Bellefonte football falls to Juniata in back-and-forth District 6 championship game

Both sides of Friday night’s District 6 Class 4A Championship between No. 2 seed Bellefonte and the top-seed Juniata seemed to have an answer for each other.

Each time one side scored a touchdown, the other responded, setting up a dramatic fourth quarter.

That was until Ben Wagner’s 23-yard field goal followed by a Zachary Harr interception shut down the Red Raiders as the Indians held on, 24-21, in a thriller at Mansion Park.

“We just couldn’t get ahead of the sticks on first down,” Bellefonte coach Shannon Manning said about the fourth quarter. “We weren’t winning first down which made second down a struggle for us. We had to stay in sequence, and we weren’t doing that the last two drives.”

The Red Raiders’ winning streak was snapped at three games.

Bellefonte’s offense built off of its defense in the first quarter, forcing an early turnover on downs as Chris Paloskey scored on a 14-yard run drive to open the scoring.

In the second quarter, Jacob Condo found Yaniel Ortiz on fourth down to tie the game at seven.

That was answered immediately as Jalen Emel on a 67-yard scamper took the lead right back for Bellefonte. He finished the night 216 yards on the ground on 25 attempts with two scores.

That was later answered by a 10-yard throw from Condo to Jace White and one of two interceptions from Harr to tie the game at 14 at the break.

“He’s a gamer,” Juniata coach Kurt Condo said of Harr. “He came onto the team a few weeks late, and he brought something special. He just loves football, he loves contact, and loves playing. I’m not surprised that he did that because he does it in practice all the time.”

The Red Raiders came out of the locker room on a 7-minute drive capped off by Emel’s second score, which was answered just over a minute later by Caleb Seeger on a 63-yard sprint.

Manning — whose Red Raiders are uncertain if they will return to playing regular-season games — is hopeful that the record won’t be what defines his team.

“These guys could’ve rolled over after Penns Valley, and they didn’t,” he said. “I’m really proud of them, and I know people often get measured on wins and losses.

“I hope this group, in particular this senior group, doesn’t get measured on wins and losses. They deserve more than that.”

District 6 Class 4A Championship

No. 1 Juniata 24, No 2. Bellefonte 21

Friday at Altoona’s Mansion Park

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Bellefonte 7 7 7 0 – 21

Juniata 0 14 7 3 – 24

First Quarter

B — Chris Paloesky 14 run (Hayden Walker kick), 5:28.

Second Quarter

J — Ortiz 17 pass from Condo (Ben Wagner kick), 9:08.B – Emel 63 run (Walker kick), 8:48.J – Jace White 10 pass from Condo (Wagner kick), :50.

Third Quarter

B — Emel 6 run (Walker kick), 4:41.J – Seeger 63 run (Wagner kick), 3:38.

Fourth Quarter

J — Wagner 23 field goal, 3:56.

TEAM STATISTICS B J

First Downs 15 13

Total Yards 352 274

Rushes-Yards 36-278 40-212

Yards Passing 74 62

Passing (Comp.-att.-int.) 6-14-2 6-16-0

Punts-avg 3-25.7 3-42.7

Fumbles-lost 3-0 0-0

Penalties-yards 2-17 3-35

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Bellefonte, Jacob Hummel 4-21, Emel 25-216, Paloskey 5-42, Rossman 1-5, Stephen Ivicic 1-(-6). Juniata, White 6-14, Condo 18-106, Seeger 6-73, Ortiz 7-22, TEAM 3-(-3).PASSING – Bellefonte Emel 6-14-2-74, Ethan Rossman 0-1-0-0. Juniata, Condo 6-16-0-62.

RECEIVING — Bellefonte Fitzgerald 1-14, Ivicic 4-46, Paloskey 1-14. Juniata, Ortiz 4-44, White 1-10, O’Donnell 1-8.Records: Bellefonte (3-4), Juniata (5-1).

Next Game: Juniata advances to the PIAA Class 4A First Round against the winner of Harbor Creek and Oil City. Bellefonte’s status is unknown.