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Mtn. Lions can’t keep up with SC

Photo for the Mirror by Chuck Meyers Altoona’s Adam Port gets a sack of State College’s Tommy Friberg on Friday night.

STATE COLLEGE — The Altoona offense moved the ball fairly well Friday night.

The State College offense moved it much better — and faster.

The Little Lions were blazing across Memorial Field’s turf like it was a drag race.

“They have so many weapons,” Altoona coach Nick Felus said. “They are very explosive. We just have to go back to the drawing board, and it starts with tackling. I don’t think we tackled well in space.”

The Little Lions scored on 6-of-7 first-half possessions, with the longest drive taking just 2:48, and blew away the Mountain Lions, 49-14, in the first meeting between the long-time rivals since 2009.

“I was happy,” said Cohen Russell, who celebrated senior night by catching three passes for 21 yards, one for a touchdown. “Our offensive line was blocking amazing. They’ve been practicing hard all week, and it showed out on the field tonight.”

Isaiah Edwards had an impressive night for the Little Lions (8-1), rushing for 160 yards on 11 carries and scoring three touchdowns. His numbers could have been even better, with a 78-yard touchdown run wiped out by a holding penalty. Dresyn Green ran for 49 yards with two touchdowns on four carries, and Keaton Ellis had 79 yards on just two runs.

In all, State College racked up 385 yards on the ground an 507 yards of total offense. Tommy Friberg was 7 for 9 passing for 74 yards and a touchdown, as he, Russell, Ellis and Green didn’t play on offense after halftime.

“We’ve had two very tough games in a row, very physical games,” State College coach Matt Lintal said. “It was nice to come out here tonight … and this rivalry will get intense again.”

The Mountain Lions (3-6) did manage 304 yards of offense, including an 8 of 18 passing night for quarterback Connor McCarthy, seven catches for 95 yards and two touchdowns for Connor Adams, and 15 carries for 63 yards for Mitchell Lawhead.

“We were able to move the football and we got into a rhythm, I thought,” Felus said. “Some of our kids made some plays, but we’ve got to make more plays.”

State College closes the regular season at Cumberland Valley next Friday, and Altoona (3-6) hosts Harrisburg, before the start of the District 6 playoffs.

The Little Lions rolled up 309 yards by halftime with their up-tempo offense. Three of the drives lasted less than a minute, and the only drive that didn’t result in a score was a fumbled snap on fourth-and-goal at the Altoona 1 on their final drive of the half.

It began with a 90-yard march, with Friberg hitting Russell on a bubble screen pass to the right side, and the senior cut all the way back to the opposite side to find the goal line. It was the Little Lions’ longest drive of the first half at just 2:48.

That fast score followed the Mountain Lions’ opening drive, a five-minute roll almost entirely on the ground, but it stalled with a failed fourth-down conversion at the State College 10.

“We’ve just got to make plays in crucial situations, and we didn’t make the plays,” Felus said. “The effort was there and the kids worked hard, we did some really good things, but we know what we have to correct to get better.”

Just 42 seconds after that first score, stopping Altoona on a three-and-out possession, Green was sprinting 53 yards for a score. A mere 1:44 later, Edwards was reaching the end zone on a 2-yard run. A 55-yard run by Ellis on a fake punt led to a 9-yard scoring run for Green early in the second quarter.

The Mountain Lions finally closed out a drive, covering 70 yards, with a fourth-down, McCarthy-to-Adams 23-yard connection netting the points.

State College needed just 1:27 to respond, however, with Edwards scoring again on a 7-yard run. A 34-yard punt return by Russell gave the Little Lions another short field, and another score came soon after. Friberg hit Russell on a short pass, but he fumbled just before he reached the goal line, and Brady Dorner pounced on the ball in the end zone for a 42-7 lead by halftime.

“Our kids didn’t get rattled,” Felus said. “We’ve just got to keep getting better. We’re close but there are things we need to do.”

McCarthy and Adams hooked up again for a 32-yard strike in the third quarter for Altoona’s other touchdown, and a 77-yard burst by Edwards to open the fourth quarter finished the scoring.

Though the schools battle in every other sport, and in other levels of football, the varsity teams hadn’t met since all of Friday’s players were in elementary school.

“There is still that competitive spirit with Altoona and State College,” Lintal said. “There’s no shortage of getting the guys fired up.”

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Altoona 0 7 7 0 — 14

State College 21 21 0 7 — 49

First Quarter

SC–Russell 8 pass from Friberg (Renfrew kick) 3:35

SC–Green (Renfrew kick) 2:53

SC–Edwards 2 run (Renfrew kick) 1:09

Second Quarter

SC–Green 9 run (Renfrew) 7:30

A–Adams 23 pass from McCarthy (Eisel kick) 4:37

SC–Edwards 7 run (Renfrew kick) 3:10

SC–Dorner fumble recovery in end zone (Renfrew kick) 1:38

Third Quarter

A–Adams 32 pass from McCarthy (Eisel kick) 0:04.

Fourth Quarter

SC–Edwards 77 run (Aiden Spitler kick) 11:40.

TEAM STATISTICS A SC

First downs 14 18

Total yards 304 507

Rushes-yards 32-185 31-385

Yards passing 119 122

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 10-25-0 11-14-1

Punts-avg. 4-38.5 2-32.0

Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-0

Penalties-yards 6-41 7-55

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Altoona, Lawhead 15-63, McCarthy 6-54, Day 6-23, Adams 1-5, Murray 1-15, McCaulley 3-25. State College, Edwards 11-160, Green 4-49, Friberg 4-21, Ellis 2-79, Howell 2-16, Seidr 2-18, Moore 1-18, Wunz 1-26, Betts 3-0, Team 1-(minus) 2.

PASSING– Altoona, McCarthy 8-18-0 117, Day 2-7-1 2, State College, Friberg 7-9-0 74, Green 1-1-0 23, Seider 3-4-1 25.

RECEIVING– Altoona, Adams 7-95, Barnes 2-22, Murray 1-2. State College, Russell 3-21, Ellis 2-32, Bullock 1-16, Green 1-5, Stremoukhov 1-5, Dreyer 1-7, Howell 1-13.

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