What was the best moment in Centre County high school sports in 2021? Vote here

As the year in high school sports comes to a close in Centre County, it’s time to look back at the accomplishments of local athletes and teams. There were plenty of moments to choose from, between state champions, records set and medals earned.

The Centre Daily Times has narrowed down the year’s top high school sports moments and achievements to a list of 10 for readers to vote on until the poll closes at noon Dec. 31. Visit CentreDaily.com or email cdtscores@centredaily.com to cast your vote.

The following moments stood out in 2021 and are some of the best in the year that was in high school athletics.

Bellefonte wrestling goes undefeated, makes Class 3A state dual quarterfinals

Bellefonte wrestling put together a remarkable season, despite the challenges and changes presented by COVID-19. The Raiders finished the regular season undefeated, claimed a Big 7 tournament title, repeated as PIAA Northwest Regional champs, and earned their first District 6 team dual crown since 2007.

Bellefonte, led by PIAA medalists Jude Swisher, Ethan Richner and Ethan Rossman, cruised to a 13-win shortened regular season. Highlighting regular season dual meet action were 100th career wins for Rossman and Richner. Richner’s came by pin against Philipsburg-Osceola and Rossman’s came by pin against South Williamsport.

The Raiders had four champions in Swisher, Richner, Rossman and Addison Shawley to edge State College 187.5 to 184 and win the Big 7 Tournament in Altoona in January. They had three champions in Lane Aikey, Swisher and Richner to repeat as Class 3A Northwest Regional champs in February out of a field of 21 teams.

After the PIAA individual championships, Bellefonte defeated Central Mountain 31-28 in the District 6 Class 3A team dual semifinals, then beat State College, 31-30 — thanks to Shawley’s 5-2 win at heavyweight — to win its first district dual championship in 14 years.

The Raiders’ season ended the following week with a 33-32 heart-breaker loss to Williamsport in the PIAA Class 3A team quarterfinals.

Penns Valley wrestling’s Malachi DuVall takes silver at PIAAs at 172 pounds

DuVall won his third straight PIAA medal in March and came up just short of becoming Penns Valley’s first state champion since 1963.

The Penns Valley senior capped off a 16-4 season with a second-place finish at 172 pounds in Class 2A, all while wrestling through the state tournament with a knee injury.

To reach the finals, DuVall defeated Southern Columbia’s top-seeded Gavin Garcica, 4-2, in a sudden victory thriller. That set up another rematch with Frazier’s Rune Lawrence. Lawrence had defeated DuVall in overtime at Super Regionals the week prior, and pinned DuVall at the Southwest Regional the week before that.

After falling to Lawrence the second time, DuVall told the Centre Daily Times that he’d “love to see him in the finals.” DuVall got his wish and, for a second, looked like he had gotten his revenge, as he caught Lawrence in a headlock and turned him to his back. However, no fall was called, and Lawrence went on to win, 9-7.

DuVall ended his season with eight pins, three technical falls and two major decisions.

Philipsburg-Osceola girls volleyball has a record-setting year

Philipsburg-Osceola had yet another strong season, going 20-1, claiming its second consecutive District 6 Class 2A title and making a run to the state semifinals. Reese Hazelton became the Mounties’ all-time career leader in kills after the sophomore finished with 29 kills in their District 6 2A semifinals matchup against Bald Eagle Area. Kalista Butler is now first all-time in assists, following her 41-assist performance that night and Janey Johnson is first all-time in digs with an 11-dig night. Hazelton has 592 kills, 47 blocks, 340 digs and 58 aces so far as a sophomore.

The Lady Mounties as a whole finished their season in the PIAA semifinals with a 3-2 loss against eventual state champ North Catholic with scores of 25-19, 31-29, 13-25, 23-25 and 12-15 in the PIAA 2A volleyball semifinals. Hazelton, Butler and Johnson were all named to the Pennsylvania Volleyball Association’s Class 2A All-State team.

Elite softball pitching on display with Bellefonte’s Rogers and BEA’s Peters

Bellefonte’s Lexi Rogers tossed 129 innings for an earned-run average of 1.194 and a walks plus hits per inning of .969. Rogers struck out 209 batters and allowed just 70 hits all season. Her best game came in a no-hitter against Huntingdon, where she only allowed one runner — via walk. She finished as a first-team Mountain League selection.

Bald Eagle’s Madison Peters had a strong season, as well. Peters came out on top in each of the four battles she had against two of the Mountain League’s other top pitchers in Rogers and Clearfield’s Emma Hipps. She had nine strikeouts in the Eagles’ 1-0 win over rival Bellefonte, and nine in the 4-3 win over the Raiders to secure the Mountain League title. Peters earned her 300th career strikeout in a 6-1 win over Clearfield. Peters was a major factor in the Eagles’ two-loss regular season.

Spring sports returned after being canceled in 2020

As COVID-19 put high school sports on hold in March 2020, many wondered if the new year would bring any differences. The fall and winter brought a new sense of hope, but there were a number of shortened seasons and cancellations. The spring renewed a familiar sense of normalcy — a slight chill in the air as baseball, softball, track and field and a number of other sports returned. Fans slowly began to trickle in and a slight balance to the force began to show.

With the return of the spring season, fans got to watch State College boys track and field defend its 2019 state title — after not getting the chance in 2020 — elite softball pitching between Bellefonte’s Lexi Rogers and Bald Eagle Area’s Madison Peters, Penns Valley softball’s postseason run to earn a PIAA berth, State College girls lacrosse earn a PIAA berth, Philipsburg-Osceola baseball’s Ryan Whitehead rack up five shutouts, and more.

State College football turns its season around and makes a run to the PIAA 6A semifinals

State College football found itself at a crossroads after its eighth game, looking at a 4-4 record after a 21-14 home loss to Carlisle. The Little Lions were struggling to find an offensive identity, after a number of injuries along the offensive line and to starting quarterback Finn Furmanek. Something clicked, though, in State College’s 15-13 loss to Harrisburg the following week. From there, the Little Lions went on a four-game winning streak that took them all the way to the state semifinals.

Sophomore Owen Yerka slid into the starting quarterback role, splitting reps with junior Jack Morris. The defense went on a run of holding teams under 20 points for five consecutive games, starting with that Harrisburg game. Four players totaled more than 100 tackles — J.W. Scott (139), Jack Roeshot (125), Calvin Roan (117) and Stephen Scourtis (102).

After losing to Harrisburg, State College defeated District 6 and Mid Penn rival Altoona, 21-7, to end the regular season. The Little Lions followed that up with a 17-14 victory over Williamsport in the District 6 Class 6A championship, a 28-19 win over Delaware Valley in the first round of the PIAA playoffs and a 16-13 revenge win over Harrisburg in the quarterfinals to reach the state semifinals for the first time since 2009.

While the Little Lions lost 49-28 to eventual state champ Mt Lebanon, they fought hard to surpass expectations and reach heights not yet achieved by any team under coach Matt Lintal.

State College boys golf team makes history by winning PIAAs

State College boys golf brought home the school’s second PIAA title of 2021 in October, after the boys track and field team did it in the spring.

The Little Lions squad made history when it became the first State College team to qualify for the PIAA championships since the Little Lions moved up to Class 3A, then became the first team in program history to win it.

The Little Lions shot +8 (292 total) in the pool of Fox Chapel (+8, 292), LaSalle College (+15, 299), Central Bucks West (+16, 300), Dallastown (+19, 303) and Dallas (+45, 329) at Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York. They then defeated Fox Chapel in a team playoff to take home the PIAA Class 3A title.

Senior John Olsen finished shooting one under par with a 70, Maxwell Wager shot a 72 (+1), Luke Janac 74 (+3) and Joey Sabol 76 (+5). Thomas Hay finished outside of the team’s scoring by shooting 84 (+13). The Little Lions were also District 6 and Mid Penn champions, and Olsen tied for 28th in the state individually and was a district champ.

State College girls swimming has record-setting year

State College girls swimming went into the 2021 PIAA Swimming Championships with multiple records in hand and left with another record and multiple podium finishes. The group was led by Jade Castro, who broke State College’s home pool record and school record in the 100 fly and the Mid Penn Championships record and school record in the 100 backstroke. She then went on to earn the silver medal in states in the 100 backstroke and a seventh place finish in the 100 fly.

Castro was a key piece of the 200 medley relay team, which was responsible for the team’s record-setting year. The group, which also included Mackenzie Pagett, Maddy Koehle and Colleen Adams, set and re-broke multiple records in the 200 medley relay. They first broke the pool record at State High in the relay, then broke that record again and set the school record later in the year, before breaking the two records again. The group capped off its success with a silver medal at states.

State College boys track & field defends it 2019 PIAA 3A title

State College boys track and field successfully defended its 2019 state championship, following a year off due to COVID-19. It was the team’s third PIAA title in five years, having also won in 2016.

The Little Lions’ had three silver medal performances. Conrad Moore placed second in the high jump (6-04.00), the 4x800-meter relay team of Bennett Norton, Sean Adams, Mathew Staniar and Brady Bigger finished second (7:55.69), as did the 4x100-meter relay team of Ryan Lindenberg, Carson Franks, Nolan Markowski and Eniyao Ogunranti (42.57). Bigger finished with three medals, finishing third in the 1,600-meter race in 4:18.23, sixth in the 800m in 1:55.92 and eighth in the 4x400m relay in 3:25.37, along with Staniar, Adams and Nolan Markowski.

State College also won the District 6 Class 3A championships, with first-place finishes from Ogunranti in the 100m and 200m, the 4x100m relay team, Ryan Lindenberg in the 300m hurdles, Bigger in 800m, the 4x400m relay team, Moore in high jump and Ian Dorefice in pole vault.

Penns Valley’s Anna Stitzer breaks course records, brings home PIAA cross country gold

Stitzer helped Penns Valley maintain its reputation as a distance running powerhouse by bringing home the fourth PIAA cross country gold medal for the Rams program in three years in November. She helped the Lady Rams bring home the Class 1A team title last season, and former Ram Colton Sands won individual crowns in 2020 and 2019.

While Stitzer placed 23rd at the 2020 state meet, she quickly made her name known as a contender this season, placing third at the PIAA Foundation meet in September, just seconds out of first. From there, the senior went on to shatter course record after course record. Stitzer set new course records at State College, Clearfield, Hollidaysburg and her home course Penns Valley.

Stitzer helped her team to its fifth consecutive regular season Mountain League title, before sweeping her three postseason races. She ran a 19:09 to break Penns Valley’s previous course record of 19:24 and win Mountain League gold. She went on to beat two-time defending champ Lauren Shaffer, of Portage, at the District 6 Class 1A championships, and won PIAA gold in 19:32.0.

This story was originally published December 27, 2021 at 6:00 AM.