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Altoona trying to end on high note

After a promising start, it’s turned out to be a rough first year for the Altoona Area High School Mountain Lion football team under Nick Felus.

A five-game losing skid has the Lions at 2-7 and out of the WPIAL Class 6A playoff hunt.

Tonight’s game at 5-3 Seneca Valley gives Felus and the Lions a chance to go out on a high note and to create a positive vibe entering the offseason that hopefully could be a springboard for 2017 for Altoona.

Kickoff at NexTier Stadium in Harmony is 7 p.m.

“We want to get better at each position fundamentally. We want to get better as a unit on offense, a unit on defense, special teams. We want to put this whole week together and keep competing, keep battling,” Felus said. “I told the players I want to see them finish it off so they can see the fruits of their labor.”

The Lions were 2-2 after defeating a Peters Township team that turned out to be pretty capable. However, since then, the only time Altoona has come close to a third win was a home loss in overtime to Canon-McMillan. The next closest game was decided by 28 points.

Nowhere have the Lions struggles been more evident than on offense. Altoona has scored 28 points over its last five games and been shut out in three straight.

With quarterback Ryan Shope out, Altoona only managed 10 yards in a 35-0 loss at Bethel Park, and they’ve had negative yardage rushing two consecutive games.

“We just can’t get it all together. We can’t get all 11 players on the same page at once,” Felus said. “We went back to basics this week. We want to try to establish a strong running game, and we want to get back to moving the football, especially on first down. I think first down is huge.”

Josh Russo and Tyler Petucci both were on a pace to finish in the 500-to-700-yard territory rushing around the midpoint of the season, but that’s tailed off the last few games as the Lions have met WPIAL powers like Bethel Park and Pittsburgh Central Catholic.

While there’s an eye to the future tonight, Felus also has the present on his mind. Twenty seniors will play their last football game at Altoona, including multi-year contributors like Shope, Russo, Kyle Good, Jake Lindner, Jarod Kutz, Brinton Simington, Daiquain Watson and Blaise Colabove.

“They’ve shown work ethic. They’ve shown leadership. We want to send the senior group out with a win,” Felus said.

To accomplish that, the Lions will have to find a way to knock off a team that beat Penn Hills and Bethel Park in the last month.

“They’re a physical team. They like to run the inside zone. They have good size up front. They have a very athletic quarterback,” Felus said. “They want to line up and play.”

Bruising Hank Royal enters the contest needing 98 yards to reach 1,000 rushing this season for the Raiders, who are headed to the playoffs for the second year in a row. Jack Cook, a good decision-maker, has thrown for 1,194 yards and 13 touchdowns, and Payton Skalos has caught 39 passes while Royal has hauled in 19.

The Raiders are guided by Dave Vestal, who produced players like Paul Posluszny and Rushel Shell in 14 years at Hopewell, where he still teaches.

“We needed to win the Penn Hills game to put ourselves in position to make the playoffs, and we did that. We’ve had a couple of seniors that have done a pretty nice job for us, and I think we play pretty well as a team,” Vestal said. “Defensively, we have to take away what (the Lions) do best. We’re going to have to be disciplined.

Felus thinks setting a tone in the early minutes of the game will go a long way toward setting a tone for the offseason.

“I think we’ve got out of the gate fast,” Felus said. “I think we need to play fast offensively. We want to get back to playing with some tempo. Defensively, we want to put them in as many third-down-and-long, third-down-and-medium situations as we can.”

The matchup

Game: Altoona Mountain Lions (2-7) vs. Seneca Valley Raiders (5-3)

Where: NexTier Stadium, Harmony

When: Tonight, 7 p.m.

The coaches: Altoona — Nick Felus (2-7, first year); Seneca Valley — Dave Vestal (102-67, 16th year)

Series record: 0-0

Last meeting: First meeting

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