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Second-half surge: Hollidaysburg outscores Altoona, 27-0, after halftime

By Michael Boytim 7 min read

HOLLIDAYSBURG -- New Hollidaysburg starting quarterback Cole DeLattre admitted before Friday's rivalry clash with Altoona at Tiger Stadium, he was feeling some nerves.

But the senior signal caller was the one keeping his poise when it mattered the most, connecting with JJ Stultz on a 33-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-8 with 8:24 to play in the third quarter for the go-ahead score. DeLattre followed that by putting the Golden Tigers in complete control when he ran for his second of three touchdowns after Altoona committed three personal fouls on one drive.

The result was a 34-7 Hollidaysburg victory, its sixth in eight meetings since the rivalry resumed in 2018.

"All day in school, I was thinking about it and it wasn't too bad," Cole DeLattre said. "Closer to kickoff, it started to get to me. We ran out and saw the fans for the first time, it gets to you a little bit. But it was more just excitement and wanting to put on a show for this huge crowd, and we were able to do that."

Altoona finished the game with eight penalties for 80 yards, including several personal fouls that helped Hollidaysburg and one that took a Logan Wuckovich interception return for a touchdown off the scoreboard.

"I told them if anyone gets another personal foul this season, they are done for that game," Altoona coach Vince Nedimyer Jr. said. "That stuff can't happen. That's on me. That shows we were undisciplined. But we'll have some drills that will hopefully take care of that, and hopefully we don't have anything like that next week."

Play of the game: Stultz outjumped an Altoona defender and just got a foot down in bounds in the corner of the end zone on the go-ahead touchdown that would have been a turnover on downs if it was dropped. The play clock was very close to expiring prior to the snap. Kasen Metzger, who is playing varsity football for the first time this year as a senior, added three catches for 61 yards.

"When I heard he was interested in playing, I talked to him a little bit about it," Coach DeLattre said. "He's been laser-focused since the first day. You can see he's a big asset to our offense, and having JJ on the other side is really special with their length."

Player of the game: Though Cole DeLattre missed some passes and some others were dropped, he finished the game with 119 yards rushing, three touchdowns on the ground and another through the air while passing for 123 yards.

"We knew we could run the ball down their throat," Cole DeLattre said. "We made some pass plays going over the top with some of our taller guys like JJ. We saw they were wearing down, and we just kept going right at them. We started pretty much dominating, and they couldn't do much about it."

Unsung heroes: Matt Walters, Lincoln Wertz, Jackson York, Austin Harr and Scott Payne dominated the line of scrimmage for the Golden Tigers and helped them rush for 313 yards, including 159 from Carter Muth -- including a 79-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter.

"We knew he was fast," Coach DeLattre said. "He ran track this year and improved his speed. We told him to be patient and that a big one was coming. He's very quick going from zero to full speed."

Most vital statistic: There were not many -- if any -- empty seats, and there were people lined up along the fence all around the stadium to take in the game.

"It looked like a big crowd," Homer DeLattre said. "We came running out and saw the place was packed. Both sides filled up pretty quick. It was an awesome atmosphere. I think both communities should be proud of the effort that was out there tonight. It's great for high school football in our area. All the coaches worked their tail off, and the kids played hard."

New role for Davis: Spencer Davis, who was a sophomore on last year's Hollidaysburg football team before suffering sudden cardiac arrest during a practice, was at Friday's game with his Spencer Davis Foundation raising money and awareness about the AEDs that helped save his life.

"The fame is not what I am searching for," Davis said. "I want to make sure more kids are saved, because it really came up fast and was so unexpected. Even if it's not from a hit, if someone has a heart condition -- you might not know about it. Unless you are tested, you would have no clue. People have to be prepared, because without the AED, I would be dead."

Davis played baseball, his favorite sport, this summer and had a successful season.

"I had no limitations, and I was able to play at 100 percent," Davis said. "That was the biggest blessing -- to be able to go out there and compete and give my all and be out there with my friends."

Late arrival: Altoona did not arrive at Tiger Stadium until 6:30 p.m. and were met in the parking lot by the officiating crew, who were attempting to conduct the pregame meeting with captains, after getting off the bus.

The Mountain Lions opted to prepare for the game in Altoona rather than travel to Tiger Stadium.

"We got caught in some traffic out here," Nedimyer said. "But we did stay a little bit longer and warmed up at Mansion. That was it. We were here in plenty of time. It took us about 15 minutes to get from the right turn (off Route 36 toward the junior high) in. Nothing crazy."

Hollidaysburg junior Vincent Consiglio, who had three tackles for loss, including two sacks, for a Tigers team who had to deal with an injury to Ethan Rhodes: "My defensive line really helped by getting a push. I was out there playing for my boy who went down. We rallied around that. I believe this team can win as many games as last year. We have the talent to do that."

Nedimyer: "I don't want to discredit (Hollidaysburg) at all. They did a great job. They made plays whenever they needed to. This is a huge game and a great way to open the season, but it can also be tough on kids as well. We're going to see on film that there were a bunch of plays for us to be had. We have nine more weeks to make those plays, and I'm confident that our kids will make them."

Notable: Parker White scored Altoona's lone touchdown on a 60-yard run with just 16 seconds to play in the first half, and Cody Chathams' extra point tied the game 7-7 at the half. Luke Geishauser added a 52-yard run for the Mountain Lions. Those two plays accounted for 67 percent of the Lions' offensive yards on the night. ... Hollidaysburg's Vince Albarano had an interception to thwart an Altoona drive in the red zone. ... TyKear Davis had two sacks for Altoona. ... The Mountain Lions, who have been known for their running game under Nedimyer, passed the ball 22 times.

Records: Altoona (0-1); Hollidaysburg (1-0).

Next week: Altoona hosts State College, and Hollidaysburg hosts Allderdice next Friday.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Altoona 0 7 0 0 -- 7

Hollidaysburg 7 0 13 14 -- 34

First Quarter

H--DeLattre 1 run (Walters kick), :00.

Second Quarter

A--White 60 run (Chathams kick), :16.

Third Quarter

H--Stultz 33 pass from DeLattre (kick failed), 8:24.

H--DeLattre 18 run (Walters kick), 3:18.

Fourth Quarter

H--Muth 79 (Walters kick), 8:42.

H--DeLattre 39 run (Walters kick), 5:08.

TEAM STATISTICS A H

First downs 6 19

Total yards 167 436

Rushes-yards 23-107 49-313

Yards passing 60 123

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 6-22-1 6-17-1

Punts-avg. 6-39 2-30.5

Fumbles-lost 2-2 4-2

Penalties-yards 8-80 6-45

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Altoona, Geishauser 1-52, White 5-41, Hazlewood 5-16, Chathams 4-14, Clemons 3-1, Baer 2-(-2), TEAM 1-(-7), Jackson 2-(-8). Hollidaysburg, Muth 16-159, DeLattre 22-119, Snyder 7-38, Garlick 1-9, Banks 1-6, TEAM 1-(-3), Stultz 1-(-6).

PASSING--Altoona, White 6-21-60-1, Jackson 0-1-0-0. Hollidaysburg, DeLattre 6-17-123-1.

RECEIVING--Altoona, Chathams 2-12, Baer 1-23, Chisholm 1-13, Wuckovich 1-11, Clemons 1-1. Hollidaysburg, Metzger 3-61, Stultz 1-33, Frazier 1-18, Coke 1-11.

Starting at /week.