Here are 5 takeaways from Week 7 of Centre County high school football
Just like in Week 6 of Centre County high school football, Week 7 ended with three of five teams reigning victorious.
Bald Eagle took down Philipsburg-Osceola while Penns Valley and State College won against Conemaugh Valley and Carlisle, respectively. Bellefonte fell to Huntingdon.
Here are five takeaways from Week 7 of the 2022 high school football season in Centre County:
At least the Mounties kept fighting
When a team finds itself down 35-0 at the half, they have one of two options. Either they can just throw in the towel and give up or they can keep fighting to the bitter end. Jeff Vroman’s team picked door No. 2 and kept fighting. Down 42-0 and on the verge of a shutout, Jakodi Jones had a 4-yard rushing touchdown with 10:13 left in the game and Dawson Snyder followed up with a rushing touchdown of the same distance with 1:16 left.
The Mounties showed heart and were good sports throughout the game; that’s all that mattered in the end.
Bellefonte struggles against Huntingdon
Huntingdon defeated Bellefonte 36-12 on Friday night. Bearcats quarterback Eric Mykut went 6-for-10 with 109 yards and a touchdown pass to go with eight carries for 37 yards and a touchdown on the night. Running back Lincoln Miller rushed 20 times for 124 yards and one touchdown and Ashton Steele had eight carries for 53 yards and one touchdown. It wasn’t an ideal outcome for the Red Raiders, but they pushed back by scoring 12 points.
Carson Nagle has his best game yet
The son of Bald Eagle head coach Jesse Nagle continued to make a name for himself as the signal-caller for the Eagles. Carson Nagle had five touchdown passes in a 42-13 victory over Philipsburg-Osceola. It began with a 33-yard touchdown pass from Carson Nagle to Tre Greene, followed by a 17-yard pass from Nagle to Gavin Burns.
Then, Nagle threw an 81-yard touchdown pass to Gavin Eckley, followed by a 19-yard touchdown pass to Cam Watkins and a 17-yard jet pass to Watkins to give the Eagles a 35-0 lead before the half. The sophomore finished the game going 15-for-19 (78.9%) on passes for 297 yards, five touchdowns and zero interceptions. It was the first five-touchdown performance of his career.
He now owns a 65% completion rate, 1,547 yards through the air with 15 touchdowns and eight interceptions and a 100.6 quarterback rating through seven games in 2022.
Penns Valley puts Conemaugh Valley in a headlock
The Rams were nothing short of punishing in their 48-7 victory over Conemaugh Valley. Penns Valley running back Ty Watson continued his outstanding play with 161 yards on just six carries and had three rushing touchdowns. Quarterback Jackson Romig hit Danin Kerstetter on a 76-yard touchdown pass and later Miles Brooks scored on an end around. That’s not a bad way to go 5-3 on the year.
State College shows it can bounce back from a slow start
The 2022 iteration of the Little Lions aren’t necessarily known for playing behind schedule. They expect to gash opposing defenses early and often with their running game and use their own defense as a battering ram to render opponents incapacitated. Friday night was a little different with the Little Lions finding themselves down 10-0 with 6:21 left in the first half.
State College then drove down to the 10-yard line with 1:58 left in the half and immediately punched it in with an Owen Yerka rushing touchdown with 1:51 remaining. Michael Dincher, the usually offensive line stalwart, returned a fumble for a touchdown following JW Scott punching the ball loose for a 14-10 lead at the half. State College never looked back, winning 42-20.
Teams that go undefeated have to win in a number of ways. Whether it’s through bashing the opposition early to the twilight of the game or having to use grit and grind to win, the Little Lions have done that in their 7-0 start to the season.
