State College uses six rushing touchdowns to win on the road over Altoona

Tagged under: Centre County Report, District 6, Gameday Hub, News

Brendan Ricciardi | September 17, 2022

ALTOONA, Pa. – The State College Little Lions used six rushing touchdowns including four from their quarterbacks to take down Altoona 55-14 as they win their fourth straight game to start the season.

It was about as dominant of a start as you could dream of for State College as they forced a quick three-and-out and marched right down the field, where Finn Furmanek took a quarterback sneak in for a one-yard touchdown.

The next drive for each team saw a lot more of the same, as State College forced another three-and-out, and this time it was Owen Yerka in at quarterback running for a 19-yard touchdown.

State College quickly jumped out to a 21-0 lead after another one-yard touchdown on the next drive from Furmanek, and that put the Little Lions exactly where Head Coach Matt Lintal wanted to be against this Altoona offense.

“If you’re playing in one of those games where they get up and it’s a possession game, obviously they can eat a lot of clock with the triple option offense that they run,” Lintal said. “Being able to get that first defensive stop and those first two touchdowns was huge because then they feel like they’re playing catch-up and get a little out of their game.”

After Altoona got on the board on a five-yard touchdown run from Alex Yost to get some momentum, State College answered right back with a sensational 30-yard completion from a scrambling Finn Furmanek to Donte Nastasi, followed by a 40-yard rushing touchdown from Freshman RB D’Antae Sheffey on the very next play.

“That was a time where they could have gotten some momentum if we would have thrown a pick off that series or something like that,” Linal said. “Taking it down the field really helped quiet their chance of a comeback.”

The icing on the cake of the first half for State College came as time expired on the clock, when Furmanek heaved up a 35-yard Hail Mary attempt, and Michael Gaul came up with it in the end zone to take a 35-7 lead despite defensive pass interference on the play.

The second half started off a lot like the first, as Owen Yerka ran in the fourth rushing touchdown from a Little Lions quarterback to extend the lead to 42-7.

Many High School coaches dream of having even one quarterback with the type of mobility and athleticism that Finn Furmanek and Owen Yerka have, and Matt Lintal is fortunate enough that he gets to have two.

“Finn and Owen, they’re great kids, they’re selfless kids, they come out here and do whatever is asked of them,” Lintal said. “We got down inside of that area where it’s a quarterback run whether it’s a wedge or whatnot, and for them to end up getting four touchdowns it’s pretty awesome and I’m proud of those kids.”

Just for good measure, State College would add on two more rushing touchdowns in the second half thanks to a 43-yard score from Matt Wall and a 15-yard run from Sahleek Wilson.

State College takes this one by a score of 55-14, and it took a whole team to get that result.

“I’m really proud of our kids’ effort, our coaches did a fantastic job this week with Mark Baney and his staff preparing for the triple option offense,” Lintal said. “We had a great week of practice, and the kids really came out here and showed it tonight.”

State College improves to 4-0 on the year, and 1-0 in the Mid-Penn Commonwealth conference. They’ll be back in action next Friday night against a Central Dauphin team that beat them 42-21 last season.

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews