Centre County High School Football: Backyard Rivalry, Mid Penn Matchup Highlight Week 7

After nailing down their biggest win of the season over Clearfield, 28-19, on Sept. 27, the Bellefonte Red Raiders will have to turn it around and prepare for perhaps an even bigger upcoming challenge against the Rams of Penns Valley. That game is on Oct. 4 at Bellefonte and will highlight another busy week in local high school football. Also on tap will be state finalist Harrisburg at unbeaten State College, Huntingdon at BEA and North Penn-Mansfield at P-O. Here’s a brief look at all the match-ups:

PENNS VALLEY (5-1, 4-0) AT BELLEFONTE (5-1, 4-0) OCT. 4, 7 P.M.

Bellefonte absorbed a three-touchdown, second-quarter outburst by Clearfield — along with a four-point halftime deficit — and then struck back with both its offense and defense in the second half. C.J. Funk gave the Raiders the lead with an 85-yard run midway through the third quarter and then Ethan Rossman sealed the 28-19 win with a 37-yard touchdown pass to Mason Grey at the start of the fourth quarter.

All the while, the Raider defense held the Bison scoreless in the final 24 minutes of the game. Clearfield scored twice in the final three minutes of the second quarter to take a 19-15 halftime lead, but the Raiders gathered themselves during the break and played perhaps their overall best football of the season in the second half.

Funk ran 15 times for 130 yards and the 85-yard TD, and quarterback Rossman completed 6 of 9 passes for 145 yards and three touchdowns — including two to Grey.

At the same time in Spring Mills, Penns Valley quarterback Aaron Tobias was warming up his arm for the trip to Bellefonte in the Rams’ 55-7 win against Midd-West. Tobias threw for 515 yards and 8 touchdowns against the Mustangs, leading his team to a 35-7 halftime edge and then closing things out with another three scores in the second half.

It was PV’s fifth win of the year, against its one loss to Clearfield, and it sets up a Mountain League first-place showdown against the Red Raiders. It may seem oversimplified, but this game may just come down to which defense can come up with the most plays.

Both teams will get their points, but one of them is going to have to make some big stops.

HARRISBURG (4-2, 3-1) AT STATE COLLEGE (6-0, 4-0) OCT. 4, 7 P.M.

While the State College Little Lions were sprinting away from CD East, 48-7, Harrisburg was in a desperate struggle against Central Dauphin at home that it ultimately lost, 15-14.

Behind 14-7 late in the fourth quarter, Central Dauphin scored with less than five minutes remaining in the game to make it 14-13 and then went for an all-or-nothing two-point conversion. It was good, and CD joined the Little Lions on top of the Mid Penn Commonwealth standings.

Don’t feel too bad for Harrisburg, however. This is a team, after all, that has beaten Coatesville two out of the last three times they met — including in the state semifinal last season. The Cougars beat them again at Coatesville on opening night this year. Harrisburg went on to lose in Week 2 to Bishop Hoban (Ohio), but then came back for wins over Cedar Cliff, Cumberland Valley and CD East.

Last season in Harrisburg, the Cougars jumped on SC from the very beginning of the game, running out to a 24-3 halftime lead and holding on for a 32-17 conference win.

State College managed just 52 yards rushing that night. This year, however, the Lions are averaging 255 yards per game on the ground — led by speedsters Isaiah Edwards and Dresyn Green — and are no doubt planning to put much more pressure on Harrisburg with a more balanced attack.

Add to that a return home for SC after three straight road wins, and it’s a perfect setup to break through against Harrisburg after a string of recent losses.

Still, there is no reason to think that this game will not come down to the final minutes — or even seconds.

HUNTINGDON (2-4) AT BALD EAGLE AREA (5-1) OCT. 4, 7 P.M.

Bald Eagle quarterback Jaden Jones was back at the helm on Friday night in the Eagles’ 31-0 Mountain League victory over Tyrone.

Actually, it was hard to tell he was even gone.

Jones completed 13-of-17 passes for 110 yards and three touchdowns and ran 14 times for 140 yards and BEA’s other touchdown in the Eagles fifth win of the season against just one loss.

Tyrone, admittedly, has been beset with injuries — especially on defense — but Jones and the entire BEA offense looked as healthy as ever. The Bald Eagles racked up over 400 on the night including 270 on the ground.

This week, 2-4 Huntingdon will come to visit for a game that BEA will have be paying close attention to.

Huntingdon got off to a terrible start this year, but the Bearcats have been slowly putting things together as the season progresses.

There was an early blowout losses to Bellefonte, 47-3, and then to Susquehanna Township, 42-7, but since then Huntingdon has more than shown up.

Clearfield had all it could handle in a 28-16 win in Week 4, and Penns Valley had to stomp on the gas for its 43-28 win in Huntingdon on Sept. 20.

Last Friday, the Bearcats outlasted 3-3 Bishop Carroll, 20-6, for their second win of the season and first conference victory.

Quarterback Nick Troha threw three touchdown passes to Andrew Miller of 40, 30 and 32 yards that accounted for all of the Bearcats scores and that was enough to overcome the Huskies.

BC did pull to within 14-6 in the third quarter, but the final Troha-to-Miller score put the game out of reach.

Huntingdon’s improvement can be traced to the Bearcats’ better defense as much as to Troha’s passing. Against Carroll, Huntingdon created four turnovers and allowed just one touchdown.

But Jones and the Bald Eagles are on another level than Bishop Carroll, and Huntingdon will have to be at its best if it wants to stay close in this one.

NORTH PENN MANSFIELD (3-3) AT PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA (1-5) OCT. 4, 7 P.M.

North Penn Mansfield will bring a balanced offense and a two-game winning streak into Philipsburg on Oct. 4 for a non-league contest against the Mounties.

NP-M has a 3-3 record so far, with wins over Athens, Cowanesque Valley and Wyalusing Valley, and losses to Troy, Bloomsburg and Montoursville.

North Penn gains just over 300 yards per game, almost equally split between rushing (162 yards) and passing (146 yards).

Quarterback Colton Litzelman leads the passing game and has thrown for 813 yards and nine touchdowns with just one interception. On the ground, junior Bryan Bogaczyk leads the running game with 426 yards and four touchdowns, with freshman Kohen Lehman chipping in with 230 yards and two touchdowns.

In Philipsburg, the Mounties suffered another two injuries to starters in last week’s 49-7 loss to Central. In all, P-O finished the game down six starting players, including starting quarterback Ryan Whitehead and both starting running backs.

Who will return this week for P-O is not known, but head coach Brian McGonigal said that he was nonetheless encouraged by some of the things he saw from his players on Friday, despite the loss.

P-O has struggled stopping the big play so far, and it will be interesting to see how the Mounties match up against an unfamiliar, non-league foe.