Little Lions on a Roll Heading into Matchup with Carlisle

Yes, State College really did score 55 points in the first half at Mechanicsburg on Sept. 22, and Mechanicsburg threw in another 13 for a total of 68 points in the first two quarters. Things calmed down in the second half, but it still added up to a 62-25 win for the Little Lions — their fourth without a loss.

In Bellefonte, the Raiders kept it going by scoring the first 28 points and then pulling away from Tyrone, 49-14, for their fourth win of the season.

Elsewhere, Philipsburg, Penns Valley, BEA and St. Joseph’s all fell, albeit to very good teams, in a very high-scoring week of football in Centre County.

This week, there is a county matchup between PV and P-O in Spring Mills. BEA will host powerful Central, while the Raiders and Little Lions will both face tough conference opponents. SJCA has a bye.

Carlisle (3-1) at State College (4-0)
Friday, Sept. 29

State College showed up in Mechanicsburg on Sept. 22 and immediately stepped on the gas. Before the first quarter ended, Keaton Ellis and Brandon Clark each had two touchdowns, Triston Lyons had another and SC was already cruising with a 35-7 lead.

Another three touchdowns in the second quarter, including a number three for Ellis, put the game far out of reach for the Wildcats as the Little Lions roared to their fourth win of the season without a loss.

On Friday, Sept. 29, 3-1 Carlisle will travel to Memorial Field for the second Mid-Penn Conference game for both teams.

The Thundering Herd is 3-1 so far, with wins over Mechanicsburg (27-20), Red Land (17-14) and South Western (28-19). However, when the Herd ran into Central Dauphin things did not go well in a 65-14 blowout loss.

CD broke things open with 35 points in the second quarter and took a 55-14 lead by halftime. Eight different players scored touchdowns for Central Dauphin in the game, with Saville Pope the only one to score two.

For Carlisle, two second-quarter touchdowns by Rojan Porcorpio and Gavin Barnes from quarterback Christian Watts were all the scoring it could muster for the night.

Watts, this season, has completed 15 of 36 passes for 206 yards and three touchdowns, while senior Cole Wolaver has connected on 22 of 47 for 285 yards and three touchdowns.

Trystan Sulich is the leading runner with 64 attempts for 305 yards and four touchdowns, and Porcorpio has added 192 yards on 29 attempts and a touchdown. Gavyn Barnes is the leading receiver with 21 catches for 314 yards and five scores.

Carlisle will be smarting from the loss on Sept. 22 and looking to rebound against the Little Lions. But SC might have as much firepower — or more — than CD and much will depend on the early going in the game.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

Clearfield (3-2) at Bellefonte (4-1)
Friday, Sept. 29

It is abundantly clear that Bellefonte is an improved football team, and this week will be a good indication of how much better the Raiders have gotten.

It has been a long time since anyone’s been able to say that Bellefonte is coming off a 35-point win over Tyrone. Yet, there it is, and the Raiders didn’t back into any of it. They scored the first four touchdowns in the game, led 28-7 at halftime, and then put the game away with another 14 points in the third quarter.

Quarterback Dylan Deitrich passed for 144 yards and ran for 134, including two touchdowns, while Cade Fortney added 91 yards on the ground and an 80-yard touchdown in the second quarter.

Bellefonte outgained Tyrone 460 to 215 and didn’t turn the ball over in the game.

Now, the second of the Mountain League’s three traditional powers, Clearfield, will come to visit Rogers Stadium on Friday, Sept. 29.

The Bison are 3-2 so far this year, having beaten DuBois (21-0), Penns Valley (42-12) and Central Mountain on Sept. 22 (49-10). But a visit to Central resulted in an unusually big loss, 42-14, and then the next week Huntingdon almost matched that score with a 45-27 win.

What it all means is that Clearfield already has two league losses, and another one at Bellefonte would essentially put it out of contention.

The game against Central Mountain was a bit more in character for the Bison. Quarterback Isaac Rumery threw for 271 yards and four touchdowns — two to Micah Heichel — and Clearfield took control of the game with 21 unanswered points in the third quarter. The Bison outgained CM 460 to 200, had 20 first downs and didn’t turn the ball over.

Last season, Bellefonte returned to the playoffs and drew the Bison in the first round. That game was competitive for most of the first half before Clearfield pulled away to take a comfortable 34-7 win.

Now in the new season and with the way it is playing, Bellefonte will be hoping that nothing will be comfortable for Clearfield in this game.

BEA (3-2) at Tyrone (1-4)
Friday, Sept. 29

Tyrone is 1-4 and clearly has its back against the wall at this point in the 2017 season. The Golden Eagles have losses to Bellwood-Antis, Central, Huntingdon and Bellefonte sandwiched around a win over Philipsburg-Osceola.

All of those losses came at the hands of very good teams, and it is a good bet that the Eagles have their sights on this game as a way to get back on track going into the second half of the season.

But Bald Eagle has good wins on its resume — the Eagles have beaten Troy, Penns Valley and P-O — but in the last two weeks Central and Chestnut Ridge both dealt big losses to BEA.

So, the Bald Eagles will be looking to right themselves as well and display some of that firepower they used in those earlier games.

Usually, going into Tyrone is tough duty for BEA, but there are just razor-thin differences between these two going in. The team that gets off to a quicker start or makes the fewest mistakes will likely come out the winner.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

Philipsburg-Osceola (1-4) at Penns Valley (1-4)
Friday, Sept. 29

The Rams and the Mounties have the same records, and both teams have had similar fortunes so far in 2017.

Both won in Week 1 against non-conference foes, and both have faced very stiff competition since.

PV has had Clearfield, Central, BEA and Huntingdon since then and had very little luck against any of them.

P-O, meanwhile, faced BEA, Bellefonte, Tyrone and Chestnut Ridge and had trouble with turnovers and giving up big plays against all of them.

The two will meet Friday, Sept. 29, and someone will break a four-game losing streak.

If there is a possible handle on how this game might turn out, it might be how each fared against their only common foe: BEA.
Penns Valley caught the Eagles in Week 3 and coming off two big wins. The Eagles led 12-0 at halftime, and then scored 14 in the third quarter to put the game away. The final was 33-6, and it was a disappointing outcome for the Rams who expected to play better.

The week before, BEA clicked on both offense and defense against P-O and chalked up a 48-0 win. The Eagle defense swarmed the Mounties and created numerous turnovers and mistakes, especially early.

So on paper, it appears as if this is another very close matchup, with both teams being very conscious of getting off to a good start. Neither one has had any success so far coming from behind and the first half may tell the story.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m.