State College forced five turnovers, got a kickoff return touchdown and was nearly unstoppable on offense Friday night in a 49-22 win at Hollidaysburg.
Quarterback Tommy Friberg led the Little Lions with more than 200 yards of offense, taking the Little Lions to the end zone with his legs and his arm. Penn State commit Keaton Ellis hauled in four passes for 88 yards and two touchdowns and had one of State College’s four interceptions on defense.
State College (3-0) was methodical on the game’s opening drive, with Cohen Russell carrying the ball three times for 27 yards, Isaiah Edwards picking up another 12 and Friberg hitting Ellis on a slant for a 12-yard pickup. Friberg though would carry it in untouched from two yards out to cap a 63-yard drive as the Little Lions took an early 7-0 lead.
On the second play of their first possession, the Golden Tigers (2-1) got a first down on a pass from Brady Walters to Gus Dellinger, but State College forced a fumble that was recovered by Jeremy Thompson at the Hollidaysburg 37. Three Friberg runs got the Little Lions deep into the red zone before Edwards took a direct snap for a 1-yard touchdown and a 13-0 lead.
The Tigers started to get on track offensively on their second possession. Facing third-and-17, Walters found Jacob Sensening for a 40-yard pass to the State College 39. On another third-and-long, Walters hit Bryce Martellaci for 15 yards to the 22 then scrambled for 17 yards to the 5.
A penalty and a sack put Hollidaysburg at fourth-and-18, but Walters came through again, connecting with Austin Weakland in the end zone as Hollidaysburg narrowed the deficit to 13-7.
That was the closest the Tigers would get. On the ensuing possession a 15-yard catch by Brady Dorner and an 11-yard run by Edwards set up a pair of passes from Friberg to Ellis. First Ellis pulled in a catch and picked his way through defenders for a 24-yard gain. Then Friberg found Ellis on a slant for the touchdown and a 20-7 lead.
Hollidaysburg drove into State College territory on its next possession, but Ellis intercepted a Walters pass and looked like he had a pick-six, only to see it called back for holding. No matter, the Little Lions quickly went 79 yards, capped by a 22-yard Friberg touchdown run to open up a 20-point lead.
A Dresyn Green interception put State College right back in Hollidaysburg territory and Ellis went up over a defender to pull in a 28-yard touchdown pass to make the score 34-7 with the first half winding down.
On the kickoff, Hollidaysburg’s Robert Smith went down with what appeared to be a neck injury. Play stopped for nearly 30 minutes and Smith was ultimately taken off the field in an ambulance. His condition was not immediately available.
Tyson Brennan had State College’s third interception of the half when play resumed.
Hollidaysburg pounded the ground game to open the second half and went 70 yards — all rushing — to make it 34-14. But Green got it right back, returning the kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown.
A Sammy Knipe interception set State College up in Hollidaysburg territory once again, and after a 16-yard pass from Friberg to Jeremy Bullock, Edwards ran it in from 9 yards out. A Friberg-to-Russell two-point conversion extended the lead to 49-14 and put a running clock into effect for the rest of the game
After consecutive road games, State College will now play three in a row at home, starting Sept. 14 against Carlisle (3-0).
Bellefonte 55, Philipsburg-Osceola 7
With Rogers Stadium still undergoing renovations, Bellefonte (3-0) was the ‘home’ team against Philipsburg-Osceola (0-3) in a game played at Lock Haven Friday night. The Raiders certainly made themselves at home.
On Bellefonte’s opening drive, C.J. Funk broke off a 33 yard run to get the Raiders inside the P-O 5 and Kyle Myers found Noah Badger for a 2-yard touchdown pass and an early 7-0 lead. That would open up to 21-0 before the end of the first quarter as the Raiders scored on their next two possessions.
Rushing touchdowns by Funk and Tre Bauman made it 35-0 five minutes into the second.
The Bellefonte defense, especially Caleb Rockey, got a consistent push into the backfield and stymied the Mounties offense. Philipsburg managed a touchdown on Ryan Whitehead’s 19-yard completion to T.J. Thompson, but that would be all the scoring the Mounties would get for the night.
Bellefonte travels to Central Mountain (0-3) next week. Philipsburg hosts Tyrone (3-0)
Bald Eagle Area 49, Penns Valley 28
In a showdown between two prolific offenses, Bald Eagle Area (3-0) opened the game with an 84-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Blake Roberts and the Eagles were off to the races. BEA had a 28-0 lead before Penns Valley (1-2) quarterback Aaron Tobias connected with Ryan Ripka for a 9-yard touchdown pass halfway through the second quarter.
The Rams would get within striking distance as Tobias again hit Ripka, this time for a 44-yard touchdown to pull with two touchdowns at 28-14. But as would be the case the rest of the night, the Eagles had an answer. A late Kaden Bittinger interception cut short a PV drive, while Tommy Snyder took a Jaden Jones pass and went 68 yards for the score and a 36-14 halftime lead.
Penns Valley added two more touchdown throws in the second half, from Tobias to Logan Snyder and Aidan Brinker to Mason Lieb, but the Bald Eagle offense was just too much.
Jones threw for 323 yards and four touchdowns on the night, while Gage McClenahan and Bittinger both had over 90 yards receiving. McClenahan also rushed for 62 yards and Roberts ran for 63.
Next up, Bald Eagle hosts Bishop Carroll (1-2) and Penns Valley travels to Central (1-2).
