Four Centre County Teams Advance to District Football Playoffs

All five local high school football teams completed their regular seasons on Friday, and four of them will be entering the District 6 Playoffs beginning this weekend.

Philipsburg-Osceola, after its loss to Ridgway on Friday, finished outside of the eight 2A qualifying teams and its season ended with a 2-8 record.

In other action, State College outlasted Altoona, 21-7, Penns Valley took care of Glendale, and BEA won by forfeit over Bradford.

With its win over Altoona, State College earned a bye in the first round and will play the winner of the Altoona/Williamsport game in Week 2.

Here’s a brief look at the other first-round playoff games taking place this week:

NO. 5 RIVER VALLEY (8-2) AT NO. 4 BALD EAGLE AREA (8-2)
DISTRICT 6, AA QUARTERFINAL
NOV. 5, WINGATE

By any measurement, Bald Eagle Area had an outstanding regular season.

The Bald Eagles lost just two games, and those two losses came against undefeated Clearfield and Jersey Shore.

Otherwise, BEA swept the table and now will enter the District 6 Playoffs as the No. 4 seed in the 2A bracket.

The Eagles’ first-round opponent will be 8-2 River Valley out of the Heritage Conference. The Panthers won the first six games on their schedule before losing two straight games to 7-3 Homer Center and 9-1 Cambria Heights.

They recovered and finished their season with wins over Northern Cambria and Portage. River Valley is primarily a running team led by 6-foot-2, 195-pound senior Angelo Bartolini. Bartolini has carried the ball 117 times for 1,144 yards and 18 touchdowns, and he averages over 177 all-purpose yards per game. Senior quarterback Brandon Staats has completed 41-of-76 passes for 744 yards and seven touchdowns, with Cage Kinney being the top receiver with 12 catches for 250 yards and two touchdowns.

In all, the Panthers average 260 yards per game and 28 points. BEA will counter with 299 yards and 26 points per game, but also with a defense that shut out five opponents and gives up just 8.5 points every night. Freshman quarterback Carson Nagle has thrown for 1,514 yards and 15 touchdowns, and senior running back Garrett Burns has 951 yards rushing and eight touchdowns.

BEA has five receivers with over 200 yards, led by Camron Watkins with 30 catches for 410 yards and seven touchdowns. This game, then, has to potential to be a high-scoring affair, but if the BEA defense asserts itself, the Eagles could be on their way to the semifinals. The winner will take on either No. 1 Cambria Heights or No. 8 Forest Hills.

The kickoff is in Wingate at 7 p.m.

NO. 7 PENNS VALLEY (5-4) AT NO. 2 BELLWOOD-ANTIS (9-1)
DISTRICT 6, AA QUARTERFINAL
NOV. 5, BELLWOOD

Penns Valley clinched a winning regular season and a No. 7 seed in the District 6, 2A playoffs with a 45-14 victory over Glendale on Friday night. At No. 7 then, PV will travel to take on No. 2 Bellwood-Antis on Friday, November 5 in the 2A quarterfinal. Bellwood is 9-1 this season with its only loss coming on October 22 to Juniata Valley, 26-7, in an ICC game in Alexandria.

Otherwise, the Blue Devils were perfect, and only one team, Claysburg-Kimmel, came within 15 points. The Devils averaged just under 300 yards per game, with 201 of those coming on the ground. They averaged 27 points per game and scored 25 rushing touchdowns. Bellwood also had two fumbles returned for touchdowns, three pick-6s, and two punt return touchdowns.

Add that to 21 sacks and 11 total interceptions, and it’s obvious that the Devils have a very aggressive defense. Penns Valley will come into the game on a three-game win streak and with a winning record after a very challenging Mountain League schedule.

The Rams do not have an explosive attack — they average just over 270 yards per game — but they are very well balanced between the pass and run. PV’s defense, however, has good size and six fumble recoveries, 15 interceptions, and 17 sacks. Normally, a No. 7 matched against a No. 2 would be facing an uphill battle, but if the Rams’ defense can control the Bellwood runners, this game could be very close from start to finish.

The kickoff is at 7 p.m. in Bellwood.

NO. 2 BELLEFONTE (2-7) VS NO. 1 JUNIATA (8-2)
DISTRICT 6, 4A REGIONAL SEMIFINAL
NOV. 6, MANSION PARK, ALTOONA

At 2-7 for the season, Bellefonte will be entering a young team into the D6, 4A tournament against No. 1 Juniata on Saturday, November 6 in Altoona’s Mansion Park.

The Raiders played a difficult schedule that included teams like Jersey Shore, BEA, Clearfield, Hollidaysburg, and Tyrone, and now they will be faced with the No. 1 seeded Indians. Juniata’s two losses — to West Perry and Steelton Highspire — came earlier in the season and it will be coming into the semifinal on a six-game winning streak.

Juniata is primarily a running team and is very good at it. The Indians run for 161 yards per game and are led by four backs who all have over 200 yards rushing. Quarterback Aaron Kanagy does have over 400 yards passing and five touchdowns, but Juniata relies primarily on the run.

Bellefonte this season had some difficulties moving the ball and averaged just under 160 yards per game, but the Raiders showed improvement as the season progressed. In their last win, against Huntingdon on October 8, they ran for 437 yards in a 40-7 win over the Bearcats. The winner of this game will go against either University Prep from District 8 or DuBois from District 9 in the Regional Final.

The kickoff is at 6 p.m. at Mansion Park.

This story appears in the Nov. 4-10 edition of the Centre County Gazette.