Looking back on this week’s football games ... from 10, 20, 30 years ago

Each week, the CDT sports staff will flash back to some of the biggest high school football storylines from 10, 20 and even 30 years ago.

In this week’s edition, standout defensive efforts and big-name players highlight the past. Take a look:

10 years ago (Sept. 21, 2007)

Penns Valley’s defense couldn’t have played much better.

The Rams held Lewistown to minus-2 yards of rushing as they cruised to a 24-6 victory. In the first half, Lewistown managed just 36 total offensive yards.

“The defense played pretty well,” Penns Valley coach Martin Tobias told the Centre Daily Times. “They don’t get enough credit for all they do. We’ve put them in some tough spots because we haven’t score a lot of points. Tonight it was important to get some points.”

Rams senior running back Taylor Wingard managed more yardage than the entire Lewistown team. He had 105 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries.

“Penns Valley has a very good defense,” Lewistown coach Allen Muir said. “They take a lot of pride in what they do defensively. They’re tough, hard-nosed football players.”

In one of the other more-important matchups, Philipsburg-Osceola pounced on Clarion-Limestone by a 49-22 score to remain undefeated at 4-0 on the season.

The Mounties parlayed a pair of early turnovers into touchdowns and never looked back. J.D. Mason’s interception and Jarrett Lancaste’s fumble recovery provided the spark that P-O needed.

In other games, State College fell to Altoona 24-17 after the Little Lions lost four fumbles. Bellefonte cruised past Huntingdon 31-14 despite trailing early by two touchdowns. And Tyrone’s defense suffocated Bald Eagle Area 28-6, as the Eagles didn’t get a first down for nearly three quarters.

20 years ago (Sept. 19, 1997)

Lock Haven attempted to load up the box with nine defenders to stop State College’s Larry Johnson.

It didn’t work.

Although Little Lions coach Dave Lintal often used Johnson as a decoy in this Friday night matchup, Johnson still finished with 144 yards on 22 carries. In the third quarter, he broke a 50-yard rushing TD to make it a three-score game.

“It’s real frustrating,” Johnson told the Centre Daily Times of facing a stacked line of scrimmage. “But you have to fight through it. If they key on me, they won’t know when they get the pass and it’ll open up things for us.”

State College finished with 52 carries for 287 rushing yards.

“I think whenever you give the ball to Larry Johnson there is the opportunity for something big to happen,” Lintal said. “But we don’t want to be a one-man show.”

In other games, Huntingdon beat Philipsburg-Osceola 28-14. Jon Condo had 22 carries for 76 yards and two scores, but committed a costly second-half fumble. PIAA Class 2A runner-up Tyrone also beat Bellefonte 24-6 when Tyrone QB Matt Sharer completed nine passes for 234 yards and three TDs.

Penns Valley blew out Mount Union 61-8 after Jason Creeger rushed for 131 yards and three scores on 16 carries. He also caught a 19-yard TD pass from quarterback Dave Royer in the opening quarter.

“The nice thing about tonight was the fact that we got lots of the younger kids in the game. We started putting the second string and the JVs in the game midway through the third quarter,” Rams coach Martin Tobias said. “I never expected anything like this.”

30 years ago (Sept. 25, 1987)

Another week, another dominating performance by Philipsburg-Osceola.

The Mounties’ Scott Hoover — a 6-foot-1, 205-pound running back nicknamed “The Diesel” — carried the ball 16 times for 135 yards and two scores in his team’s 26-6 win over Huntingdon. The victory put P-O at 4-0 on the season.

“One of the things we’ve done is try to involve Scott in the offense more,” P-O coach Jack Bailey told the Centre Daily Times. “Number one, he’s worked on his quickness. Number two, we wanted to utilize his size. We nicknamed him after John Riggins.”

The Mounties defense remained on point. At halftime, they surrendered just 49 yards and a single first down.

In other games, State College got its first win of the season in a 22-15 tilt against Lock Haven when senior Bobby Porter intercepted two passes. And Bald Eagle Area dismantled Chief Logan 22-8 after taking advantage by throwing against a loaded box — and then running when the linebackers eventually dropped back into coverage.

In one of the more-exciting contests, Penns Valley outlasted Mount Union 19-12 after the Rams’ Fred Ironside stepped in front of a Troy Park pass at the 36-yard line and returned it for a touchdown to break the 12-12 third-quarter tie. The Mount Union Trojans were previously undefeated.

“I think Mount Union is a very good football team,” Penns Valley coach Mike Flickinger said. “I thought we were also a good football team, but we hadn’t reached our potential yet.”

Bellefonte was the lone local team to lose Friday night, and it couldn’t have been any closer in a 7-6 loss to Tyrone. The Red Raiders blocked a punt with about four minutes left and scored a touchdown — but decided to go for two and the win.

Bellefonte coach John Wetzler called a halfback pass, and the runner was stuffed in the backfield.

“We made the decision before the season,” Wetzler said. “We decided that if it came down to playing for the tie or the win, we were going for the win.”

The Red Raiders had another opportunity to win after that. In the closing seconds of regulation, Bellefonte missed the game-winning 23-yard field goal. Tyrone had too many men on the field and Bellefonte got another chance at the attempt — but the kicker shanked the try from 21 yards out.

This story was originally published September 20, 2017 at 11:26 PM with the headline "Looking back on this week’s football games ... from 10, 20, 30 years ago."