State College football inches toward PIAA playoffs with District 6 Class 6A title
When it comes to winning a championship, players and coaches can usually point to a key moment that plays a role in that title run.
For State College on Thursday night, the Little Lions had a key drive that stood out to coach Matt Lintal and Altoona coach Vince Nedimyer. The drive came just before halftime in State College’s 28-7 victory that gave the Little Lions (11-0) their sixth District 6 Class 6A title in the past seven years.
“As I said to the kids in the huddle, ‘It’s another box that we get to check off,’” Lintal said. “It’s one of the goals that you have at the start of the year. You get to check off undefeated season, Mid Penn champions and now district champions. I couldn’t be more proud. We’ve met every goal to this point, so hopefully we can keep them coming.”
Things got started off well for State College as it forced Altoona (6-6) to a three-and-out on the first possession of the game. The Little Lions then went 70 yards in five plays — all runs from D’antae Sheffey.
The freshman running back, who finished with 170 yards rushing on 15 carries and three scores, has been reliable all season long for State College. His first carry of the game went for 45 yards; four plays later he found the end zone from 9 yards out to give the Little Lions a 7-0 lead a third of the way through the quarter.
“D’antae is a tremendous young man. He is running with passion and behind his guys,” Lintal said. “You get him in space, he can make some big plays. He is a fun kid to coach.”
The Little Lions and Mountain Lions went on to trade possessions with neither team getting anything going for the rest of the quarter.
Altoona got the ball at its own 16 with 9:27 left in the first half, and went on a tremendous drive that ate up 8:05 of game time.
The Mountain Lions had a 16-play drive with all the plays being a run except one. It was capped off with Alex Yost rushing in from 3 yards out to tie the game at 7-7 with 1:22 left in the half.
“I thought our kids played hard. We didn’t execute on a couple of plays in the first half,” Nedimyer said. “We gave up a couple of plays on the long drive at the end of the first half. I wish we could have that one back.”
The drive Nedimyer spoke about was the game-defining one for State College.
The Little Lions got the ball at their 32 with 1:16 remaining on the clock. The seven-play drive began with an incomplete pass, which was the lone flaw.
Quarterback Finn Furmanek connected with Ty Salazer for a 13-yard pass. He then found Sheffey for an 18-yard pass, and the next play Furmanek hooked up with Donte Nastasi for 8 yards.
Furmanek rolled out on a fifth straight pass attempt and had a wide open field that he sprinted for 11 yards. He and Salazer got together again, this time for 11 yards to get to Altoona’s 9. On the next play, Sheffey went straight up the middle for his second score of the night to give State College a 14-7 lead at the half.
“I think that was a game-changing drive. We picked up so much momentum in that drive alone,” Lintal said. “To be able to put that together, was tremendous. We asked a lot of Finn on that drive. He made some great throws and decision-making. He did a tremendous job executing our offense in a real hurried and controlled way.”
The Little Lions defense played solid all throughout the second half, not allowing the Mountain Lions any shot at being able to get close to the end zone. Meanwhile, the offense continued to roll as Nastasi pushed State College’s lead to 21-7 on a 19-yard jet sweep with 4:20 left in the third quarter.
Sheffey had two carries on a two-play, 58-yard drive for the Little Lions to open the fourth quarter, which ended with the freshman finding the end zone from 1 yard out to set up the final score of the game.
State College now waits to see who it will play in the PIAA Sub-Regional next week. It will host the winner of McDowell and Allderdice, which is being played Friday.
“This is a great team. These kids are passionate. They play for each other,” Lintal said. “The leadership of the senior class is really unmatched from things that we’ve had. I’m super proud of this group. I love these kids. I’m just honored to have the opportunity to coach them.”
This story was originally published November 10, 2022 at 11:40 PM.
