Filling the void: Mazzara, Kenney guide Little Lions

Gordon Brunskill

STATE COLLEGE — It’s not like Matt Mazzara wasn’t already pretty experienced at quarterback this year.

CDT photos/Christopher Weddle

State College’s Alex Kenney (21) rushed for 70 yards and two touchdowns, while returning one of his three interceptions on defense for a third score to help the Little Lions to a 36-7 win over rival Altoona on Friday.

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The plan against Altoona, however, was to share time between the senior and Dom Mills at signal-caller.

Those plans went out the window Friday afternoon when Mills left school with a 102-degree fever.

“I’ve done this before, I’ve had to step in before,” Mazzara said. “It didn’t affect me at all. I knew what I had to do.”

What he did was guide the State College offense to three scores while the defense backed it up with two more touchdowns in Friday’s 36-7 victory over the Mountain Lions at Memorial Field.

Mazzara hardly needed to throw the ball on a rainy, chilly Homecoming night, but he guided the Little Lion option game well with 10 carries for 67 yards with a touchdown.

“Matt Mazzara came in and did what he needed to do,” State College coach Al Wolski said. “Mills was back and probably going to get a little more playing time, our plans were to get a little more playing time with Mills, and he comes out and Matt is there ready to do a great job and ran the team.”

Alex Kenney led the ground game with nine rushes for 70 yards and two scores, but he was huge on the other side of the ball with a career-high three interceptions, returning one to the end zone in the final game for at least two seasons between the Interstate-99 rivals.

“Although this is the last time we get to play them,” Kenney said, “I’m glad we won the last game.”

State College played efficient all night, never punting and only turning the ball over once while racking up 255 yards on the ground.

It was evident right from the opening drive how the Little Lions (7-1, 3-1 Mid-Penn Commonwealth) would handle the Mountain Lions (2-6, 2-2), trudging through a 13-play, 68-yard march in 5:46, capped by Mazzara, who escaped two Altoona tacklers in the backfield before sprinting to the end zone.

Mazzara also salvaged the ensuing PAT attempt when a low snap forced him to improvise, racing to the right and bowling over a defender at the goal line for a two-point conversion.

A three-and-out drive and 16-yard shanked punt set the stage for a much quicker second State College drive, which lasted just four plays before Kenney took a direct snap, bounced to the outside and zipped untouched across the goal line.

Then it was the defense’s turn when Altoona quarterback Nate Beck’s lateral fell to the turf. The Mountain Lions thought it was an incomplete pass, as did Colby Way at first, but the State College senior defensive end picked up the ball and returned it 56 yards for a score.

“I thought it was a forward pass so I thought the play was dead,” said Way, who was about to try to hand the ball to the referee. “When I picked it up, the ref was just running away from me so I just took off. It was the weirdest play I’ve ever been in, by far.”

Kenney, who picked off a Beck pass deep in the State College end in the final seconds of the first half, intercepted his second pass 90 seconds into the third quarter, leaping high to snare the ball and returning it 52 yards for six points.

“The coaches tell us, ‘We’ve got to convert interceptions into touchdowns,’ and that’s what happened today,” said Kenney, who had a 75-yard interception return for a score last year against the Mountain Lions.

“Our offense will always score points,” Way said. “So when the defense plays like that, we’re not going to lose a game.”

Another solid eight-minute, 92-yard drive capped the game for State College — the team’s only possession of the second half aside from a kneel-down on the final play — with Kenney taking a pitch and racing in from the 4-yard line.

Kenney set up the score with his third pick-off on the Little Lion 1.

Altoona spoiled the shutout bid when backup quarterback Ethan Wilt connected with Nate Clancy on a six-yard score with 1:02 left.

Now that the battle with their rivals is finally out of the way, the Little Lions can concentrate on the biggest game on their schedule — next Friday’s contest against Bishop McDevitt, the top-ranked Class AAAA team in the state.

“We’ve got to start getting ready for McDevitt,” said Mazzara, who completed 2 of 4 passes for 21 yards with an interception. “I was thinking before this, ‘When the clock hits zero against Altoona, I’m thinking about McDevitt.’ It’s going to be fun. I can’t wait.”

Notes:Jamal Albro added 51 yards on nine rushes for State College. ... Julian Howsare led Altoona with 17 carries for 59 yards and DeRon Lee had 49 yards on nine attempts. ... Beck completed 6 of 13 passes for 73 yards. ... The game will be shown on WHVL (Comcast digital channel 235) at 6 p.m. Wednesday.