CENTRE COUNTY — It’s Week 10 of the high school football season and all five Centre County teams have the 2026 playoffs in mind as they prepare for the final regular season games of the season.
Undefeated State College and Bellefonte are both presently ranked No. 1 in their brackets, but Bald Eagle Area, Philipsburg-Osceola and Penns Valley all have work to do this weekend against conference opponents.
Here is a look at what is happening:
GAME OF THE WEEK
Harrisburg (8-1) at State College (9-0)
This is not only the Gazette Game of the Week, but also one of the headline games in Pennsylvania happening this Friday night.
Mid-Penn arch-rivals Harrisburg and State College will tangle in State College at Memorial Stadium for the championship of the Mid-Penn Commonwealth Conference, and it is a contest between two of the highest ranked teams in the PIAA.
Until last weekend, both of these powers were undefeated, but Harrisburg ran into a red-hot Bishop McDevitt team and fell by the surprising score of 51-14.
McDevitt went ahead 28-7 at halftime and never let up in its eighth win of the season. The Crushers did it mostly through the air — they amassed 287 passing yards and two touchdowns — and complemented that with another 140 yards on the ground and five touchdowns.
And, just as surprising was the McDevitt defense’s ability to hold the Cougars to just two touchdowns, including none in the fourth quarter.
Nevertheless, Harrisburg is a dangerous team that now has extra motivation from its sub-par performance at McDevitt.
Before the McDevitt game, no one came within two touchdowns of the Cougars, and at one point in the season they beat CD East and Carlisle by a combined score of 131-0.
Senior quarterback Kayden Stephens has thrown for 1450 yards and 16 touchdowns, while leading rusher Princeton Dent has gained 929 yards and scored 19 touchdowns.
Jaiyon Lewis is the top receiver with 32 catches for 634 yards and 9 touchdowns.
State College will come into the game with a defense that has been almost unscathed in the team’s last six games, five of which were shutouts.
And the offense has been just as effective, scoring 48, 52 and 52 points in the last three games against Central Dauphin, Altoona and Carlisle.
Both teams are secure in their playoff positions, Harrisburg in D3 and State College in the D6-8-10 region, and both of these teams lost last year in the PIAA tournament to Pittsburgh Central Catholic.
SC lost in the quarterfinals and Harrisburg in the semi-finals. PCC lost in the state final to LaSalle College HS. LaSalle won the 6A title with a 34-20 win over PCC.
Both the Little Lions and Cougars seem primed to again go deep into this year’s tournament.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Memorial Field.
Philipsburg-Osceola (5-4) at Bedford (2-7)
In what is the LHAC East-West Weekend, P-O will travel to Bedford to take on the Bison with a D6 playoff spot on the line.
The Mounties got back into playoff contention last week with a thrilling 43-39 win over Tyrone, but the final pairings and rankings are yet to be announced.
In any case, Philipsburg has to come away here with a win.
Bedford has wins over Bishop McCort and Forest Hills, but otherwise the Bison have been winless and will enter Week 10 on a three-game losing streak.
Bedford gains over 220 yards of total offense per game and averages 13.1 ppg but only four ppg in the second half.
The Mounties score 27 ppg and gain over 228 yards rushing each outing. Damarcus Law and Aaron Davis carry the load running for P-O while Archer Baughman leads the team at quarterback and Connor Guenot is the top receiver.
The Mounties are presently ranked No. 5 in the D6-AAA bracket, just behind Penn Cambria. Penn Cambria will face Central Martinsburg on Friday.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. in Bedford.
Bald Eagle Area (4-5) and Penns Valley (3-6)
Both the BEA Eagles and the Penns Valley Rams are in contention for playoff spots in the District 6-AA Tournament.
BEA, at 4-5, is presently seeded No. 6 in the rankings (eight teams will qualify) and will take on 2-7 Forest Hills on Friday night in the LHAC East-West weekend.
Forest Hills has a 2-7 record with wins over Westmont-Hilltop in Week 1 and over Chestnut Ridge 26-20, on September 18. Otherwise, the team has lost six games in a row, including losses to Guilfoyle, McCort and Bedford. The Rangers lost earlier in the season at Bellefonte, 28-21.
Forest Hills averages 14 points per game and gains 198 yards of total offense, including 144 on the ground.
BEA, coming off a close loss to Central at home, needs a win here to stay clear of No. 7 Southern Huntingdon and No. 8 Penns Valley.
At No. 6, BEA would possibly travel to No. 3 Bellwood-Antis for the first-round playoff game.
As for Penns Valley, 3-6 and No. 8 in the rankings, the rapidly improving Rams will take on 1-8 Somerset in LHAC East-West Weekend in need of a victory.
PV took apart Huntingdon last week and are moving the ball and scoring points almost at will. Spencer Althouse scored three touchdowns in the Huntingdon game and he has come into top form in the latter parts of this season.
Somerset has only one win this season, over Bedford, 14-7, but the team can score points. Somerset has been held to single-digits just once in 2026 and scored four touchdowns against Bishop McCort.
This is a game PV has to win, and, despite the records, will have to be in top form.
As it stands now, the Rams would take on No. 1 seed Richland in the first round in Richland.
Bellefonte (5-4) at Bishop McCort (6-3)
Note: This game is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 29 at McCort.
The Bellefonte Raiders are seeded No. 1 in the D6-AAAA rankings, safely ahead of No. 2 Forest Hills.
This week, in LHAC East-West Weekend, the Raiders will try to improve on their 5-4 record with a challenging trip to matchup with Bishop McCort on Thursday in Johnstown.
McCort will come into the game with a 6-3 record and on a five-game winning streak.
The Crushers average over 32 points and over 360 yards of total offense per game. They run for 215 and throw for 144, and they are a very dangerous first-half team that scored over 24 points before halftime.
Bellefonte had a down week last week against Bellwood-Antis and will need to rebound against the Crushers.
The potential is there — the Raiders beat undefeated Richland the week before — and they will have to ramp up their offense to stay with McCort, especially in Johnstown.
It is unclear what awaits the Raiders in the playoffs but win or lose against McCort they will still keep their No. 1 seed.
