Football

Lions’ goal: Altoona Mountain Lions focused on getting better as a group

‘We’re going to focus on how we can get better as a group’

After his team opened its season last Friday with a penalty-marred performance in a 34-7 loss to archrival Hollidaysburg, Altoona coach Vince Nedimyer Jr. said that his squad's preparation this week will truly be an inside job.

Altoona's opponent for this Friday night's 7 p.m. Mid-Penn Conference opener at Mansion Park is traditionally talent-laden State College, which started its season with a 41-14 non-conference rout of Gateway last week.

But Nedimyer said that his team's focus this week will not be primarily on State College, but rather, on what the Mountain Lions can improve upon after committing eight penalties for 80 yards in their season opener and watching a game that had been tied, 7-7 at halftime get out of hand in the second half.

"Our focus will be on us,'' Nedimyer said. "We're going to focus on ourselves and improve upon the things that we saw on film on ourselves from last week's game. We're going to focus on how we can get better as a group.

"(State College) has a good group of kids, but we'll focus on ourselves and try to improve upon the mistakes that we made last week,'' Nedimyer added.

Costly penalties, particularly personal fouls, were the worst of the mistakes that Altoona committed in last week's game.

One personal foul penalty by the Mountain Lions negated what would have been Logan Wuckovich's interception return for a touchdown.

Altoona committed three more personal foul penalties to grease a second-half Hollidaysburg drive that resulted in a touchdown that put the Golden Tigers ahead, 21-7.

"The penalty that resulted in the interception for a touchdown getting called back was a tough play for us to overcome,'' Nedimyer said. "We had eight penalties for 80 yards last week, so that's something that we're going to be focused on this week.''

Nedimyer was generally pleased with the performance of his team's defense in last week's game.

"Our defense played well enough for us to win last week,'' Nedimyer said. "Preventing big plays is always (the emphasis on defense), no matter who we're playing.

"We gave up a few big plays last week,'' Nedimyer added. "If we can prevent that this Friday night, we think that we can be in a position to win.''

Senior Parker White, making his varsity debut at quarterback last Friday for Altoona, came up with the Mountain Lions' biggest play of the night by improvising after a broken play to ramble 60 yards for a touchdown in the final seconds of the first half, tying the game, 7-7.

"The play broke down, and his athleticism took over and he made a play down the sideline that tied the game going into the half,'' Nedimyer said. "But I think that if you were to ask him, he would tell you that he made some good plays but that there were also some plays that he left out there on the field that could have been big plays for us.

"Those are the plays that we're just going to continue to concentrate on and hope that we can make in the next nine weeks of the season.''

White adds a bit more of a passing dimension than what the Mountain Lions have had in the recent past.

"He's a good athlete who made some real accurate passes in the Hollidaysburg game, so there's a different level of threat in (Altoona's) passing game for us there,'' veteran State College coach Matt Lintal said. "You've got to be ready for a little bit more of a balanced attack from them now than you did in the past.''

State College has a big weapon back in its offensive arsenal this year in shifty senior running back D'Antae Sheffey, a Syracuse University commit who rushed for 197 yards on 26 carries and two touchdowns last week.

Sheffey had played his first two varsity seasons at State College before transferring to Harrisburg High School for his junior year. He then transferred back to State College for his senior year, giving the 2025 Little Lions a huge boost.

"He's a very team-oriented, selfless football player who is doing a great job and who plays with good intensity,'' Lintal said of Sheffey.

Sophomore quarterback Connor Kukla had a solid varsity debut last Friday for State College, throwing for 130 yards and two touchdowns to provide the Little Lions with plenty of offensive balance.

"Connor is going to be a phenomenal football player,'' Lintal said. "He led our ninth-grade team to an undefeated season last year. He's got a really great, broad skill set where he can run, he can throw, and he's making good decisions with the football. We're excited for him to have that opportunity to go out and develop.''

For Nedimyer and the Mountain Lions, this week will be a bounce-back project.

"We're going to get after our kids in practice just like we do every other week, and we'll be ready to go on Friday,'' Nedimyer said.

State College vs. Altoona

When: Friday, 7 p.m.

Where: Mansion Park.

Records: State College (1-0), Altoona (0-1).

Coaches: Matt Lintal is 102-35 in his 12th season at State College. Vince Nedimyer Jr. is 21-42 in his seventh season at Altoona.

Last week: State College opened its season at home with a 41-14 win over Gateway, while Altoona lost its season opener, 34-7 at Hollidaysburg.

Last season: State College won, 57-0 at home.