Second-year Head Coach Joe Leonard expressed excitement over CV’s numbers back in the preseason .. as over 30 players were set to try and help the Indians reverse their results from the 2022 season when they went winless in nine games. 

But by the time Cowanesque traveled to Coudersport in Week 10 they were suiting up just 18 players .. due to injuries and players leaving the team .. and line coach Jacob Lane had taken over Head Coaching duties just one week prior to the regular-season finale. 

Lane and the Indians beat Wellsboro in Week 9 to earn their fifth win of the season, fell to Coudersport in Week 10 and earned the No. 7 seed in the playoffs, where they fell to No. 2 seed Loyalsock, 49-20, to end their season at 5-6. 

Fletcher Good led the Indians in both rushing .. 1,039 yards on 119 carries and seven touchdowns .. and receiving .. 24 catches for 542 yards and six TDs. The junior was consistently productive from Week 1 when he had three touchdown catches and rushed for 78 yards in the Indians’ 32-12 win over Northwest Area.

A disappointing 28-22 loss to a sub-par Athens (3-8) team in Week 2 followed by a 44-24 win over Montgomery (1-9) in Week 3 left the Indians at 2-1 and on the road at South Williamsport (9-2). They’d fall 58-30 to the Mounties and then rebound the following week with a 28-6 win over Sayre (1-9) to stay above .500 at 3-2.

Quarterback Graham Hess had 107 yards passing and 40 yards rushing with two touchdowns in the win over Sayre, and finished the season with 1,002 yards passing with 10 TDs and 477 yards rushing and four scores.

Against NP-Mansfield in Week 6, CV scored 14 unanswered points to tie the game with less than four minutes left but the Panthers’ Karson Dominick scored with :29 remaining and the Indians fell to 3-3. 

The Indians once again rebounded and earned a 34-26 win over Columbia Montour Vo-Tech (3-6), but then lost 48-14 to Muncy (10-1) in Week 8 to stay even at 4-4. 

CV got their fifth win and handed Wellsboro (2-8) their seventh loss, 12-0, in Week 9, then made the trip to Coudersport (8-4) and fell 20-6 in their regular season finale to finish 5-5 and set up their playoff loss to Loyalsock.

For the season, CV scored 256 points (23.3/G) and allowed 291 (26.5/G). 

The Indians were led defensively by senior Joel Hultz, who recorded 87 tackles, two sacks and a fumble recovery on the season. 

Freshman Kegan Lane made an immediate impact for CV, making 72 tackles in his inaugural varsity season, while classmate Dave Hess had 24 tackles and a pair of fumble recoveries while also shining on offense .. with 96 carries for 467 yards rushing and five TDs and 13 catches for 300 yards and three scores.

Leading the way for the Indians up front on offense were seniors Aspyn Dennis, Peter Wendell, Sawyer Douglas and Ean Bump and sophomore Luke Sottolano. The unit helped CV’s backs rack up over 2,300 yards rushing on the season and QB Graham Hess throw for over a thousand yards. 

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G. Hess  46    104     1002  21.7  0.442  10   7

Fletcher Good  119 1,039   8.7     7

Graham Hess   93  477   5.1    4

Dave Hess    96  467     4.9     5

TEAM                 35  223     6.4     2

Kegan Lane    16  57      3.6    1

TEAM                   7  40     5.7

Joel Hultz      1   5     5.0

Braylin Griffin  1  3    3.0

Fletcher Good  24  542    22.6    6

Dave Hess  13 302    23.2    3

Lowell Baker   4  88    22.0    2

TEAM             3  39    13.0

Kegan Lane   2  13     6.5

Joel Hultz         87    0     2

Kegan Lane  72    0     0

Ean Bump  51    0     0

Fletcher Good 47    5     0

Carsyn Kemp 43    0     0

TEAM           40    1     0

Graham Hess 31    2     0

TEAM         27    0     0

Lowell Baker 25    0     0

Dave Hess 24    0     0

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