Here are 5 takeaways from Week 1 of Centre County high school football
Football is back.
State College netted the largest victory of the weekend with a 51-6 victory over Mifflin County and Bald Eagle Area had a 20-0 shutout victory over Troy. Penns Valley and Bellefonte took big losses in two tough matchups against a couple of central Pennsylvania’s toughest foes, while Philipsburg-Osceola dropped a heartbreaking 28-21 loss in overtime.
Let’s take a look at five takeaways from the beginning of the 2021 high school football season in Centre County.
Penns Valley has the will to play
Penns Valley’s 2021 season got off to a rough start when its Week 1 opponent — Mercyhurst Prep — had to cancel due to positive COVID-19 tests. But after all the buildup and anticipation of starting a new season, the Rams still wanted to play.
Penns Valley was able to find a new opponent late Thursday afternoon — the Richland Rams. Richland, winner of the past three Class 2A District 6 championships and state quarterfinalists last season, wasn’t the most ideal Week 1 opponent for a young Penns Valley team that’s replacing 10 starters on each side of the ball since last season.
But, for Penns Valley, that was better than the alternative of not playing at all.
While Penns Valley dropped the contest 54-14, just playing that game showed the desire and passion that the young team has to play football. When facing circumstances beyond one’s control, such as a pandemic, that element is key to putting together a successful season.
State College has 5 starting-level quarterbacks
If one watched the Little Lions’ 51-6 performance against Mifflin County, they were treated to a show. That show was all five of State College’s healthy quarterbacks receiving snaps and excelling at the position.
From Finn Furmanek, who had two touchdowns — one passing, one rushing — to Owen Yerka’s 56-yard touchdown rush, to Jack Morris, Ian Brandt and Tommy Egerer taking meaningful snaps and manning the offense, State College has most likely the best problem on its hands.
Bellefonte’s coaching staff is still ironing things out
No one should hit the panic button over Bellefonte losing 55-0 to one of the state’s top programs in Jersey Shore. Bellefonte has a good bit of talent and a number of young players.
It’ll take time to work out the kinks, especially when a new offense and defense is being installed, along with a brand new philosophy from head coach Vaughn Donmoyer. It takes a ton of time to build things and those building blocks are already in place with the Raiders.
Philipsburg-Osceola’s turnovers let the game get away from them
Despite falling 28-21, P-O showed its talent by generating a 21-0 lead against West Branch, but the Mounties cannot allow a team to come back from a 21-point deficit if they want to find success this season.
Matt Martin, Andrew Faust and the rest of the offense were keeping the ball on the ground with a Wing-T offense, that’s normally confusing to stop. But turnovers killed the momentum. The Mounties had three near consecutive fumbles near the end of the game that allowed the Warriors to tie things up.
They will have a chance to redeem themselves Friday against Bellefonte.
Bald Eagle Area’s defense is the real deal
Cornerback Max Yetsko had a 60-yard return for a touchdown and it was the tone-setter for Bald Eagle’s defense for the season. The Eagles had two interceptions on the night with Chase Thompson grabbing the other and shut down Troy by a score of 20-0.
It’s hard to stop a team that has a ton of defensive weapons. If Friday’s game was a measuring stick for their success this season, it seems like they’ll be a hard team to get in a dogfight with.
Bonus: It’s great to have football back in Centre County and beyond
High school football is fun to watch. It always has been, always will be. Even more fun is high school football in Centre County, a place that is football crazy each weekend during the fall. Catch a game if you can because there’s a lot of talent to watch throughout the area.