State College dominated in Harrisburg, Penns Valley held on again and Bald Eagle Area started quickly against P-O in last week’s high school football action.
The Little Lions used a big second quarter to pull away from Mid Penn arch-rival Central Dauphin, and the Rams stopped a last-minute 2-point try by Bellefonte and held on to a 1-point, 20-19 win.
And BEA remained unbeaten with a 42-20 win over the Mounties.
Here’s a closer look at each game and this week’s opponents:
Central Dauphin East (3-2) at State College (3-1)
Friday, Sept. 29
Football road wins in the Mid Penn Conference are always significant, but to get one in Harrisburg over Central Dauphin is at another level.
Yet State College did just that on Sept. 22 with a 31-13 Mid Penn Conference victory in Harrisburg.
The Little Lions initially fell behind 7-0, but D’Antae Sheffey tied it up with a 1-yard run, and from there the game was virtually all State College.
State High went ahead 14-7 on a 5-yard pass from Eddie Corkery to Michael Gaul, and then the Lions made it 17-7 after a John Zipf field goal.
After squeezing the Rams on defense and just before halftime, Sheffey scored again, this time from 6 yards out, and State High took a hefty 24-7 lead into the locker room.
Midway through the third quarter, CD was trying to get back into things deep in SC territory, but a 70-yard pick-6 by Little Lion Robert Strayer put an end to the drive and the game.
The Rams scored another touchdown in the third quarter, but the Little Lions D shut them out from there for their third win of the year, 31-13.
Corkery completed 22 passes on the night for 221 yards and the touchdown to Gaul, and Sheffey finished with 56 tough yards on 20 carries and two scores.
Ty Salazar led the receivers with 10 catches for 119 yards.
State College will next host 2-2 Central Dauphin East on Sept. 29 at Memorial Field.
It is not easy to figure out the Panthers.
They have two giant wins, over Reading, 55-6, and over Northeastern, 60-6. But there are also losses to Cedar Crest, 33-7, and Mid Penn rival Cumberland Valley, 31-24, on September 15.
On Sept. 22, CDE upended Altoona, in Altoona, 28-7, after scoring 15 unanswered points in the second half.
The win was the Pirates’ third of the season, against two losses, and it evened the team’s Mid Penn record at 1-1.
Last season, State College scored 42 points in the first half on the way to a 42-14 win at CDE.
It looks tougher this year, but State High is beginning to get it together in a big way behind Sheffey and Corkery.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Memorial Field.
Bald Eagle Area (5-0) at Bellefonte (0-5)
Friday, Sept. 29
Bald Eagle Area was most likely very aware of the close shave Penns Valley encountered on Sept. 15 in Philipsburg against the Mounties.
So, the Bald Eagles pounced on P-O early and didn’t allow the Mounties to build any confidence in what turned out to be a 42-20 LHAC win at home.
BEA scored the first 28 points, 14 in the first quarter and the first 14 in the second quarter, before P-O had a chance to breathe.
The Mounties did score a touchdown in the second quarter, but BEA came right back with 20 seconds left in the half and took a commanding 35-6 lead into the locker rooms.
In the second half, it was 42-6 at the end of the third quarter, and then P-O scored twice in the last seven minutes to finish the scoring.
Carson Nagle completed 18 of 25 passes for 325 yards and four touchdowns — all to Kahale Burns.
Burns, for his part, caught 11 passes for 205 yards and four touchdowns, an average of 19 yards per catch.
Now, Bald Eagle will take its 5-0 record on the road to archrival Bellefonte on Sept. 29 for the traditional Curtin Bowl Game.
Bellefonte is 0-5 so far, but the Raiders are improving each week, both on offense and defense, and just lost a 1-point heartbreaker to Penns Valley on Sept. 22.
Against the Rams, Bellefonte came back with a last-minute touchdown that brought it to within 20-19 with just seconds left.
But the time to play things safe is past for the Raiders, and they went for 2 points and the win. Unfortunately, Liam Halterman’s pass fell incomplete and the Rams took the game, 20-19, and their fourth win.
Bellefonte ran up 328 yards of offense — 150 passing by Halterman and 70 rushing — and 15 first downs, all of which represent big steps forward from their previous games.
Yet how that will fly against the balanced Eagles this week is one of the big question marks of the game.
There is also the tradition and the rivalry to consider, so BEA is likely planning to do what it did against P-O: Start fast and do not look back.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. in Bellefonte.
Bellwood-Antis (0-5) at Philipsburg-Osceola (1-4)
Friday, Sept. 29
Philipsburg-Osceola will return home on Sept. 29 to take on the Blue Devils from Bellwood-Antis after taking a 42-20 loss to undefeated Bald Eagle last week.
The Mounties have been able to move the ball and put points on the board, even in the two losses to old Mountain League foes in their last two games.
On paper, Bellwood-Antis looks like it will present an opportunity for the Mounties.
B-A is 0-5 with losses to Penns Valley, 33-12; Westmont-Hilltop, 14-6; Huntingdon, 41-16; Central, 41-20; and Tyrone, 34-0, last week.
Against Tyrone, the game was close early with the teams tied 0-0 after the first quarter.
But the Golden Eagles rallied for 20 points in the second quarter and then kept it up in the second half of a 34-0 win.
For the Mounties, with quarterback Zack Meyers, running backs Jakodi Jones and Sam McDonald and WR Lucas Peterson, the challenge will be to avoid mistakes and move the ball early in front of a homecoming crowd.
If they can, this could very well turn into LHAC win No. 2.
Kickoff is 7 p.m. at P-O.
Penn Valley (4-1) at Clearfield (4-1)
Friday, Sept. 29
The Penns Valley football team turned into a bit of an escape artist in the past two weeks.
First, the Rams turned a bad snap into the game-winning touchdown in Philipsburg on Sept. 22.
Then, last week, they stopped a last-second 2-point conversion try by Bellefonte to preserve a 20-19 win over the Raiders.
This week, at Clearfield, it would not hurt to have some of that good fortune continue.
The Bison are 4-1 with wins over Tyrone, P-O, Bellefonte and Huntingdon, with their only loss coming at Forest Hills on Sept. 1.
The Bison are led by senior quarterback Will Domico, running back Carter Chamberlain, and wide receiver Carter Freeland.
Domico has passed for more than 176 yards per game, and Clearfield also runs the ball for 209 yards per game.
That’s 385 yards of offense and over 31 points per game.
The Rams have the tools to keep up — they get 334 ypg — but they have been vulnerable down the stretch.
Still, this looks like it could go deep into the final 12 minutes, and the question is, of course, can the Rams do it again?
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at the Bison Sports Complex.
