Even though it’s getting down to the final two weeks of the regular season, there is still lots of football to play.
This week, look for big doings in Philipsburg as SJCA comes to visit, and Bellefonte will take on neighborhood rival BEA in the renewal of their traditional rivalry. State College takes to the road, and Penns Valley goes non-league with a game against Cowanesque Valley.
ST. JOSEPH’S ACADEMY (3-4) AT PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA (0-9)
This game is interesting for a number of reasons.
St. Joe’s has now won three games, which is more than commendable considering how the team started, and the Wolves are on a two-game winning streak.
In fact, SJCA has won three of its last four games, with wins over Bucktail, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech and Nativity BVM and a loss to Halifax.
With two games left against P-O and Line Mountain, it’s conceivable that the Wolves could finish with a winning record.
Philipsburg, on the other hand, is 0-9 and still struggling with giving up big plays and high numbers. New coach Mike Mann has been sticking to his game plan to play fundamentally sound football, but the Mounties still have not been able to hold down the powerful teams on their schedule. In the last month, P-O has seen teams like Chestnut Ridge, Huntingdon, Central and Clearfield.
But P-O matches up more favorably with St. Joe’s, and this will be its best chance of the season to break its very long losing streak.
This game is notable for another reason. It will be played on Saturday, Oct. 29, at Philipsburg High School and not at Memorial Stadium. The story is that the new high-tech surfaced field adjacent to the softball complex will become the team’s permanent home, and this will be the first game played at that location.
Game time is 1 p.m.
BALD EAGLE AREA (3-6) AT BELLEFONTE (4-5)
This ages-old rivalry game between two schools just a few miles apart promises to be as competitive as ever.
The Red Raiders won the last two games rather easily, 28-7 in 2014 and 43-7 last year, but both teams have been holding their own this season and both have played some very good games.
BEA, for example, won for the third time with an overtime, 3-0 victory over Chestnut Ridge on Sept. 16 in the lowest scoring game of the season so far. Chestnut Ridge, before and since, has been a point-producing machine so the BEA defenders can take credit for that one.
Bellefonte, talking about signature wins, went into Tyrone on Sept. 23 and won a come-from-behind 14-13 thriller over the Golden Eagles. It was the first win for the Raiders over Tyrone in 22 years.
Both teams will come into this contest after short weeks of practice because both played postponed games on Oct. 24 due to the severe flooding in the area on Oct. 21. Bellefonte lost to Chestnut Ridge, 30-22, while BEA fell to Jersey Shore, 28-10.
Kickoff is Friday, Oct. 28, at 7 p.m. at Rogers Stadium.
COWANESQUE VALLEY (2-6) AT PENNS VALLEY (2-7)
Penns Valley is 2-7 coming into its final game this season, and there’s little question that the Rams have played better football than that record indicates.
The Indians have had a rough time of it in the last two weeks, losing to Wellsboro and North Penn-Mansfield by a combined 99-0. Their last win came against Columbia Montour Vo-Tech, 29-22, Oct. 1, and they also have a Week 2 win over Montgomery, 23-6.
CV is almost exclusively a running team. Its quarterbacks, senior Colton Vinluan and freshman Seth Huyler, have completed just 20 passes all season for a total of 335 yards and no touchdowns with seven interceptions.
Sophomore Matt Barber is the leading runner with 475 yards on 101 carries, and he is followed by junior Drew Brandes (229 yards).
The Indians’ defense does have 23 sacks and six interceptions, so PV’s Andrew Tobias and his passing offense will be under some pressure.
But the Rams will likely crowd the line of scrimmage and make CV throw the ball. If the Indians can’t, the Rams will have a big advantage in this one.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 28.
STATE COLLEGE (8-0) AT CHAMBERSBURG (1-7)
There is no arguing with the fact that Chambersburg is struggling this season. The Trojans have won just one game, 20-0 over Greencastle-Antrim, and have been pretty much trampled by everyone in the Mid-Penn.
Their last three losses have come against Harrisburg (61-10), Cedar Cliff (34-7) and Central Dauphin (56-0), and the 20 points they scored against Greencastle were the most in any game this year.
Yet for the State College Little Lions, every game at this point in the season is a big one. SC is unbeaten, in first place in the Mid-Penn Colonial, and fighting to stay ahead of Central Dauphin and Cumberland Valley.
A win against the Trojans would ensure SC of at least a share of the Colonial championship, and it would be safe to say that the Little Lion coaches and players have no intentions to share anything.
They are after it all, and Chambersburg is next on their list.
Game time is 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 28.
