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By Michael Boytim
mboytim@altoonamirror.com
There hasn't been much to smile about during Altoona's high school football season this year, and the Mountain Lions have had some long bus rides to think about that.
That made last Friday's two-hour trek home from Chambersburg that much better after Altoona scored with less than two minutes to play to beat the Trojans for its first win of the 2024 campaign.
"After any win, it's good," Altoona coach Vince Nedimyer Jr. said. "After starting with seven straight losses and winning in the way we did, it was a lot of fun."
The Mountain Lions matched their highest point total of the season by putting up 21 points and continued to play strong defense, especially considering the strength of the Mid-Penn Conference.
Now, Altoona returns home to host Cedar Cliff on Friday at Mansion Park.
"I think it will be good," Nedimyer said. "We get to play at home and it's senior night, so we will get to celebrate those kids, and it's supposed to be a nice night. We're looking forward to it."
The Colts just snapped a five-game losing streak themselves with a win over Carlisle. Despite coming in with a 3-5 mark, Cedar Cliff has averaged 4.5 yards per rush this year.
"They are big and physical and want to run downhill," Nedimyer said. "They have a good quarterback and good kids up front. We're going to have to do the same things we have done all year long and execute on offense and tackle on defense. If we do those things, we'll be in the game."
Altoona closes its regular season against winless Carlisle next week, but there has been no decision made yet on what the Mountain Lions' record would need to be to consider entering the playoffs and playing State College again for the District 6 Class 6A title.
"Honestly, we haven't thought much about it," Nedimyer said. "We have two left. Our goal is to win our final three games here. We'll talk about that after the 10th game."
SUBHED: BG cruise control
Everything seems to be working for Bishop Guilfoyle Academy this season during its 8-0 start.
"Coming in, we knew we had some pretty good athletes and we had some guys on the line that we needed to replace," Marauders coach Justin Wheeler said. "We feel like they have come along pretty well. We would like to run the ball a little bit better, but overall I think we're playing good football here at the end of the year."
In addition to the line developing, players like quarterback Chase Kissell and Hamilton Gates, who started last year, have taken the next step.
"They were first-year starters all last year. They played but didn't necessarily take ownership of the game where they were making changes when they saw something," Wheeler said. "Last year, whatever was called, they did. Now, they are confident enough that we give them choices and they are able to audible and change things. They are taking ownership of the offense, and I think that's led to a huge amount of growth when it comes to their leadership on the field."
BG will attempt to remain unbeaten when it travels to Philipsburg-Osceola on Friday, a team that the Marauders struggled with at Mansion Park last year in a 22-7 win.
"They got a couple guys healthy last week that they had earlier in the year, and they are back to running the ball well," Wheeler said. "I think they are balanced. We didn't play real well against them last year, and they run a lot of misdirection that we have to be disciplined against."
SUBHED: Merely a freshman?
Williamsport has lost four straight games after starting 4-0, and although a lot of that has to do with tougher competition, the Millionaires have opted to make a quarterback switch and go with freshman Tevin Williams, who got his first start last week.
Now, he'll take the field Friday at Tiger Stadium against a Hollidaysburg team that stands at 7-1.
"They played some really good teams the last few weeks and some comparable teams that we've been able to watch," Hollidaysburg coach Homer DeLattre said. "They are a long, quick and athletic team. That's worrisome. They have a lot of big plays. They inserted a new freshman quarterback that looks like he's going to have a great career. They are breaking him in at the end of the season. He presents challenges both running and passing. We have to contain him and keep guys in front of us."
The Golden Tigers ran for 280 yards last week in a 57-14 win over Selinsgrove after DeLattre's team set a focus on running the ball better prior to the game.
"The guys did a great job," DeLattre said. "The offensive line performed extremely well. We used some of our tight end sets, and they did a great job inserting themselves into the blocking scheme. Both running backs ran extremely hard. Maddox Bainey had some nice carries. Cole (DeLattre) had a nice play from the quarterback position with a run. Overall, I was very pleased with how we ran the ball. We had 50 carries in the game which is a real high number. We were very balanced."
With just two games left before the postseason, DeLattre is relatively happy with how his team has been playing.
"Our defense and special teams have been great all year long," DeLattre said. "We were pretty consistent on offense this past week, and we have scored quite a bit of points this year, but offensively, we want to be balanced and playing our best football come playoff time."