State College falls late to Altoona in PIAA District 6 Class 6A football championship
Friday night’s District 6 Class 6A championship game was rather unique for State College.
But with the COVID-19 pandemic, nothing is normal.
It was just the fourth game of the season for the Little Lions. They also just played a game on Monday, and were the home team on an away field.
Add that all together, and it seemed to be a little too much as State College fell to Altoona 22-21. The Mountain Lions became the first team besides State College to win the District 6 Class 6A title since the PIAA moved to six football classifications four years ago.
“It stinks. This year has been really hard,” Little Lions coach Matt Lintal said. “It’s been difficult. These seniors have overcome so much. There was so much thrown at them. They kept coming and gave everything they had. Credit to Altoona, they did a great job.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our kids. I love who they are as people. They are certainly winners in my eyes.”
Lintal’s squad was in prime position to claim its seventh straight District 6 title and 15th overall with a 21-7 lead over the Mountain Lions with 10:29 left in the game.
Altoona climbed to within 21-14 with 7:35 left thanks to the second rushing score from quarterback Marcus Day. The Little Lions took possession following the Mountain Lions’ scoring drive at their own 30 with 7:27 remaining.
Quarterback Conrad Moore had a 6-yard run to open the drive. Following a loss on the next play, Moore found Jashaun Green to keep the drive alive on third and nine. After another run that gained no yards, it setup the turning point in the game.
Moore dropped back to pass and targeted tight end Evan Peters. Peters seemed to get held up by an Altoona defender as Moore’s pass got intercepted by the Mountain Lions’ Aaron Carothers.
It was the second interception of the game for Carothers. His team responded like they did on his first pick by scoring a touchdown.
“We definitely challenged some people at the half,” Altoona coach Vince Nedimyer said. “Aaron was one of them and he came up pretty big.”
The Mountain Lions, much like they did all game long, put together a seven-play drive that chewed up nearly four minutes of the clock. They scored on Dry’s third rushing score of the game with 1:22 remaining.
Altoona lined up as if they were going to go for two instead of the tying kick. Lintal was forced to call a timeout.
“We were just making sure everybody knew what was on the line,” Lintal said. “We were trying to get everyone lined up and playing assignment football.”
Nedimyer’s squad runs the triple-option offense similar to Army and Navy. He said his squad lined up to “get a look.” He said that as his team got closer to scoring his coaching staff contemplated the idea regardless if it was right or not.
Well, it worked out as running back Kyle Pheasant took a reverse hand-off over the left side of the line for the two-point score. Altoona was up 22-21.
“They (State College) weren’t going to change a whole lot from what we lined up,” Nedimyer said. “We got the look we thought we were going to get, so we ran it and scored. The kids made a great run. We took a chance and it went well.”
The Little Lions still had some time left, a timeout in their pocket and a great kick return that set them up at the Mountain Lions’ 47 with 1:14 left in the game.
The second play of the drive saw Moore hit Jashaun Green to get to the Altoona 35-yard line. A short pass to Dresyn Green pushed State College to the 31-yard line with 40 seconds left in the game. The Mountain Lions called a timeout.
State College got to Altoona’s 25-yard line and was in good shape to possibly hit a game-winning field goal, but took one more shot to get closer with 33 seconds left.
Moore dropped back to pass to Sammy Knipe, who came in for the first time. Moore’s pass sailed over Knipe and into the Mountain Lions’ Jake Adams hands. It sealed the win for Altoona, which claimed its first district crown in 18 years.
With the loss, the Little Lions’ season may be over. However, Lintal won’t let that happen if he has a say in it.
“These kids deserve more. I’m going to do everything I can to advocate for all of them and make sure they play,” Lintal said. “I’m not ready to be done coaching them. I don’t think they are ready to be done wearing a State College jersey. I’m going to count on the leadership of the seniors and the captains to get these guys back up and knowing what they are playing for.”
District 6 Class 6A Championship
No. 2 Altoona 22, No. 1 State College 21
Friday at Altoona
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Altoona 0 0 7 15 -- 22
State College 0 7 6 8 -- 21
Second Quarter
SC--Nehemiah Howell 16 pass from Conrad Moore (Aiden Spitler kick), 1:09
Third Quarter
SC--Moore 1 run (kick blocked), 10:08
A--Marcus Day 3 run (Ian Palilla kick), :49
Fourth Quarter
SC--Dresyn Green 13 run (Howell pass from Moore), 10:29
A--Day 4 run (Palilla kick), 7:35
A--Day 1 run (Kyle Pheasant run), 1:22
TEAM STATISTICS A SC
First downs 18 17
Total yards 311 301
Rushes-yards 46-261 33-234
Yards passing 50 67
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 4-8-1 8-14-3
Punts-avg. 3-30 2-38
Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-0
Penalties-yards 8-60 5-37
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Altoona, Pheasant 8-32, Day 16-108, Ethan Stroup 20-113, Kyle Murray 1-3, Jake Adams 1-5. State College, D. Green 12-72, Moore 14-87, TJ Yoder 2-19, Howell 5-56.
PASSING--Altoona, Day 4-8-50-1. State College, Moore 8-14-67-3.
RECEIVING--Altoona, Manny Miller 1-18, Lamar Robinson 2-20, Murray 1-12. State College, D. Green 3-12, Jashaun Green 4-39, Howell 1-16.
Records: Altoona 3-2, State College 2-2
Next game: Altoona vs. Williamsport, PIAA Sub-Regional playoff, site and time TBA; State College vs. TBA
This story was originally published October 24, 2020 at 12:07 AM.
