Week Four of county high school football features a Mid-Penn matchup between State College and rival Mifflin County, Penns Valley and P-O in Mountain League clashes, Bellefonte and BEA taking on non-league foes and St. Joseph’s at home with Halifax.
Mifflin County (0-2) at State College (2-0)
Mifflin County is off to a rough start this season with two one-sided losses to Williamsport (61-24) and Cedar Cliff (40-14).
The problem seems to be with the Huskies running the football. So far, they are averaging just 32 yards per game on the ground, which has been forcing them to heavily into the passing game.
Senior Isaac McClay leads the team, but he has just a total of 24 net yards on the ground in three games.
Quarterback Drew Williams has been effective in the passing game, completing 22 of 47 passes for 337 yards and two touchdowns. Williams’ favorite receivers are both seniors, Malik Sechler (123 yards) and Nathan Bargo (96 yards), but the trio has not been able to make up for the lack of running success.
And coming into State College for the Little Lions first home game does not look like a good opportunity for MC to get well in that department.
State College is 2-0 and is so far living up to its preseason notices. With wins over JP McCaskey (24-13) and Hollidaysburg (45-10), the Lions are off to a solid start in anticipation of defending their Mid-Penn Colonial title. That title defense begins with Mifflin County.
The leaders for SC are all familiar names. Quarterbacks Tyler Snyder and Drew Friberg, running back Tristen Lyons, receivers Noah Woods and Brandon Clark and fullback/linebacker Pete Haffner.
In the victory over Hollidaysburg, SC gave up just over 100 yards on the ground but only 36 passing yards. Mifflin will have to run the ball at least modestly in order to stay in this game.
Penns Valley (1-2) at Central (2-1)
The Penns Valley Rams rather loudly announced their presence in the Mountain League standings with a convincing 41-18 victory over previously unbeaten BEA on Sept. 9.
With that win secure, the Rams now travel to always-tough Central for another Mountain League clash Friday, Sept. 16.
The Dragons, as usual, are a formidable group. They swamped both Hollidaysburg (35-7) and Tyrone (31-7) to begin the season, and then lost, 30-28, in a clash of the titans at Clearfield on Sept. 9. Down 24-14 at the end of the third quarter in that game, Central’s comeback fell just short as the Bison held on for the win.
Central boasts a grinding running attack. Senior Alex Hoenstine lead the charge with 65 rushes for 554 yards and nine touchdowns in just three games. Hoenstine ran for 207 against Hollidaysburg, 180 against Tyrone and 167 against Clearfield, and he’s averaging 184 yards per game.
He also lines up at quarterback — he has 89 yards passing and a TD — and wide receiver.
Otherwise Preston Karstetter handles the quarterback duties for the Dragons, and he’s thrown for 266 yards and a touchdown so far.
Hoenstine (who else?) is the leading receiver with 95 yards and a touchdown.
Whatever extra impetus PV added to its game at BEA will be needed in this game as well.
Andrew Tobias and Takoda Bubb (177 yards vs. BEA) have been leading PV, and the Rams three opponents so far — Marian Catholic, Clearfield and BEA — are all quality teams.
PV will be aiming to slow down Hoenstine, and if they can, this will game will go down to the wire.
Bellefonte (2-1) at Central Mountain (0-3)
To say the least, things have not gone well for the Central Mountain football team this season.
The Wildcats have three big losses to Williamsport (39-12), Hughesville (35-21) and Shikellamy (35-7).
They are primarily a running team, with senior Justin Neff doing the bulk of the work and averaging over 125 yards per game.
But the passing game, with Neff and junior Austyn Carson sharing the duties at quarterback, is gaining just 38 yards each outing. This is allowing opponents to gang up on the running game and keeping the Wildcats out of the end zone (six touchdowns so far, five by Neff and all on the ground).
Bellefonte, on the other hand, is 2-1 and scoring more than 30 points per game.
Quarterback Chase Gardner, running backs Dexter Gallishaw, Tyler Kreger and Jaiden Boone, and receivers Tanner Helms and Cade Fortney are all explosive players who can break a long play at any moment.
The defense has been improving game by game, and the Raiders did not allow Philipsburg-Osceola an offensive touchdown in that win.
Bellefonte sees no need to stop now and will be ready, and eager, to pick up win number three.
Chestnut Ridge (2-1) at BEA (2-1)
Chestnut Ridge is 2-1 so far this season with wins over Everett and Musselman (West Virginia) and a loss last week to Allegany (Maryland).
Junior Logan Hauk leads the team in both passing (132 yards per game) and rushing (112 yards per game), with receivers Jared McGill, Phillip Dull, Levi Snyder, and Noah Dillow all averaging in double figures.
BEA fell hard last week against Penns Valley after getting off to a fast 2-0 start to the season.
But all the Eagles’ offensive potential is still there, starting with quarterback Tanner Kresovich.
How well they respond after last week will be the big question going into the game against a Chestnut Ridge team that customarily handles Centre County teams very roughly.
Tyrone (2-1) at Philipsburg-Osceola (0-3)
Tyrone has wins over Bellwood-Antis (15-12) and Huntington (48-42 OT), but the Eagles also lost big at Central in Week Two by a score of 31-7.
In Philipsburg, the Mounties are still giving up big plays and lots of points, but new coach Mike Mann is sticking to his philosophies — P-O wants to run the ball and avoid turnovers and easy giveaways to opponents.
Staying competitive for P-O here is a lot to ask, but the Mounties will be looking for improvements, especially in fundamentals and tackling on defense.
