Week 2 was quite a show in Centre County high school football. Bellefonte came back, BEA kept piling up the points, State College held on with a late score and Penns Valley’s last-second loss to Clearfield was a game that almost defies description.
This week, everyone will stay close to home. BEA will travel to Penns Valley, Bellefonte will visit Philipsburg and State College will be at home against old rival Hollidaysburg. Here’s a brief look at the action:
BALD EAGLE AREA (2-0) AT PENNS VALLEY (1-1)
FRIDAY, SEPT. 6, 7 P.M.
Here’s an interesting stat — Penns Valley is averaging 63 points per game and has a record of 1-1.
After a 77-0 blowout of Fairfield in Week 1, PV went to Clearfield for a mammoth showdown with the Bison and just kept doing its thing. The Rams racked up 49 points, 575 yards of offense and scored 29 points in the second half.
Unfortunately, Clearfield was doing the same. The Bison matched PV score for score and with the game tied 49-49 late, Clearfield quarterback Oliver Billotte gave his team a 56-49 win with a 1-yard run as time ran out. Only six seconds showed on the clock when Billotte took it in.
Ram quarterback Andrew Tobias completed 18-of-28 passes for 424 yards and five touchdowns and ran for 52 more yards and the other PV touchdown. Billotte was not to be outdone, though, throwing for 335 yards and four touchdowns and then running himself for the other four Bison scores. In all, the two quarterbacks accounted for 14 touchdowns and 850 yards of total offense, and the two teams scored 105 points and ran up 1,052 yards. Yet in the win-loss columns, it counts as just a loss for the Rams. They also have little time to digest what happened because they now face another team that is perhaps just as potent as Clearfield. B
Bald Eagle Area is 2-0, and the Bald Eagles have another all-everything quarterback in Jaden Jones.
Although Jones’ numbers were not a gaudy as Billotte and Tobias, his results against Mountain League rival Philipsburg-Osceola were much the same. BEA overcame the Mounties, 32-7, and Jones threw for 109 yards and the touchdowns and ran 11 times for 69 yards. The Eagles led 25-0 at the half, and then another touchdown in the third quarter made it 32-0. P-O wrapped up the scoring with a late touchdown on a pass from Ryan Whitehead to his brother Jeremy.
The difference here was the BEA defense. The Eagles held P-O to five first downs and just 95 total yards, but they needed to have a good showing. The Mounties were actually not that far off: all three of Jones’ touchdown passes came on a fourth-down play.
So it will be offense and two high-powered quarterbacks headlining what could be another memorable game. In the end, it’s the team that plays the best defense that will likely emerge as the winner. Game time is at 7 p.m. in Spring Mills.
BELLEFONTE (1-1) AT PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA (1-1)
FRIDAY, SEPT. 6, 7 P.M.
Bellefonte may have lost its first game to very talented Jersey Shore, but that doesn’t mean the Red Raiders did not move the ball.
Bellefonte chalked up 339 total yards and scored 35 points in the 20-point loss, and 207 of those yards came on the ground. Last week, the Red Raiders showed up big time on both sides of the ball against Huntingdon and evened their record with a 47-3 romp.
The Bearcats scored first on a field goal early, but after that, Bellefonte’s runners took over.CJ Funk scored on runs of 36, 84 and 42 yards, Mason Grey took one in from 40, and Nic Capparella capped the night with a TD run of 45 yards.
In all, Bellefonte ran for 344 yards and 21 first downs, all while almost completely stopping the Huntingdon offense. The Bearcats managed just 110 yards in the game including 25 yards rushing on 29 attempts.
Now, Bellefonte will try to keep things building in Philipsburg on Friday night. The Mounties are 1-1 as well, beating West Branch, 41-16, on Aug. 23 and dropping a 32-7 loss to BEA on Aug. 30.
The BEA game at first glance looks more one-sided that it actually was. Yes, the Eagles had a big yardage advantage — 331 to 95 — but three of their touchdowns came on fourth-down plays. A stop or two by the Mounties could have drastically changed things.
Against Bellefonte, P-O will have to retool to face Bellefonte’s more straight-forward, power game instead of the speed-based spread that BEA runs.
Just the same, it will be no easy task. P-O is improved, and quarterback Ryan Whitehead can muster the Mountie offense, but there is no question that they have to move the ball to keep it out of the hands of the Bellefonte running backs. Game time is 7 p.m.
HOLLIDAYSBURG (2-0) AT STATE COLLEGE (2-0)
FRIDAY, SEPT. 6, 7 P.M.
If State College scheduled St. Augustine Prep from New Jersey hoping to give its football team a challenging non-league game, it made the right choice. In fact, the Hermits led much of the second half in the teams’ game on Aug. 30 in State College before Isaiah Edwards scored from a yard out with just over five minutes to play to give the Little Lions a tough, 20-17 win.
State College took a 7-0 early lead on a 3-yard run by quarterback Brady Dorner, but Prep came back twice in the game before eventually getting the lead, 17-14, after a 38-yard field goal in the third quarter.
That score stood until SC began a 48-yard, fourth-quarter drive that ended with Edward’s touchdown. The Lions’ defense then had to stop St. Augustine twice, but in the end SC hung on for the win.
Now 2-0, State College will face another 2-0 team when Hollidaysburg comes to town on Sept. 6 for another challenging non-league game.
Hollidaysburg has already beaten two Mid-Penn teams. The Tigers beat Altoona, 35-21, on Aug. 23 and then handled Mifflin County, 27-0, on Aug. 30. The Mifflin game is especially interesting because State College also beat the Huskies in Week 1 by a similar score, 42-6, at home on Aug. 23.
The Tigers didn’t completely shut down the Huskies — MC gained 220 yard in the game — but they ran for 215 yards and employed a very efficient, 14-for-18, 160-yard passing game. They scored all their points in the middle quarters and then held on for the victory.
State College has enjoyed a big advantage against District 6 teams in recent years, and it’s a good bet that Hollidaysburg will be very excited about changing that. It will likely come down to turnovers, mistakes and who can most effectively stop the other’s running game. Kick off is at 7 p.m. at the South Track Field.
