All five Centre County High School football teams will be in action Friday, Aug. 24. If that seems unusually early, it is, yet here is the lineup, nonetheless:
■ Mifflin County (2-8) at State College (10-3)
State College, 7 p.m.
The State College Little Lions will open the season with local Mid Penn Conference rival Mifflin County on Friday night.
In 2017, the Huskies and Lions were at opposite ends of the spectrum in conference play. SC just lost out to Harrisburg for its third consecutive conference title, but the Lions again won the District 6 AAAAAA championship and went deep into the PIAA tournament.
Mifflin, on the other hand, had its troubles. The Huskies lost their first seven games in a row before breaking through with two wins over non-league West Perry and Big Spring.
Mifflin, however, does return its top quarterback in junior Jacob Krepps, two of its top four running backs and its second and third leading receivers.
Mifflin averaged 217 total yards per game, but the Huskies also gave up more than 40 points three times and recorded only 10 sacks and six interceptions.
SC lost its share of top performers, but, as usual, there are many coming back and loads of younger players waiting their turn. The Little Lions will be looking to duplicate last year’s 56-7 win.
■ Troy (3-7) at Bald Eagle Area (4-7, lost in D6 first round)
Wingate, 7 p.m.
Bald Eagle Area was a District 6 playoff team last season, and the Eagles would like nothing better than to return in 2018. And they have the players returning to accomplish it.
Their quest will begin on the 24th at home against Troy. BEA and the Trojans met in the opening game last season, with the Eagles prevailing 33-13, and Troy went on to lose four more games before finally breaking through with a win over Sayre. The Trojans did improve as the season progressed — they won three of their last five games — and ended in fifth place in the Northern Tier Conference.
This will be a good test to see if BEA’s new approaches and renewed emphasis on the running game will be successful.
■ Bellefonte (10-3, Mountain League D-6 championships) at Jersey Shore (7-4)
Jersey Shore, 7 p.m.
This game has not been settled until the final minute in each of the past two seasons. And there is no reason to believe this year’s game will be any different.
Bellefonte survived last year, 17-14, but Jersey Shore went on to a successful 7-4 season nonetheless.
The Bulldogs averaged 336 total yards per game last year and scored 36 touchdowns. However, senior quarterback Elijah Shemory, who threw for more than 1,500 yards and 20 touchdowns, graduated along with his top receiver, Hunter Franz.
Still, Jersey Shore will play an aggressive defense — the Dogs had 25 sacks and 12 interceptions last year — and will no doubt challenge a very young Raider offense.
Bellefonte, according to head coach Shannon Manning, will not be thinking about last year’s successes (10-3, league and district championships). It is a new year, he says, with new goals and challenges.
■ Penns Valley (3-7) at Fairfield (4-7) Fairfield, 7 p.m.
Penns Valley was 3-7 last year and will be out to prove that the Rams can play better than that record indicates.
To start off, PV will travel to unfamiliar Fairfield, Pa., to take on the Knights from the York-Adams Conference. Fairfield was 4-7 last season with wins over York County Tech, St. Joseph’s Academy, Biglerville and James Buchanan.
On offense, the Knights were difficult to stop and averaged more than 340 yards per game, with over 200 of that coming from the running game. Although senior quarterback Darian Mort graduated, top running back Charlie Burnett (959 yards, eight TDs) will return for his senior year. All three of the team’s top receivers return as well, and junior quarterback Zach Koons does have lots of game experience.
The Rams are also heavy with returning players with their quarterback, running back and top receiver all coming back.
Coach Martin Tobias is concerned about finding the upfront people to complement those players, but he said that he has no lack of candidates.
■ West Branch (4-6) at Philipsburg-Osceola (1-9)
Philipsburg, 7 p.m.
West Branch recovered nicely in 2017 from the opening night 32-14 loss to P-O. The Warriors went on to win four of their last nine games, including the final three in a row.
And West Branch will be looking for more in 2018. The Warriors return almost all of their skill people, including star running back Derek Yingling. Last season, Yingling ran for 1,495 yards, scored 19 touchdowns and went over the 100-plus yard mark six times.
In all, West Branch averaged over 230 yards running per game, but the total of just 79 through the air will need to be improved.
For P-O, the game last season proved to be its only win. The Mountain League schedule, coupled with some injuries, put a damper on an impressive start and the Mounties never recovered.
With a new coach taking over in Brian McGonigal, the Mounties will try to rebuild and improve on that 1-9 mark from 2017.
Quarterback Bubba Slogosky will return, which is a good place to begin, along with a ton of young players who the program hopes will help to turn things around.
Another win over the Warriors, McGonigal hopes, will get those efforts off to a good start.
