Four local high school football teams — State College, Bellefonte, Bald Eagle and Penns Valley — have reached the postseason, and district playoff action gets started on Friday night.
AAAAAA
No. 2 Mifflin County (6-4) vs. No. 1 State College (9-1)
7 p.m., Nov. 2, Memorial Stadium
State College completed an outstanding 9-1 regular season with a spirited and hard-fought 16-13 victory over resurgent Cumberland Valley on Oct. 26 in Mechanicsburg.
After a 6-6 first quarter, SC went ahead on a 13-yard pass from Tommy Friberg to Jeremy Bullock in the second quarter and then extended the lead to 16-6 on a 29-yard field goal by Cam Renfrew in the third quarter.
CV came back with a late touchdown to make it 16-13, but the Little Lions were able to run out the clock for the win.
State College will now square off against Mifflin County for the District 6 6-A championship on Friday in State College.
SC and Mifflin met in Week 1 in the opening Mid-Penn game for both teams and the night was all State College.
The Little Lions ran out to a comfortable 35-point halftime lead and then coasted in with a 35-12 win.
Friberg completed all seven of his passes, including a 75-yard bomb to Cohen Russell, for 146 yards, and the Little Lions ran for another 261 yards in the win. Isaiah Edwards scored twice for SC, and Keaton Ellis took one 73 yards for another touchdown as the Lions dominated throughout.
Mifflin would go on to lose its next three games as well to start 0-4 in the 2018 season.
But after a 26-21 win at Shippensburg on Sept. 21, something clicked with the Huskies and they haven’t lost since.
Mifflin has beaten Big Spring, Waynesboro, Dover, Greencastle-Antrim and West Perry in a row and will come into the game against SC with a Mid Penn title and a 6-4 record.
Part of the Huskies’ success can be traced to their aggressive defense, which forced 16 turnovers this year and recorded 13 sacks.
On offense, Mifflin ran for just short of 200 yards per game and had a total of over 310 yards per game.
Quarterback Noah Wright completed 74 of 179 passes for 1,203 yards and seven touchdowns, while Gage Schaeffer (803 yards) and Nathan Poche (501 yards) led the running game.
Mifflin has five receivers with over 100 yards receiving and three who have gone over 200.
The Little Lions will come into the game with a three-game streak, but they will be well aware that this Husky team is a far better group than the one they encountered Aug. 24.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. in State College.
AAAA
No. 3 Bradford (6-4 ) vs. No. 2 Bellefonte (8-2)
5 p.m., Nov. 3, Bald Eagle Area High School
On Oct. 26, the Bellefonte Red Raiders opened their brand new facility on the high school campus in style.
The Raiders hosted long-time rival Bald Eagle Area in one of the most memorable — and important — Curtin Bowl games in recent memory. The teams came in with a combined 15 wins and battled back and forth until the final seconds of the fourth quarter.
It was then that Bellefonte kicker Chris Persiko converted on a 24-yard field goal that gave his team a heart-thumping 10-9 win. There were 18 seconds left when Persiko’s kick went through.
It was just minutes earlier that BEA’s Peter Van Cise put the Bald Eagles ahead, 9-7, and threatened to ruin the Raiders opening night.
But when Bellefonte took over after the kickoff, quarterback Kyle Myers found Ryan Smith on the first play for a 25-yard gain and from there guided his team to the BEA 17. Persiko took over from there.
Next up for the Raiders will be a matchup against Bradford in the District 6 AAAA semifinals on Saturday.
Bradford comes into the game with a 6-4 record and is a team that has had its ups and downs throughout the 2018 season.
In Week 1, the Owls put up 60 points against Brookville and still lost by nine, 69-60, in what had to be one of the wildest games in the state this season.
Since then, Bradford won six games, but losses to Ridgway, Moniteau, and last week 40-0 to Oil City put a damper on its season. Still, the Owls will come into the game having won four of their last five games.
There is nothing fancy about Bradford’s style. The Owls like to run the ball, and they do so to the tune of 276 yards every time out. They pass only when they have to — just 43 completions all year — but when you can rush for 2,765 yards and 30 touchdowns, why throw?
Donny Pattison, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound senior, leads the running game with 151 carries for 1,415 yards and 17 touchdowns. His long is 81 yards, and he averages over 9 yards per carry.
In addition, Jaron Ambrose (608 yards) and Derek Sunafrank (374) have combined for more than 900 yards and 12 touchdowns.
On defense, after the 69 they gave up in Week 1, the Owls settled down and have actually not allowed more than 21 points in a game since Sept. 14 in their 28-7 loss to Ridgway.
For Bellefonte, besides the obvious chance to play for a D-6 championship, there is extra incentive for a win here. The winner takes on the winner of the Clearfield-DuBois game the following week, and the Raiders would like nothing better than to have another chance to see the Bison.
Kickoff is at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
AAA
No. 4 Huntingdon (5-5) vs. No. 1 Bald Eagle Area (8-2)
7 p.m., Nov. 2, Bald Eagle Area High School
After a last-minute loss to Bellefonte in the Curtin Bowl on Oct. 26, Bald Eagle Area will have to recover quickly as it enters the District 6 3-A playoffs.
The Eagles’ first round opponent will be very familiar Mountain League rival Huntingdon, which just qualified Oct. 26 with a 38-21 win over Tyrone to finish with a 5-5 record.
The Bearcats and Eagles met earlier in the season Oct. 5, and it was the running game and defense that lit the way to a 30-7 BEA victory.
The Eagles ran for 163 yards and two touchdowns for the night, and they broke open the game when Nick Turner stripped Bearcat quarterback Roger Kocik and ran 56 yards for a touchdown that put the Eagles ahead 23-7 in the second quarter.
BEA held Huntingdon to just 199 yards of offense and just 30 yards passing in the game as the Eagles kept their unbeaten record at 7-0.
Since then, BEA lost two games, to Clearfield and Bellefonte, as well as star running back Gage McClanahan to injuries.
Huntingdon, on the other hand, will come into the game with a three-game streak of wins over P-O, Central and Tyrone.
Huntingdon runs a balanced offense split almost 50-50 between the pass and run. It’s the Bearcats aggressive defense, however, that needs close attention.
Huntingdon recorded 13 sacks this season, recovered seven fumbles and intercepted 16 passes. The Bearcats are always on the lookout for the turnover, and against Tyrone they forced three that they directly converted into points.
BEA will have the advantage of playing at home and will be looked on as the favorite in this game. However, Huntingdon is improving and the Eagles will have to avoid mistakes if they are to repeat the earlier result.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. on Friday.
AA
No. 5 Southern Huntingdon (7-3 ) vs. No. 4 Penns Valley (7-3)
7 p.m., Nov. 3, Spring Mills
Penns Valley’s Aaron Tobias, Ryan Ripka, Cole Breon and the rest of the Ram offense got a pre-playoff tune-up in their 56-7 victory at P-O on Oct. 26.
The Rams led 42-7 at halftime and coasted out from there for their seventh win of the season against three losses. It was an impressive turnaround for PV considering it began the season at 1-2 and after that lost just one game, to Clearfield, in the Mountain League.
Now, the Rams will enter the District 6 AA first round on Friday against No. 5 Southern Huntingdon (7-3).
Southern Huntingdon has solid wins this season over teams such as Northern Bedford, Mount Union, Everett and Claysburg-Kimmel, but the team has lost two of its last four, including a 42-20 loss to Bellwood-Antis on Oct. 26.
The Rockets gain over 350 yards per game, but they rely heavily on the run with 250 of those yards coming on the ground.
Quarterback Scott Garlock does have over 900 yards passing and 11 touchdowns, but Southern relies mostly on the running of senior Eric Patton. Patton has carried 170 times for 1,381 yards and 15 touchdowns through nine games so far — an average of over 150 yards per game — and he adds another 30 all-purpose yards to that total every night.
The Rockets also have 15 pass interceptions and seven fumble recoveries in what is a very aggressive defense.
For PV, the Rams will look to keep doing what they’ve been doing. They come in with six wins in their last seven games, and except for the Tyrone game, they have scored over 30 points in all of those wins and more than 40 three times.
The keys for PV will be to avoid mistakes and control the Southern Huntingdon running game.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
