State College football rolls in second half for a four-touchdown victory over Carlisle
Big play after big play defined State College Area High School’s victory over visiting Carlisle High School.
After being shut out in the first quarter and starting the game down 10-0, the Little Lions took down the Thundering Herd 49-20 and improved to 7-0 on the year.
The slow start was lowlighted by an interception from senior quarterback Finn Furmanek on the team’s second offensive drive of the game. With the return, Carlisle set up in enemy territory before eventually kicking a 35-yard field goal to take an early 3-0 lead.
On the ensuing drive Furmanek was replaced by junior Owen Yerka, who led the squad down the field and put it in a position to tie the game with a 29-yard field goal of its own. However, senior Kajetan Kaszubowski failed to thread the uprights, so State High remained behind.
The Thundering Herd took a double-digit lead on the next drive thanks to a 70-yard touchdown pass caught by Carson Swartz, a junior wide receiver who finished with three scores.
A long touchdown drive from the Little Lions, capped by a 10-yard rush by Yerka, cut the deficit to three — but it was the next score that really turned the tides of the game.
After senior defensive end John Scott created his first of two forced fumbles on the day, senior Michael Dincher, whose primary position is offensive guard, picked up the ball and returned it for a defensive touchdown.
“The big touchdown right before the half — that really changed the momentum, got our kids fired up, and we came out and I don’t think we punted in the second half,” State High head coach Matt Lintal said. “I couldn’t be happier to have him have that opportunity. I mean that’s every lineman’s dream.”
After the half, the teams went back and forth for a while before State High finally responded with three unanswered touchdowns to put the game away.
Highlighting those touchdowns were Furmanek, who started the second 30 minutes — playing nearly every offensive snap — and Ty Salazer, who was serenaded by birthday chants following every big play he made during the contest.
In the end, Furmanek was responsible for all five of his unit’s second-half touchdowns, in one form or another, while Salazer caught two of those scores for a combined 128 yards and gathered an interception defensively.
State High will face Harrisburg High School on the road on Oct. 15 as State High looks to move to 8-0.
“Just to have that opportunity to go back to Severance Field for the third time in less than a year, you know, it’s kind of funny, but our kids know what to expect,” Lintal said. “We just gotta get ‘em prepared and be ready to roll.”
Eagles trounce Mounties in Centre County matchup
WINGATE — It took Bald Eagle a few weeks to gather its bearings after two losses to begin the season. The Eagles have since gone 4-1, including a 42-13 victory over Philipsburg-Osceola on Friday.
Bald Eagle head coach Jesse Nagle prepped his team by holding each of them accountable for one another in practice. Would the Eagles become complacent after defeating the previously undefeated Tyrone Golden Eagles 31-7 last Friday, or would they come out swinging and clawing against a 1-5 Philipsburg-Osceola team that was eager to knock off their in-county rival?
The latter revealed itself to be the result, as Bald Eagle quarterback Carson Nagle had five touchdown passes, running back Tre Greene had a receiving touchdown and rushing touchdown, Cam Watkins reeled two receiving touchdowns and the Eagles defense left the Mounties off of the board until the fourth quarter with interceptions by NicK Wible and Mikey Snyder.
“It’s a rivalry game, and we knew they were coming to our homecoming and trying to ruin it,” Jesse Nagle said. “We’re coming off of a good, emotional win last week, and we focused all week long on staying focused and taking care of the details and that we finish. “
Bald Eagle jumped onto the board first with a 33-yard touchdown pass from Nagle to Greene with less than 2 minutes off of the board in the game. After receiving the ball back on their own 35-yard line, the Eagles swiftly marched down the field in four plays and capped off a 65-yard drive with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Nagle to Gavin Burns with 6 minutes, 26 seconds left in the first.
Snyder picked off Philipsburg-Osceola quarterback Ben Gustkey to set up the Eagles on their own 7-yard line with 1:20 left in the first. Bald Eagle capped off a four-play, 93-yard drive with an 81-yard touchdown pass from Nagle to Gavin Eckley. The Eagles scored again on a 19-yard pass delivered from Nagle to Watkins. Bald Eagle finished off the first half with a 17-yard touchdown reception from Watkins on a jet pass with 4:27 left to give his team a 35-0 lead.
Bald Eagle’s final score came on a 14-yard rushing touchdown by Greene with 6:39 left in the third. Philipsburg-Osceola scored on a Jakodi Jones 4-yard carry with 10:13 remaining and a Dawson Snyder 4-yard plunge into the end zone with 1:16 left to trail 42-13.
“I thought the kids did a really nice job of not having a hangover from last week,” coach Jesse Nagle said. “I think they did a really good job of staying focused all week long and understanding that P-O could’ve come in there, we could’ve played sloppy and gave them a shot.”
Bald Eagle will host Huntingdon on Oct. 14 at 7 p.m., while Philipsburg-Osceola will travel to Boswell to take on North Star at 7 p.m.
Rams too much for Blue Jays
SPRING MILLS — Even though the final score was one sided, both Penns Valley coach Martin Tobias and Conemaugh Valley coach Matt Kent really enjoyed their Friday evening matchup.
Tobias’ squad had a little more to celebrate than Kent’s team in a 48-7 victory for the Rams, but both couldn’t have agreed more on the matchup.
“I think it was great. I wish we had more opportunities to play other teams from outside of (our) area,” Tobias explained, “so the kids can get exposed to other kinds of games and teams. The interactions we had with them (Conemaugh Valley) were really positive. I have a lot of respect for what Conemaugh Valley does.”
Added Kent: “It was fun coming out here and playing. We are playing against someone we don’t normally get to play against, see different competition and see what they do. It was fun to prepare for. It was a good time out here.”
It was all Penns Valley from the get-go as it scored 41 unanswered points.
It took the opening kickoff and scored 1:15 into the game to grab a 6-0 lead. Rams running back Ty Watson, who finished the night with 161 yards rushing on six carries and three scores, capped off the four-play opening drive with a 7-yard score.
Watson found the end zone again three minutes later after the Blue Jays turned the ball over on downs as Penns Valley was trying to tame the modified Wing-T offense.
“It was really difficult. What they do is so different from what we see,” said Tobias of Conemaugh Valley’s offense. “There are so many bodies coming at you. We tried to tell the kids, we cannot simulate this in practice and do it justice, we are going to try. When we start out, you are going to have to be patient and calm. You are going to have to endure a lot of bodies coming at you with all the motions, pulls and misdirections. It certainly was true and held up.”
Trailing 13-0, the Blue Jays went on a 13-play drive that got the ball to the Rams’ 1. Quarterback Adam Jasper, however, fumbled the ball away. Penns Valley responded by taking the ball 99 yards with quarterback Jackson Romig finishing the drive off with a 5-yard score on the ground.
Again, Conemaugh Valley went on another long drive, 13 plays, but turned the ball over on downs. Romig sent a soaring pass to a wide open Danin Kerstetter for a 76-yard score, to give the Rams a 27-0 lead with just under 2:30 left in the half.
The next Blue Jays possession saw running back Tommy Stiffler fumble the ball away at his team’s 25-yard line. Penns Valley’s Miles Brooks took an end-around two plays later to hand his team a 34-0 lead before halftime.
“We thought we were going to have the air show on us. We were preparing for the pass all week,” Kent said. “We weren’t even preparing for the run. From what we saw on film, we were like, ‘they are going to throw on us.’ We changed the secondary around a little bit, hoping that would be the solution, but we didn’t execute on defense. It doesn’t help that we turned the ball over four times in the red zone.”
The Rams finished with a 308-283 rushing-yards advantage.
The second half began with Conemaugh Valley getting the ball, but it quickly went three-and-out. Watson needed just one play to go 55 yards, and the mercy-rule running clock began to run with the score at 41-0 in favor of Penns Valley.
The Rams’ final score of the night came from Chase Shelley, who ripped off a 45-yard run with his teammates chasing him down the sideline late in the fourth quarter.
“We really came out, and the kids were firing on all cylinders,” Tobias said. “We’ve been on the road for a couple of weeks, so it was nice to get home. The kids were excited about the opportunity to be at home. We had Senior Night tonight, so the seniors certainly wanted to go out with a strong performance. I think a lot of things came together really well for us.”
This story was originally published October 7, 2022 at 11:53 PM.
CORRECTION: The original version of this story described Cam Watkins’ 17-yard touchdown as a rushing touchdown.
