Four wins in five games for Centre County high school football teams in Week 1 was not bad.
Bellefonte, Penns Valley, Bald Eagle Area and State College all came through with victories, with the lone exception being a Philipsburg-Osceola loss to West Branch.
And, even the Mounties looked to be on their way until a 26-point, fourth-quarter outburst by WB put a serious damper on the festivities at the new P-O facilities.
All five teams are in action again this week. Here’s a look at the matchups for Friday, Aug. 31:
■ STATE COLLEGE (1-0) AT ST. AUGUSTINE PREP (N.J.) (0-0), 6 P.M.
State College made short work of Mifflin County last week, running out to a comfortable 35-point halftime lead and then coasting in with a 35-12 win.
Tommy Friberg completed all seven of his passes, including a 75-yard bomb to Cohen Russell for 146 yards, and the Little Lions ran for another 261 yards in the win. Isaiah Edwards scored twice for SC, and Keaton Ellis took one 73 yards for another touchdown as the Lions dominated throughout.
This week it will be a trip to New Jersey to take on St. Augustine Prep in Richland.
This will be St. Augustine’s first game, and the Hermits are coming off a 5-5 season in 2017. They had wins over teams from Egg Harbor, Atlantic City and Vineland, but they lost two of their final three games to St. Joseph’s (Hammonton), 22-10, and Bergen Catholic, 56-21.
St. Augustine, nonetheless, put up good offensive numbers, gaining just fewer than 300 yards per game in total offense and scoring 30 touchdowns.
With that in mind, the Hermits return their top passer, their two top running backs and their third-leading receiver.
Junior Chris Allen completed 92 of 152 passes for 1,211 yards and six touchdowns in 2017, while freshman Patrick Smith and junior True Robinson combined for 1,110 yards and 13 touchdowns.
On defense, they recorded 18 sacks and nine interceptions, and return all four of their top defenders.
St. Augustine certainly will be looking to improve on its performances in 2017, but this will be a difficult matchup to begin its season. State College could very well again be one of the top 6-A schools in Pennsylvania.
■ BALD EAGLE AREA (1-0) AT PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA (0-1), 7 P.M.
Disaster struck the P-O Mounties against West Branch on Aug. 24, and the more they tried to make up for it, the worse it got.
Ahead 14-6 and driving midway through the third period, P-O was thinking about taking control of the game.
Instead, a turnover opened the door for the Warriors and they wasted little time in taking full advantage. In all, West Branch took three fumbles away from the Mounties, with a pick-6 thrown in for good measure, and romped to 26 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.
The stunning turnaround ended in a 32-14 Warrior win that avenged last season’s loss to P-O.
Now, Philipsburg must regroup and take on a Bald Eagle team that had little trouble with Troy in a 50-6 win Aug. 24.
BEA scored early and often in that game, and junior quarterback Jaden Jones threw for more than 400 yards as the Eagles again began their season with a big win over the Trojans.
Last season, this turned out to be a 48-0 win over the Mounties for BEA, but P-O is a year older and seems to be a much physically stronger team than it was.
But the turnovers hurt badly in Week 1, and if they continue, this game could get out of hand as well.
■ CLEARFIELD (1-0) AT PENNS VALLEY (1-0), 7 P.M.
Fairfield High School’s football team has been having problems. First, the head coach unexpectedly resigned, and then the school board almost cancelled the whole program. Just before the Knights’ first game, the team found out it could not use its field because of a mold problem and had to play in Gettysburg.
Then, on Aug. 24, the Penns Valley Rams showed up and gave Fairfield even more formidable problems.
Penns Valley scored on its first play from scrimmage and then put in another score less than four minutes later to go up by 14 points. From there it was downhill all night as PV kept on the gas and took a 49-6 win.
Now, PV will open its Mountain League schedule with a home contest against Clearfield.
The Bison are 1-0 after scoring in every quarter along the way to a 28-3 win over rival DuBois. Clearfield was solid in every facet in the win, gaining a total of 305 yards on offense and holding the Beavers to just a first-quarter field goal.
Senior Isaac Rumery threw for 120 yards and a touchdown in the game and ran for another 77 and two more touchdowns. Running backs Caleb Freeland and Brett Zatoni combined for 108 yards and another touchdown in the Bison’s impressive opening-day win.
Last season, in Clearfield, it was all Clearfield in a 42-12 win over the Rams, but PV has most of its skill people back from that team and will be looking to improve on that performance.
Much will depend here on how well Penns Valley can contain Rumery on the ground and through the air.
■ BELLEFONTE (1-0) AT HUNTINGDON (1-0), 7 P.M.
Huntingdon cruised last week to a 40-0 romp over Mount Union, while Bellefonte was locked in its usual last-second battle with Jersey Shore.
Bellefonte ultimately prevailed, 17-14, on a last-second field goal to go 1-0 on the season, so the Raiders can now turn their full attention to what already is a crucial, early-season Mountain League game.
Huntingdon scored 28 second-half points in last year’s game and held on for a 52-31 win. The win turned out to be huge for Huntingdon as it allowed the Bearcats to tie Central and Bellefonte for the league championship with identical 6-1 records.
The same importance could be put on this game.
Against Mount Union, Huntingdon rolled out to a 20-0 halftime lead that was never really in jeopardy. The Bearcats allowed the Trojans just more than 100 yards of offense all night and just 20 passing yards. Mount Union never threatened, as Huntingdon added another 20 in the second half for the win.
The Bearcats piled up almost 400 yards of offense, directed by senior quarterback Andrew Hudy. Hudy threw for 189 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 53 more on 15 carries.
Bellefonte meanwhile took a seven-point lead over Jersey Shore into the fourth quarter, watched the Bulldogs tie it late and then pulled out a win on a 26-yard field goal by senior Chris Persiko.
Quarterback Kyle Myers and junior running back C.J. Funk (111 yards, two TDs) did the heavy lifting for the Raider offense, but it was a big defensive stop deep in Bulldog territory late in the game that ultimately led to the win.
It was the second win in a row for Bellefonte over Jersey Shore that was decided in the final seconds.
The matchup with Huntingdon could very easily shape up as the game of the week.
