It was another very interesting week for Centre County high school football teams.
State College survived a four-plus-hour bus ride to prevail over St. Augustine in New Jersey, and Bellefonte’s defense shutout Huntingdon and held the Bearcats to minus-41 yards rushing. No misprint.
Penns Valley and Clearfield scored a total of 98 points and ran up and down for 1,000 yards of offense, and, finally, BEA kept rolling at the expense of a Philipsburg team searching for answers.
This week, it’s head-to-head for the Mountain League schools, and State College will have an easy bus ride, but a challenging game.
State College (2-0) at Hollidaysburg (2-0)
Hollidaysburg, Sept. 7, 7 p.m.
First, a little bit of comparative scoring. Hollidaysburg is 2-0 after a 39-28 victory over Mifflin County. The game probably was not that close as HHS led 26-7 at the half before Mifflin scored twice in the third quarter to make it interesting. No problem, though, as HHS put things away with two quick fourth-quarter touchdowns. State College also ran over Mifflin in Week 1 after a 35-point first-half lead led to a 35-12 final.
In Week 1, Hollidaysburg outlasted neighborhood rival Altoona 42-27 after a 21-point outburst in the third quarter. Hollidaysburg threw only eight times in that game, completing six, and ran the ball 47 times for 277 yards and four touchdowns.
Here’s the thing, though. Altoona turned around in Week 2 and crushed Williamsport (yes, that Williamsport) 38-0 in the rain at Mansion Park. So for whatever it’s worth, the Tigers have two easy wins over top-level competition.
Against Mifflin, Hollidaysburg ran 42 times for 219 yards, but quarterback Brady Walters also completed 17 passes for another 234 yards. Walters, a dual-threat, ran for 63 of those rushing yards as well.
State College traveled to New Jersey for a game against St. Augustine Prep expecting the low-scoring, physical battle that it got.
The Little Lions prevailed, 19-7, on three long plays — two bombs from Tommy Friberg to Cohen Russell and a 75-yard run by Isaiah Edwards. It was Edwards’ run, in the final minute of the fourth quarter with SC ahead only 13-7, that sealed the win.
Hollidaysburg has not had much luck against State College recently, and the Golden Tigers would like nothing better than to be 3-0 after a win over the Little Lions.
State College has its eyes set high this season and will not be looking past a very good Tiger team.
Bellefonte (2-0) vs. Philipsburg-Osceola (0-2)
At Lock Haven University, Sept. 7, 7 p.m.
Bellefonte scored just 10 points in its big Mountain League showdown against Huntingdon on Sept. 1 in Huntingdon.
It doesn’t look like the Raiders were too worked up about it, though, since they knew Huntingdon wasn’t going anywhere. Actually, as far as running the football went, the Bearcats were going backwards to the tune of negative 41 yards.
The Raiders scored 10 third-quarter points on a 43-yard pass from Kyle Myers to Trae Bauman and a 33-yard field goal by Chris Persiko. That was all they needed for a 10-0 win and a 2-0 start to the season. Last year, Huntingdon put up 52 against Bellefonte. This year, the Bearcats got zip and didn’t even total 100 yards in offense.
This week, the Raiders will face long-time rival Philipsburg-Osceola at Lock Haven University on Sept. 7. Bellefonte’s field is not yet ready for play due to construction, so this change in venue was made necessary.
It may not matter after all where this game is played. Philipsburg is struggling with turnovers and with a defense that surrenders the big play at, it seems, the most inopportune times.
That combination has led to two big losses: 32-14 to West Branch and 49-14 to Bald Eagle Area.
In both games, P-O surrendered the ball and sparked rallies by its opponents that the Mounties could not stop.
Against West Branch, a team that P-O beat in 2017, the Mounties were ahead 14-6 late in the third quarter but could not stop a 26-0 Warrior rally that sealed their fate.
BEA, once it took the momentum, broke open a competitive game with long plays and raced away to a 49-6 lead by the middle of the third quarter.
The Mounties look overmatched on both sides of the line against the impressive Raiders, but their coaches are likely looking for incremental improvements in this game. They will not be easy to come by.
Penns Valley (1-2) at Bald Eagle Area (2-0)
Wingate, Sept. 7, 7 p.m.
Football fans who like lots of offense might want to head over to Wingate on Friday, for the Penns Valley-Bald Eagle game.
So far, after just two games each, the Rams and Bald Eagles have combined for 190 points and 1,950 yards of offense. That’s about 47.5 points and 485 yards of offense every game for both teams.
Penns Valley on Sept. 1 against Clearfield scored 42 points and had 490 yards of offense and lost by two touchdowns — 56-42. Clearfield, unfortunately for the Rams, was well over 500 yards itself and scored 21 unanswered third-quarter points to take control of the game.
In Week 1, the Rams put up 49 at Fairfield in York County where PV skill players like quarterback Aaron Tobias, running back Ryan Ripka and receiver Logan Snyder couldn’t be stopped. And they still haven’t been.
For BEA, it has been the Jaden Jones show. In Week 1 against Troy, Jones threw for more than 470 yards and five touchdowns in the Eagles’ 50-6 win. He kept it going at P-O last week with a 14-21, 220-yard night that included touchdowns passes of 41, 64, 2 and 15 yards. In addition, Jones ran 10 times for 54 yards and a 20-yard touchdown.
He has running backs Gage McClanahan and Blake Roberts to help him in the backfield, forming a devastating trio that creates multiple headaches for defenses.
What will happen when these two offenses with all of the skill people they have collide on the same field is anybody’s guess. There will probably be lots of points and explosive plays.
But as far as winning the game, someone has to play some defense and make some big stops or create some turnovers. The team that does that will have a big advantage.
