Centre County Week 2 Preview: Penns Valley and Bellefonte bring first county matchup

Tagged under: Centre County Report, District 6, News

Brendan Ricciardi | September 2, 2022

It was a solid Week 1 of football for the five Centre County high school teams, as they went a combined 3-2 in their first taste of regular season action.

This week brings us some conference matchups, including two of Centre County’s own going head-to-head.

Game of The Week: Bellefonte Raiders (0-1) @ Penns Valley Rams (1-0)

Where: Penns Valley High School

When: 7:00 PM, Friday, 9/2

Penns Valley got off to great start in their 2022 campaign, as they won big over Line Mountain with a 41-13 Week 1 win.

Junior QB Jackson Romig threw for 202 yards and three touchdowns in the win, and also added 17 rushing yards. He connected with Miles Brooks, Josh Lieb, and Hunter Lyons for touchdowns. RB Ty Watson had 125 yards rushing and two rushing touchdowns in the win for the Rams.

The Rams will welcome in the Bellefonte Raiders for some Mountain League conference action, who didn’t have quite the start they were looking for in a 32-0 loss to Sellinsgrove in Week 1.

Penns Valley took the matchup between the two teams 41-14 last season, and has won the last four matchups dating back to 2018. 

This week will be a good test to see how two Centre County football teams compare to each other, and also who has the early advantage in the Mountain League.

State College Little Lions (1-0) @ Downingtown East Cougars (1-0)

Where: Downingtown East High School

When: 7:00 PM, Friday, 9/2

It was an extremely impressive showing for State College in their first matchup of the season, as they dismantled Williamsport 42-14.

Freshman RB D’Antae Sheffey ran for 110 yards on just seven carries, thanks to a 58-yard rushing touchdown early in the game. RB John Scott also ran for two touchdowns, and WR Donte Nastasi caught a 23-yard touchdown from QB Finn Furmanek.

The Little Lions will be traveling a long way, as they head to Southeastern Pennsylvania to take on the Downingtown East Cougars. These two teams met early in 2021, with Downingtown East taking that game 42-21. The Cougars opened up their season with a 30-6 win over Pennridge to start their season off.

The Little Lions of State College got better as the season went on in 2021, and really hit their stride late in the season. It will be very interesting to see how much they have grown and how they fare their second time around with Downingtown East.

Bald Eagle Area Bald Eagles (0-1) vs Clearfield Bison (0-1)

Where: Bald Eagle Area High School

When: 7:00 PM, Friday, 9/2

After an 8-3 season last year, the Bald Eagles struggled in their first game of the season, falling 20-9 to Troy.

Turnovers were the story of that game, as the Bald Eagles turned the ball over five times, not a great recipe for success.

When these two programs met last season, Clearfield shut out Bald Eagle by a score of 21-0, giving them their lone conference loss of the season. Clearfield started their season out with a 20-7 loss to Juniata.

This is the game that I will be at covering for PA Football News, and it’s one of three conference matchups taking place in Centre County this week as the Bald Eagles hope to bounce back and get in the win column.

Philipsburg-Osceala Mountaineers (1-0) vs Huntingdon Bearcats (0-1)

Where: Philipsburg-Osceala High School

When: 7:00 PM, Friday, 9/2

After a disappointing 2021 season that saw Philipsburg-Osceala go 2-8, the Mounties started off 2022 on a good note with a 49-20 win over West Branch in Week 1.

The Mounties used a strong rushing attack in this one, as they ran for 335 yards on 38 carries. They had four players rush for over 75 yards each, including 76 from QB Ben Gustkey. Gustkey only needed to throw the ball four times, but he still had 56 yards passing and a touchdown to Nick Johnson.

Philipsburg-Osceala will welcome in a Huntingdon Bearcats team that dropped their first game of the season 7-0 to Mount Union.

The Mounties have taken the past two meetings between these two teams by scores of 7-6 in 2021, and 35-20 in 2020. 

This is the start of Mountain League play for these teams as well, and will be a great chance for Philipsburg-Osceala to show they are a different team than last year. 

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