Little Lions football falls in state quarterfinals to Pittsburgh Central Catholic

State College was hoping to turn its matchup with Pittsburgh Central Catholic into a low-scoring affair.

The Little Lions defense did its part.

But the Central Catholic defense lived up to the hype and turned in a dominant performance, helping the Vikings to a 19-3 win over State College in the PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinals at Fox Chapel High School on Friday night.

“They bring a lot of guys,” State College coach Matt Lintal said. “They’ve got the talent on the perimeter to be able to man you up and those kids are really skilled. So with that ability, they can load the box and they can bring a lot of heat, so they try to get you in the backfield.”

Central Catholic (13-1) often bottled up State College in the backfield early. The Little Lions managed just 1 yard of total offense and recorded one first down — thanks to a Central Catholic penalty — in the first half. State College (9-4) found some success moving the ball in the second half, but the Little Lions never found the end zone and never threatened Central Catholic’s lead.

The Vikings advance to the face Central Dauphin or Cumberland Valley in the semifinals. Central Dauphin and Cumberland Valley play for the District 3 championship Saturday.

The loss marked the end of a season that saw State College earn a share of the Mid Penn Conference Commonwealth division title on its way to making a return trip to the state quarterfinals.

And though the Little Lions fell short, Lintal was proud of his team’s effort against a Central Catholic team loaded with major college recruits.

“Pittsburgh Central Catholic knows that they played a game tonight,” Lintal said. “They walked off of here knowing they State College has a pretty darn good football team.”

Central Catholic recorded four consecutive first downs on its first drive, including converting on a fourth down, before facing fourth-and-4 from the 13-yard line. The Vikings went for it again, but running back Vinny Emanuele was smothered by the State College defense after catching a pass.

Central Catholic lost 2 yards on the play, turning it over to State College.

On the Vikings’ second drive, the Little Lions forced them into another fourth down at the 13-yard line.

This time, Central Catholic took the points. Jacob Rocchi’s 30-yard field goal gave the Vikings a 3-0 lead with 1:04 left in the first quarter.

State College forced Central Catholic to go three-and-out and punt on its next two drives before the Vikings found the end zone on a 4-yard run by Emanuele with 39 seconds left in the half.

“We had a lot of respect for their defense coming in, and we felt like our defense could play with them and they did for sure,” Lintal said. “Our defense played outstanding.”

But the Little Lions couldn’t break through against Central Catholic.

They found some success to start the second half as Misher picked up 24 yards on his first four carries of the opening drive.

But it stalled at the 17-yard line.

He was stopped for a 1-yard gain, then lost a yard before an incomplete pass led to a 34-yard field goal by Noah Schwab.

State College trailed 10-3 with 7:13 left in the third quarter.

Misher finished with 69 yards on 17 carries to lead the State College offense. And the Vikings found enough success on the ground to burn the clock and help the defense protect their lead.

Ronnie Jones rushed for 98 yards on 22 carries to pace the Vikings, Emanuele finished with 42 yards and quarterback Troy Fisher ran for 35 yards and a score.

“Our running game’s coming around late every game,” Pittsburgh Central Catholic coach Terry Totten said. “You got to credit our defense for holding in there ’til they got it going.”

Defense kept State College in the game, but the Little Lions’ offense never got going to challenge the Vikings.

“Unfortunately this is it,” Lintal said. “There’s a winner, there’s a loser. Unfortunately we’re done. But these guys, it wasn’t for lack of effort.”

This story was originally published December 5, 2015 at 12:13 AM with the headline "Little Lions football falls in state quarterfinals to Pittsburgh Central Catholic."