Here are 5 takeaways from Week 8 of Centre County high school football
Another week is in the books for high school football in Centre County.
Bald Eagle defeated Bellefonte in convincing fashion by a score of 48-0. Penns Valley also beat Everett by the same score. Philipsburg-Osceola lost 38-7 to Tyrone to drop to 2-6 on the year. State College narrowly lost to Carlisle, 21-14.
Let’s take a look at five takeaways from the eighth week of the 2021 high school football season in Centre County.
Bald Eagle Area adds another shutout and blowout to the ledger
Two touchdown passes for Carson Nagle. Two rushing touchdowns for Garrett Burns. A sack by Trey Greene. A punt return for a touchdown by Gavin Buckley. The Eagles only allowed 12 total yards on defense. Everything seemingly went their way once again in a 48-0 victory over Bellefonte, the team’s second consecutive blowout and shutout victory against a Mountain League opponent.
Despite another big win, Bald Eagle turns its view to Jersey Shore. The Bulldogs are one of the most highly-touted programs in central Pennsylvania and sit at 8-0 on the year, following a 42-21 victory over a 5-3 Danville team.
Bellefonte has another tough day at the office
The Raiders were stonewalled by the Eagles’ defense, being held to 12 total yards on offense. Despite Nolan Weaver running the ball strong in the first quarter, he was stopped when Bald Eagle began to load the box. The passing offense could never get going and the blocking was constantly beat by a Bald Eagle defense led by Trey Greene and Garrett Burns.
Bellefonte began to make adjustments in the final minutes of the game, moving to quarterback Dominic Capperella after starting Trevor Johnson at the position. Then, Cole Crissman, a 6-foot-8 receiver and tight end, entered the game. While their minutes weren’t in crunch time, the Raiders seemed to be more in sync. It also could be because of the backups they played against.
Penns Valley looks mightier than ever
Penns Valley trounced Everett by a score of 55-0 on Friday in a matchup between the ICC and Mountain League. The Rams are in the midst of a 4-4 year and they’ve found their identity. It’s one of toughness with its running game and hard-nosed defense. They clearly haven’t let last week’s 28-18 loss against Tyrone — a loss where they gave up two touchdowns in less than two minutes — get under their skin. That is more than enough to put them in a good position to make an end-of-season run against Philipsburg-Osceola and a currently 4-3 Glendale team.
Philipsburg-Osceola takes another loss on the year
Tyrone is a physical team. They also have a good deal of size. With those two things considered, it’s as tough as a matchup gets for any program. With Philipsburg-Osceola missing its best player in Matt Martin and having an offense that relies on blocking mismatches and misdirection, it needed every bit of trickery to beat a battle-tested Tyrone team. The Golden Eagles exerted their dominance over Philipsburg-Osceola the entire game and won 38-7.
State College shows fight despite being down at the half
Carlisle got off to a strong start against State College on Friday. Quarterback Mattthew Trollinger tossed a 73-yard pass to wide receiver Dylan Young for a touchdown with less than four minutes to go in the first quarter. Trollinger then threw a 48-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jeremiah Hargrove for the Little Lions to take a 14-0 deficit into the half.
While they were held scoreless in the third quarter, Little Lions running back Brady Bendik ran in a 10-yard rushing touchdown early in the fourth. With a little over a minute to go in the game, Jack Morris tossed a 21-yard pass to TJ Yoder for a touchdown and the extra point was good for a tie ball game. Then, Trollinger tossed a 40-yard pass to wide receiver Eli Hargrove for a touchdown for the 21-14 win. One mistake does not make the game and State College showed that it is a gritty team that will fight until the end.
This story was originally published October 16, 2021 at 4:01 PM.