CENTRE COUNTY — It was a 4-0 week for local LHAC football teams, while State College and Bishop McDevitt tangled in an epic showdown in Harrisburg.
With the end of the regular season, District 6 announced the first-round pairings for the 2025 playoff tournament, and three of our local teams — State College, Bald Eagle Area, and Bellefonte — qualified and will be in the tournament.
Here is a closer look at the end of the season and the playoff schedule.
No. 8 Bald Eagle Area (5-5) at No. 1 Bishop McCort (10-0)
D-6 AA First Round
Friday, Oct. 31, 7 p.m.
Sargent’s Stadium, Johnstown
The Bald Eagle Area football team’s defense threw a shutout, and quarterback Gradyn Fisher scored two first-half touchdowns as the Eagles controlled Central Cambria 21-0 on Friday night.
Playing at home in Wingate in the LHAC Crossover Game, BEA scored twice in the second quarter on Fisher runs — one of 1-yard and the other of 20-yards — and then added two field goals in the second half to take its fifth win in 10 games.
And in the process the Eagles qualify as the No. 8 seed in the D6 AA Tournament.
The Eagles held the Red Devils to just 20 yards rushing and 130 total as Fisher completed 7 passes for 62 yards and ran 29 times for 114 yards and both team’s touchdowns.
Fisher’s first score came on a 1-yard run two minutes into the second quarter, and then he ran for 19 yards for his second touchdown a minute before halftime.
The win set up a first-round game against undefeated Bishop McCort in Johnstown on Friday night.
McCort swept through the 2025 season with hardly a breath with its closest game being a 21-6 win at Bellwood-Antis in Week 2.
Since then, no team has gotten closer than 19 points (Richland, 31-12, in Week 4), and the Crushers scored over 50 points three times.
The team averages just short of 44 points per game and 400 yards per game, which includes 247 yards rushing.
The Crushers are led by quarterback Bentley Bainey, who throws for an average of 144 yards per game, and running back Joe Delia, who runs for 107.
Bald Eagle will enter the game as definite underdogs, but the Eagles can put up points and their run defense is solid.
The winner of the game will face either No. 4 Cambria Heights or No. 5 Marion Center.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. in Johnstown.
No. 3 Greater Johnstown (1-9) at No. 2 Bellefonte (4-6)
D-6 AAAA First Round
Friday, Oct. 31, 7 p.m.
Bellefonte
The Bellefonte Raiders will face a very familiar foe in the first round of the District 6 AAAA playoffs on Friday night — the Greater Johnstown Trojans — the team they beat last week in the Week 10 LHAC Crossover Game.
That’s right, the teams will play two weeks in a row after only three teams entered the AAAA Tournament and No. 1 seeded Juniata received a first-round bye.
In the game at Bellefonte last Friday night, the Raiders held on for a closer-than-it-looks, 31-19 victory over the Trojans.
The game was close all the way, and the Raiders were able to tough it out with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter — one on a 20-yard run by Alten Howell and the other on a 60-yard fumble return by Gavin DuFour.
Alten’s touchdown gave the Raiders a 24-13 lead with just over eight minutes to play, but Johnstown immediately struck back.
Trojan quarterback Daniel Porter connected with WR Cordell Porter for a 50-yard touchdown less than a minute later, and suddenly it was 24-19 with over seven minutes still to play.
Then after stopping Bellefonte, GJHS drove to the Raider 35-yard line with less than two minutes to play and was on the verge of a go-ahead touchdown.
But the Bellefonte defense came through with a sack on Daniel Porter, who fumbled when he was hit.
DuFour picked it up and raced 60 yards with what was the winning score in the game and the Raiders had their fourth win.
Now, it will happen all over again, a week later, and in the same place.
Despite the win, the game threw up some red flags for the Raiders.
Bellefonte was outgained 315 to 210 with the Porters running for 90 yards and Daniel throwing for 210 and two touchdowns.
Bellefonte did gain 208 yards on the ground, but it only had one pass completion for two yards, and two of the Raiders’ touchdowns were scored by the defense.
Johnstown will no doubt come back into Bellefonte confident in its ability to move the ball and trying to avoid last week’s mistakes.
For Bellefonte, look for another strong running attack by Ashton Howell, Alten Howell and Isaac Gall along with another aggressive night by the defense.
Should be a close one.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. in Bellefonte.
State College edged by Bishop McDevitt
D 6-8-10 AAAAAA
Regional Final is next
Playing for it all against heavyweight Bishop McDevitt in Harrisburg on Friday night, State College pulled to within two points, 22-20, of the Crusaders with 11 minutes still to play in the game.
Quarterback Connor Kulka threw a 40-yard strike to Hank Lustig, and suddenly the Little Lions were on the doorstep of perhaps their biggest night of the season.
McDevitt’s Jerome Larue Jr. returned the subsequent kickoff 95 yards for a crushing touchdown that proved to be the game winner in McDevitt’s 36-20 victory.
Larue would score again with two minutes left to set the final score, but he had already made his biggest statement with the kickoff return.
State College did lead in the game 14-9 at halftime after second-quarter touchdowns by D’Antae Sheffey and receiver AJ Fry.
McDowell came back with two scores in the third quarter to go ahead 22-14 and set up the dramatic final eight minutes of the game.
The loss left State College with an 8-2 final regular-season record and a third-place finish in the Mid-Penn Commonwealth Conference behind Harrisburg and McDevitt.
Being the only AAAAAA team to enter the District 6 tournament, the Lions are already the district champions.
They will next be in action in the Regional Finals against a team to be announced. That game will take place on Nov. 7, and the winner will advance to the PIAA Tournament.
Philipsburg-Osceola and Penns Valley earn LHAC crossover wins.
The Philipsburg-Osceola Mounties celebrated Senior Night at home on Friday with a 28-6 victory over Bedford in their final game of the 2025 season.
They also celebrated senior running back Colton Chapman reaching career yard No. 1,000 on a fourth-quarter run in the team’s fifth victory of the season.
Chapman finished the game with 157 yards on 31 carries while the team racked up a total of 234 yards and two touchdowns (by Robert McClenahan and Jayden Jones).
P-O led the game by just a touchdown at halftime, 7-0, but the Mounties scored twice in the third quarter to take a 21-6 lead.
They finished the scoring on a 25-yard pass from quarterback Archer Baughman to McClenahan with just under four minutes to play in the game.
The 5-5 record saw the Mounties finish just outside the top eight teams in the District 6, AA rankings, and the Bradford win ended their season.
In Spring Mills, Penns Valley quarterback Carter Ironside threw for three touchdowns — two of them to his brother Fletcher — as the Rams took their second win of the season in a 28-0 victory over Westmont-Hilltop.
Playing in the LHAC Crossover Game, the Rams scored three times in the second quarter and then added an insurance score in the third to take the shutout victory.
Carter Ironside finished with 160 passing yards, and he completed four passes in all to Fletcher for a total of 58 yards.
The win put the Rams final record at 2-8 for the season, but the team showed steady improvement as the year progressed, especially on offense.
They finished with two wins in their final three games and they averaged 26 ppg in those games.
