run (Two-point failed), 9:14
SECOND QUARTER
CV: Hess 7-yard run (Gavin Churchill kick), 11:53
CV: Levi Stahli 1-yard run (kick blocked), 4:20
CV: Cam Stahli 26 catch from Levi Stahli (Churchill kick), :37
THIRD QUARTER
CV: Kegan Lane 42 run (Kick failed), 4:45
FOURTH QUARTER
CV: Cam Stahli fumble recovery 65 yards (2-point try failed), 9:51
INDIVIDUAL STATS
CV
RUSHING
Levi Stahli 8-25, Max Millard 1-5, Kegan Lane 13-78; Dave Hess 16-143
PASSING
Levi Stahli 7-9-95-1-1
RECEIVING
Lane 3-20; Cam Stahli 2-40-1; Hess 1-12; Christian Perdomo 1-23
TOWANDA
RUSHING
Jazick Brown 17-41; Tanner Vanderpool 1-6; Curtis Maynard 2-6; Joey Montonya 3-21; Gabe Wolf 3-14; Reese Sluyter 7-(-29)
PASSING
Sluyter 1-5-2-0-1
RECEIVING
Brown 1-2
TEAM STATS
RUSHING
CV: 38-251 TOW: 26-88
PASSING
CV; 7-9-95 TOW; 1-5-2
TOTAL YARDS
CV: 346 TOW: 90
INTERCEPTIONS: CV: Hess. Tow: Aiden Blokzyl
— —
PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES— —
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