State College football wins big in high school season opener against Williamsport
State College had no scrimmages heading into their first regular-season game on Friday against Williamsport.
Even without the extra preparation and battling with other teams, the Little Lions swiftly defeated Williamsport 42-14 at Memorial Field.
Senior running back and edge rusher JW Scott and freshman running back D’Antae Sheffey each had two rushing touchdowns, senior wide receiver Dante Nastasi caught a 23-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Finn Furmanek and senior running back Matt Wall plunged forward for a touchdown for the final score.
“In the first game to come out and manage the game the way that these kids did, I’m super proud of them,” State College coach Matt Lintal said. “For them to come out and we really didn’t have those normal first game errors. So, I’m super proud of the guys. I think we may have had one false start there and that was it. We played a really clean game.”
Scott’s first touchdown set the tone for the Little Lions on a 7-yard rush, where he shouldered a defender to the ground with 5 minutes 4 seconds remaining in the first quarter. From that point forward, State College displayed physical play up front from the offensive line, and the running backs responded.
“We just want to punish people,” Scott said. “Honestly, I wasn’t even trying to throw the guy down, but he lowered his shoulder, and I lowered mine. We preach in the locker room, ‘You’ve got to have that dog mentality.’ You knock them down and you pick them right back up after. That’s what was going through my mind — just be physical.”
State College began with the ball on its own 37-yard line with a little less than four minutes remaining in the first. Furmanek handed the ball off to Sheffey for a 7-yard gain on first down. On second down, Sheffey made Williamsport pay by bursting up the middle for a 58-yard touchdown rush with 3:25 left in the first quarter. Scott later scored a 13-yard rushing touchdown with 11:29 left in the second quarter.
Furmanek’s touchdown pass to Nastasi was a special one. He missed the latter stretch of last season, following a leg injury. He suited up for both the team’s state quarterfinal and state semifinal games, but didn’t see much game action. After being set up at the Williamsport 10-yard line by Ty Salazer’s punt return, Furmanek threw a bullet over the middle for a jogging Nastasi into the end zone to give State College a 28-0 lead with 9:34 left in the first half.
“It felt great,” Furmanek said. “The running backs and the O-Line made my job really easy, and I just had to hand the ball off and just score. They really helped me out, and I couldn’t have done anything without them. It was great to be back out here after missing a couple of games.”
Sheffey scored his second touchdown of the night with 6:41 remaining in the first half on a 21-yard rush. Junior quarterback Owen Yerka entered the game and engineered a long drive, prior to Wall diving into the end zone on a 1-yard plunge to give State College a 42-0 lead with just 46 second left in the half.
Williamsport’s Dezmyr Noble and Alonzo Rice had the team’s two scores in the third and fourth quarters respectively.
State College 42, Williamsport 14
State College 14 35 0 0
Williamsport 0 0 7 7
First quarter
SC – Scott 7 run (PAT good), 5:04
SC – Sheffey 58 run (PAT good), 3:25
Second quarter
SC – Scott 13 run (PAT good), 11:29
SC – Nastasi pass from Furmanek (PAT good), 9:34
SC – Sheffey 21 run (PAT good), 6:41
SC – Wall 1 run (PAT good), 0:46
Third quarter
WP – Noble run 10 (PAT good), 0:20
Fourth quarter
WP – Rice run 1 (PAT good), 0:10
Top rusher: SC — Sheffey 6-89-1, WP – Rice 6-21-1
Top passer: SC — Furmanek 1-2, 1-0 23, WP – Williamson 9-12 0-1 84
Top receiver: SC — Nastasi 1-23-1, WP – Slaughter – 2-55
Interceptions: SC – Salazar, WP – none
Bald Eagle falls in season opener to Troy
Bald Eagle beat Troy the last four times the two high school football programs faced off heading into Friday night but the Trojans managed to turn the tide on the Eagles.
They traveled to Wingate and defeated the Eagles 20-9 on the back of four interceptions.
Bald Eagle head coach Jesse Nagle said the mistakes were the biggest factor in the loss.
“It was from the line to the receivers to the quarterback, fumbling the ball, interceptions. It was probably our worst game,” he said. “That being said, Troy is a good football team. … That being said, we made too many mistakes. They made the plays they had to, and we didn’t.”
It wasn’t all bad for the home team, with kicker Kaden Burns opening the scoring with a 32-yard field goal. However, an interception thrown by quarterback Carson Nagle was returned 71 yards by Clayton Smith for a touchdown, giving the Trojans a 6-3 lead after they missed the extra point.
Bald Eagle responded with its lone touchdown of the game, a 5-yard pass from Nagle to Kahale Burns to give the Eagles its last lead of the night at 9-6.
The Trojans responded with two more scores — another pick-six and a 98-yard touchdown that Nagle said changed the tone of the game.
“Defensively, they weren’t doing anything on us at all,” he said. “We kind of got complacent, thought he was down. Then he bounced out, came out. It’s a killer. We hold them there, we get the ball. … That’s the game of football.”
Despite the loss, the Bald Eagle head coach said his team has plenty of time to make up for it and get where they want to go this season.
“It’s a learning game,” Nagle said. “Hopefully we’ll bounce back and we can figure it out.”
The Eagles will stay home next week to take on the Clearfield Bison in their second matchup of the season.
Troy, 20 Bald Eagle 6
(Friday at Wingate)
Troy 0 13 7 0 — 20
Bald Eagle 3 6 0 0 — 9
First quarter
BEA — Burns 32 kick, 4:45
Second quarter
T — Smith 71 interception return (PAT missed), 11:16
BEA — Burns 5 pass from Nagle (PAT missed), 3:41
T — Justice Chimics 60 interception return (PAT good), 0:23
Third quarter
T — Charles Oldroyd 98 run (PAT good), 1:53
Top rusher: BEA — Tre Greene 10-58, T — Oldroyd 6-109-1
Top passer: BEA — Nagle 18-31-1-4 172, T — Evan Woodward 1-3-0-0 -2.
Top receiver: BEA — Cam Watkins 4-53, T — Lincoln Chimics 1--2.
Interceptions: BEA — none, T — Smith, Chimics, Woodward, Brendan Gilliland.
Bellefonte is shut out in season-opener by Selinsgrove
The opener of Bellefonte’s high school football season on Friday night was one that the Red Raiders won’t want to remember.
They were unable to get any offense going as they suffered a 32-0 home defeat to Selinsgrove inside Rodgers Stadium.
“The first half was tough. The second half, there were times that we did get it rolling,” Bellefonte coach Vaughn Donmoyer said. “I just think between penalties, fumbles and dropped balls, it makes it hard for a drive to continue.”
The Red Raiders finished the evening with 181 yards on offense and never made it to the red zone. As Donmoyer said, the first half was rough with his team only managing 60 yards of total offense. They managed just 20 yards rushing on nine carries, however the defense held tough.
Bellefonte’s defense gave up just one touchdown, but the Seals’ kicker in Carter Young was just an animal. Young was perfect on the night making four field goals — three alone in the first half. His longest was a 40-yarder with 2:26 remaining in the third quarter to give Selinsgrove a 19-0 lead.
The Red Raiders did seem to get things going in the second half on the shoulders of Sherman Lowry. The junior, who isn’t the starter as senior Jamal Saunders is back after missing last season, made the most of his touches.
He led the team with 42 yards rushing on four carries, all in the second half. He added one reception for 23 yards.
“Sherman ran the ball well. The second half, there were some times that we did run the ball quite well,” Donmoyer said. “We had a couple of underclassmen in there that I thought ran the ball decently. I thought that was a positive note.”
Bellefonte’s defense, after holding off the Seals’ offense for most of the game, had some holes break open.
Selinsgrove scored back-to-back touchdowns in just under three minutes to blow open its lead to 32-0. Wide receiver Gavin Bastian had both of those scores.
His first was a 60-yard bubble pass that he took to the house from quarterback Mark Pastore. Bastian’s second score was a 1-yard run as Pastore went out the play before with an injury.
“Overall, I’m disappointed as it was a loss. I thought we’d come out a little better than what the ending score was,” Donmoyer said. “All is not lost. We still have goals to reach. We can win the Mountain League, still go to districts and win districts. It’s all there. We have to have them be able to go out there, work hard for it and get it.”
Selinsgrove 32, Bellefonte 0
(Friday at Bellefonte)
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Selinsgrove 10 6 3 13 -- 32
Bellefonte 0 0 0 0 -- 0
First Quarter
S--Carter Young 29 FG, 7:11
S--Nick Rice 22 pass from Mark Pastore (Young kick), 3:02
Second Quarter
S--Young 25 FG, 5:00
S--Young 27 FG, :32
Third Quarter
S--Young 40 FG, 2:26
Fourth Quarter
S--Gavin Bastian 60 pass from Pastore (Young kick), 11:45
S--Bastian 1 run (kick no good), 9:00
TEAM STATISTICS S B
First downs 16 10
Total yards 352 182
Rushes-yards 38-141 24-83
Yards passing 211 99
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 10-16-0 6-17-0
Punts-avg. 1-46 4-34.5
Fumbles-lost 1-1 2-2
Penalties-yards 7-78 8-84
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Selinsgrove, Garrett Paradis 14-69, Pastore 11-44, Devon Mitchell 5-13, Jacob Beddall 2-0, Philip Gesumaria 2-7, Tucker Teats 1-15, TEAM 1-(-7). Bellefonte, Trevor Johnson 10-(-2), Jamal Saunders 7-36, Sherman Lowry 4-42, Cooper Funk 2-6, Grayson Alterio 1-1.
PASSING--Selinsgrove, Pastore 10-16-211-1 TD. Bellefonte, Johnson 6-17-99-0.
RECEIVING--Selinsgrove, Bastian 5-161, Rice 3-41, Josh Domaracki 1-3, Derek Holtzapple 1-6. Bellefonte, Logan Williams 3-26, Tyler Rice 1-26, Lowry 1-23, Dominic Capperella 1-24.
Records: Selinsgrove 1-0, Bellefonte 0-1
Next game: Bellefonte at Penns Valley, Friday, 7 p.m.
Nate Cobler contributed to this report from Bellefonte and Jon Sauber reported from Bald Eagle.
This story was originally published August 26, 2022 at 11:46 PM.
