State College returns home to host McDowell in 6A State Quarterfinals

Tagged under: Centre County Report, District 10, District 6, News, Playoffs

Brendan Ricciardi | November 16, 2022

(With contributions from Todd Ross)

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Playoff football is back in Happy Valley, as the State College Little Lions will host the McDowell Trojans of District 10 this Friday night at 7:00 in the PIAA 6A State Quarterfinals.

State College (11-0) advanced to the quarterfinal round after a 28-7 victory over rival Altoona in the District 6 Championship game last Thursday night at Bald Eagle. Freshman RB D’Antae Sheffey ran for 176 yards and three touchdowns on just 15 carries, and the Little Lions defense allowed just one touchdown with big performances from Michael Gaul, John Scott, Justin Castro, and Stephen Scourtis (Harvard).

As for McDowell (10-2), they started off their playoff run with a 62-7 thrashing of Butler before taking down Taylor Allderdice 42-15 in the pouring rain.

This is far from the first meeting between State College and McDowell, with State College taking seven of the eight all-time meetings:

2008: State College 22, McDowell 10

2009: State College 16, McDowell 7

2012: McDowell 42, State College 0

2014: State College 27, McDowell 6

2015: State College 48, McDowell 40

2016: State College 35, McDowell 14

2018: State College 55, McDowell 20

2019: State College 42, McDowell 21.

Hat tip to my man and PA Sports Historian Dave Burman for that information.

With that being said, let’s take a deeper dive into each of these programs so far this season and see what makes them both so successful.

State College:

Sitting at 11-0 on the season so far, State College has answered every call they’ve gotten this year. Their signature win came on the road against District 1 powerhouse Downingtown East by a score of 32-31 after a late touchdown, and they also picked up wins over Harrisburg, Central Dauphin, Cumberland Valley, and now two against Altoona in the process. 

As mentioned above, D’Antae Sheffey has been a rising star on this State College team. Still in his first year of high school, he has become the focal point of this offense for Head Coach Matt Lintal. Sheffey has run for 1,428 yards and 19 touchdowns on just 179 carries. That’s good for eight yards per carry, and 129.8 yards per game.

The Little Lions are primarily a run-first team, with Senior QB Finn Furmanek as their dual-threat QB who can still sling it if he needs to. Furmanek has thrown for 1,302 yards this season with 13 touchdowns. He’s also added 417 yards and five touchdowns on the ground as well.

Furmanek has the luxury of three receivers that he trusts, including two sophomores in Michael Gaul and Ty Salazer, both of whom are big parts of the defense as well. Salazer leads the team in receiving yards with 539, and Gaul has 269. Senior Donte Nastai leads the team in receptions by nearly 20 with 500 yards on the year, and is a consistently reliable target for Furmanek.

Not only is the State College offense averaging 37.8 points per game, the defense is allowing just 14.1 points per game.

There is a plethora of talent on this State College team, but John Scott, Michael Gaul, and Stephen Scourtis have really separated themselves with nearly 30 more tackles than anyone else on the roster. Scott with 91, Gaul with 90, and Scourtis with 84. Sam Mayer currently leads the team with eight sacks, with Scourtis hot on his trail with 7.5.

Let’s also show a little love to special teams here, as Senior K Kajetan Kaszubowski has been money for the Little Lions this season. He has converted on 39/43 PAT’s on the season, as well as 7/8 field goals. The punting game led by Ian Brandt also helps turn the field over as well. 

The talent for State College is obvious, but if there is anything that will hurt them, it is playing undisciplined football. The Little Lions had a few more penalties than Coach Lintal would have liked, and some were unsportsmanlike conduct as well. That will not fly against superior opponents as their magical run continues this Friday night.

McDowell Trojans:

On the other sidelines, you have a McDowell Trojans team that is trying to give State College their first and last loss of the 2022 campaign. 

McDowell enters the game with a record of 10-2, with both of their losses coming against some of the strongest programs in the state in 5A Cathedral Prep and 6A North Allegheny. If North Allegheny were to win in the WPIAL Championship game Friday against Central Catholic, they will take on the winner of this matchup here.

McDowell’s signature win came against St. Francis, one of the best teams in the state of New York. They had a little bit of a run-in with fame as they took on West Toronto Prep, a team that played on ESPN against IMG Academy before eventually being caught having Canadian Semi-Professional players on their roster. Still, McDowell took them down 61-0.

McDowell is led on offense by Senior QB Ben Moore, who threw for 1,635 yards this season and 20 touchdowns. Senior RB Artis Simmons is the focal point of the offense for Head Coach and former Penn State Linebacker Bo Orlando’s Trojans, as he has run for 1,773 yards and 24 touchdowns on the ground. Ray Jackson has added 11 receiving touchdowns and 690 yards as well. 

Simmons and the offense have been able to have so much success thanks in part to a strong offensive line anchored by Penn State commit Cooper Cousins.

Tom Reisenweber of the Erie Times gave us some insight on what could possibly be expected of McDowell, saying that the big thing the last few weeks for the Trojans is that they have jumped on playoff opponents with rushing touchdowns and a pick six in the first quarter.

State College has at times struggled to get their offense going early in games, so a key for McDowell is to emphasize that quick start early to get the Little Lion crowd out of the game. 

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews