Here’s what to expect from Centre County’s Mountain League teams this football season
High school football in Centre County will kick off Friday night for the first time this fall. All four Mountain League teams in the county — Bald Eagle Area, Bellefonte, Penns Valley and Philipsburg-Osceola — will play this Friday. Let’s take a look at how each team is shaping up heading into the season.
Bald Eagle Area Eagles
Last year’s record: 11-4
Player to watch: TE/LB Kyler Cunningham
Key losses: WR/DB Kaden Bittinger, QB Jaden Jones RB/DB Gage McClenahan, WR/CB Matthew Reese
Overview: Bald Eagle Area will have to reload this year after a run to the state semifinals last season. The 2020 graduating class featured talent across the board on both sides of the ball, and its production will need to be replaced effectively if the Eagles want to find success this year.
Cunningham and fellow senior Tyler Bumbarger will be tasked with replacing the off-field leadership, while there will be a litany of players lining up to replace the on-field production. But for the Eagles, that’s not an easy task.
“I don’t think you can replace them,” Bald Eagle Area head coach Jesse Nagle said. “Those guys are pretty special kids. Leadership wise, Tyler and Kyler are guys we’re going to rely heavily on.”
The previous class didn’t leave the cupboard barren for Nagle. The Bald Eagle head coach said the example they set on and off the field has prepared this year’s team to take on the tall task of replacing them.
“One thing we’ve seen in camp is that those guys left an impression on the current guys,” Nagle said. “They really influenced these kids now that have played over 30 games with them over the last few years. They know the expectations. They know what it takes. They saw it for so long in the other guys in front of them last year.”
Despite the departures of Bittinger, Jones, McClenahan, Reese and a litany of other players, the Eagles still have their eye on winning another district championship. But Nagle is hopeful for something much more simple this fall.
“Hopefully we play a full schedule,” he said. “Right now we’re just hoping to get as many games in as possible.”
Bellefonte Red Raiders
Last year’s record: 9-3
Player to watch: QB/LB Ethan Rossman
Key losses: RB/LB C.J. Funk, WR/DB Trae Bauman, WR/DB Mason Grey
Overview: Bellefonte is set for another high-level season this year, but will have to reach their potential while replacing one of the best athletes in school history. Funk left the Red Raiders as the school’s all-time leading rusher and a force on the football field who racked up 1,488 yards as a senior.
Bellefonte head coach Shanon Manning said replacing him would be a fruitless effort.
“We’ve never even tried to replace him,” he said. “We know we’re dealing with a totally new situation at running back.”
Instead, Bellefonte will rely — in part — on Rossman to mitigate the loss of Funk. The senior quarterback is going into his second year as the starter and his coach said he has taken a step forward on and off the field.
He threw for 993 yards and 12 touchdowns on 66-of-140 passing as a junior and ran the ball 98 times for 680 yards and five touchdowns. He’s a dual-threat at the position but a step forward as a passer could do wonders for the Bellefonte offense.
“We’re fortunate to have some experience at the quarterback position,” Manning said. “We’re going to have to rely on Ethan. Not just running the ball, but throwing the ball more efficiently than we have the last couple years. That’s where some of our yardage discrepancies are going to have to be picked up.”
The senior quarterback could be joined in the backfield by sophomore running back Jamal Saunders, who’s a candidate to help fill the void left by Funk. Saunders played in five games last year, carrying the ball 22 times for 181 yards.
The sophomore may be inexperienced, but Manning isn’t treating him any differently than other contributors.
“Whatever his conditioning and his execution will allow him to be on the field, he’ll be on the field,” Manning said. “If it’s where it needs to be, then he’ll be in there whenever he can be in there. There’s a conditioning factor that goes into it with younger kids and there’s a knowledge piece. When that is where it needs to be, regardless of whether he’s in 10th, 11th or 12th grade, he’ll be on the field.”
His ability to acclimate could raise Bellefonte’s ceiling this season. He and Rossman will be the primary options for the team’s run-heavy spread offense that has excelled in recent years while also leading the team’s defense from the linebacker position.
Penns Valley Rams
Last year’s record: 10-2
Player to watch: QB/LB Aidan Brinker
Key losses: QB Aaron Tobias, TE/LB Logan Snyder, WR/LB Austin Fisher
Overview: The Rams are replacing one of the best duos in school history — after Tobias and Snyder graduated in the spring — and one of the most successful teams in school history. The two set numerous records, including Tobias’ state record 54 passing touchdowns last season, with 12 going to Snyder, and led the Rams to the school’s first Mountain League title.
Brinker will take Tobias’ place as the team’s quarterback and will present a different skill set than his predecessor. He’s a linebacker on defense and that translates to the way he plays quarterback. Brinker is big and physical with the arm strength to drive the ball downfield.
Penns Valley head coach Marty Tobias believes Brinker is the right man to replace Aaron at quarterback.
“I expect him to be a leader both on and off the field,” he said. “Honestly, we’re very fortunate to have Aidan Brinker being able to step in and take the reins, and be our trigger man this year.”
While the player taking snaps will be different, the offense will remain the same as last year. The Rams excel at spreading the field with a pass-heavy attack that takes plenty of shots downfield. Brinker will have the weapons at his disposal to succeed in the offense.
Gage and Stephen Ripka are both playmakers on the outside and have the speed and open-field skill to break off big plays for the Rams. Both have the requisite talent to raise the team’s play to another level, but the Rams’ head coach said the offense won’t be entirely dependent on any single weapon to succeed.
“I think we’re looking at building a team that we’re not focusing on any one player or any group of players,” Tobias said. “We’ve got to build a team that complements each other and provides us with the best opportunity to win on any given night.”
And while expectations are high and there’s plenty of talent still on the Penns Valley roster, Tobias doesn’t see any pressure being added to his player to reach the same heights they did last year.
“It’s a new year,” he said. “A new year with new players. You’ve got to find what works each group each year.”
Philipsburg-Osceola Mountaineers
Last year’s record: 1-9
Player to watch: QB Ryan Whitehead
Key losses: WR Chase Chapman
Overview: Philipsburg-Osceola will have a familiar face roaming the sidelines this fall, and he hopes to reinvigorate the football team.
Jeff Vroman will be leading the Mountaineers this season, but he won’t be bringing his old offense with him. The new head coach, who also coached the school’s football team and vacated the position after the 2013 season, formerly ran a run-heavy Wing-T offense that featured three backs in the backfield. Now, Vroman said he’s made some adjustments.
“We’ll be multiple,” he said. “It’s better than trying to put a square peg in a round hole. I’m trying to use the kids’ abilities and put them in the best position, instead of trying to make them fit the offense.”
The team’s leader will be Whitehead, a senior quarterback who Vroman wants to show he can be a coach on the field, in a sense. He wants the quarterback to make sure his teammates are in a position to succeed on offense before the snap and to make the right reads after the snap.
“I know it’s been a huge change for him, as far as the offensive system, along with every other kid on the team,” Vroman said. “That’s something that I’ve really been happy about, is their transition to what we do. But for him, being able to use his athletic ability to put pressure on defenses on every play, that’s what I want from him.”
While the transition to a new offense has been a big change for P-O, it hasn’t stopped kids from coming out to play. Vroman compared the numbers to where they were when he last coached at the school, with all of its ninth graders on the junior high team and around 30 kids on the varsity team.
After the team failed to win more than a single game in a season since Vroman left the first time, the head coach’s biggest goal is to help those kids, at all levels, learn what it’s like to compete again.
“My expectations are to compete,” he said. “These kids need to learn to compete again. Play hard, set goals, whether it be individual goals or team goals. That’s something that I don’t know that’s been here. I haven’t witnessed it. I haven’t seen anything that’s shown me that that’s what’s been here.”
