CENTRE COUNTY — All five Centre County high school football teams were on the field on Friday night with two of the teams — Bald Eagle Area and State College — finding success in their opening games.
Bellefonte, Penns Valley and Philipsburg-Osceola, however, came up short in their first outings, as all three fell to top-tier LHAC teams.
Here is a closer look at Friday’s action:
State College 35, Central York 28
The State College Little Lions’ running back Rowan Walker ran 31 times for 183 yards and three touchdowns as State College held on for a 35-28 victory at always tough Central York on Friday night.
The Lions took a 35-21 lead with just under four minutes left in the fourth quarter on a 10-yard touchdown run by Walker, but Central York came right back with a long touchdown pass to climb back into contention.
After taking the kickoff, the Lions were able to run the clock, punted the ball away and the time ran out as Central York was mounting what could have been the winning drive.
State College took an early 14-0 lead after a five-yard touchdown pass from Connor Kulka to Keen Furmanek early in the second quarter.
Central York responded with a six-yard run by Legend Johnson that made it 14-7 at halftime.
In the third quarter, SC’s Ka’Ven Smith Kirk made it 21-7 with a two-yard run, but the Panthers immediately responded with a 42-yard touchdown reception by Demarcus Murray.
State College drove after the kickoff and again went ahead by 14 points on a 14-yard run by Walker, but in this game, no lead was safe.
With 30 seconds left in the quarter, York quarterback Jamin Ilgenfritz ran one in from 24 yards out, making the score 28-21 and setting up the fourth-quarter dramatics.
In the game, SC ran up 500 yards of offense — 132 in the air and 368 on the ground — with Walker, Kulka and Smith-Kirk combining to run for a total of 306 yards.
Kulka was 12-23 passing for 132 yards and a touchdown and he also ran for 66 yards.
The win for SC over the Panthers, who went deep into the PIAA Tournament in 2025, was impressive and set up a Week 2 Mid-Penn matchup at home against Chambersburg.
Bald Eagle Area 35, Huntingdon 27
Led by Sam Clark’s 188 yards rushing and two touchdowns, Bald Eagle Area held off Huntingdon 35-27 on Friday Night at Huntingdon’s War Vets Field.
The Eagles held a slim 28-27 lead late in the fourth quarter when the defense caused a Bearcat fumble deep in BEA territory that ignited a long Eagle drive.
Covering 78 yards on 10 plays, BEA drove for the winning touchdown that Xavier Nagle scored with just 1:30 left on the clock.
Before Nagle’s clincher, the game was close all night.
After Huntingdon scored late in the second quarter, the teams went into the locker rooms tied at 21-21.
Huntingdon took the lead in the third quarter on a 40-yard run, but BEA quarterback Chase Cane completed a seven-yard scoring pass to Drew Nagle that restored BEA’s lead, 28-27.
And after 10 minutes in a scoreless fourth quarter, sophomore Xavier Nagle’s run wrapped up the win for BEA.
After Clark’s 188 yards, Xavier Nagle added 36 yards to the team’s total of 273 rushing yards, and with another 90 yards through the air, BEA ended with 363 total yards on the night.
Cane with 8-for-9 for 73 yards and the touchdown to Drew Nagle.
The win avenged the 14-6 loss to the Bearcats in 2025 for BEA and set up a very interesting matchup in Week 2 at home with 1-0 LHAC foe (and perennial contender) Penn Cambria.
Tyrone 14, Bellefonte 7
This game looked like it would be a wide-open affair after Tyrone’s Colton Frye took the opening kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown and an early 6-0 Golden Eagle lead.
That did not happen.
In fact, there were only two more scores all night.
The next one was a Bellefonte first-quarter touchdown after a long drive on a pass from quarterback Alten Howell to sophomore receiver Parker Jodon that put the Raiders ahead 7-6.
That is where the score stood until three minutes remained in the fourth quarter. At that point, with the Eagles back against the wall, Tyrone quarterback Ben Walk found receiver Mason Emigh open in the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown.
And a two-point conversion made it 14-7.
Bellefonte, now with just one more chance, found the Tyrone defense just as tough and failed to advance the ball and the game ended with the Eagles running out the clock.
Bellefonte was able to move the ball with the Howells — Ashten and Alten — running for a total of 76 yards and sophomore Bentlee Hall going for 75 yards.
Alten Howell was 7-for-11 passing for 116 yards and the touchdown to Jodon.
The loss put Bellefonte at 0-1 with 1-0 LHAC opponent Forest Hills coming up in Bellefonte on Friday night.
Central Martinsburg 43, Philipsburg-Osceola 20
Philipsburg-Osceola running back Demarcus Law took the opening kickoff at Central on Friday night on an electrifying 75-yard sprint into the end zone.
It was an amazing start to the season for the Mounties, but unfortunately it did not last.
Central came back to take the lead later in the quarter, 8-6, and then the Dragons piled it on with 28 unanswered points in the second quarter.
That left the Mounties behind, 36-6, heading into the locker rooms.
To their credit, however, the Mounties kept playing and finally finished with two more touchdowns and another 140 yards of offense.
P-O scored on a two-yard run by Aaron Davis in the third quarter and then on a seven-yard run by Kellan Cope in the fourth quarter.
Davis finished leading the Mounties with 55 yards, while quarterback Archer Baughman completed 5-of-13 passes for 49 yards.
But it was the Dragon defense that took center stage in holding the Mounties without an offensive score for almost three quarters.
Next up for P-O will be a home game against 1-0 Chestnut Ridge in another LHAC game.
Bishop Guilfoyle 46, Penns Valley 14
In what was the third opening-kickoff touchdown of the week, Bishop Guilfoyle got a jumpstart against Penns Valley on a 70-yard return by Keegan Hewitt that started a dominant 39-point first half.
After Hewitt’s run, Guilfoyle scored twice more in the first quarter and then added another three touchdowns in the second quarter for a total of 39 points.
The PV Rams did get a touchdown on a 75-yard bomb from quarterback Cael Smith to Spencer Althouse with 3:48 remaining in the first half.
The Rams got their second score on a one-yard run by Smith late in the fourth quarter.
The Rams were not without offense as they totaled 207 yards in the game on 105 passing yards by Smith and 102 yards on the ground.
Smith led the running game as well with 90 yards on 12 attempts and a touchdown.
Althouse led the receivers with 71 yards on two catches.
Penns Valley will return home on Friday night to take on 0-1 Central Cambria in an LHAC contest.
