WINDBER — The Windber football team was out of sorts and uncomfortable in its Week 1 setback at Glendale. The Ramblers responded in a big way in Week 2.
Senior Luke Hostetler rushed for 168 yards and four touchdowns on 21 carries Friday night, while running mate R.J. Tallion added 106 yards in Windber's 44-0 Inter-County Conference victory over Curwensville.
"It was nice to see, Luke ran the ball really well tonight," said Windber coach Matt Grohal. "I thought R.J. ran well, Lucas Oleksa ‒ we were really clicking running the ball tonight. Those guys on the offensive line did a great job."
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The Ramblers marched 58 yards on nine plays to open the scoring on a Hostetler 3-yard score with 8 minutes left in the first quarter.
Windber made it 9-0 less than 2 minutes later, when Curwensville quarterback Tyler Dunn was sacked in the end zone by Eddie Richards for a safety.
Richards, who missed last week with a knee injury, gave Windber a 16-0 lead after one quarter with a 20-yard TD burst on the Ramblers' ensuing possession.
Hostetler scored the lone touchdown of the second quarter with 9:24 left on a 3-yard surge.
The only things that went wrong for the Ramblers in the first half were nine penalties for 60 yards and a fumble in the red zone. Windber ended the night with 13 penalties for 115 yards.
"We're really happy with the win, but we got to cut out the pre-snap penalties, the turnovers," Grohal said. "Last week, I charted all the negative plays as opposed to the positives, which there weren't many. Tonight, we still had a lot of pre-snap penalties that really hurt us, penalties away from the ball that hurt us, a turnover in the red zone. I said at halftime, against the cream of the crop in this league, we're not good enough to overcome those mistakes."
Hostetler notched his third score of the game with 5:52 remaining in the third quarter on another 3-yard run.
Hostetler capped his night with a 9-yard scored with 8:31 left in the contest.
Tallion set up the final score with a 48-yard run late in the contest. Bryce Chicarell finished the drive with a 3-yard score on fourth-and-goal.
"We were hitting our keys, blocking everybody and just doing what we should be doing," Tallion said. It's nice to have Luke (Hostetler) running with me. He gives me a little bit of a break, but the line blocks amazing and that's all I could ask for."
First-year kicker Jonas Krause was perfect on extra-point attempts.
Windber hosts Tussey Mountain (1-1) on Friday.
Adam Ripple is the Daily American sports editor. He can be reached at 814-444-5926. Follow him on X @ARipple_DAsport. Follow Daily American Sports on Facebook and @dailyamericanmedia on Instagram.
This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Windber football grabs first win of season with dominant offensive night vs. Curwensville
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