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A year ago, Huntingdon made a statement to District 6 with a 7-6 win over Bellwood-Antis.
The Bearcats carried the momentum of that win into a berth in the 3A championship game before they fell to eventual PIAA semifinalist Penn Cambria.
"It was a great defensive football game from both sides," Huntingdon coach Tim Lucko said. "They were able to move the ball. We bent but didn't break defensively. We had a splash play that helped us get our only touchdown. We moved the ball at times, but most of the time it was stagnant. It was a hard-fought game."
Bellwood-Antis, which will host Huntingdon Friday at 7 p.m., went on to make the District 6 Class 2A semifinals but didn't make quite the splash it was hoping to in 2025.
"We're trying to make sure we play our best game every week," Bellwood-Antis coach Nick Lovrich said. "Last year, we lost to them in a close game. I am guessing that's in the back of our kids' minds, but we're going to treat this like the first two games and try to play our best game of the year and keep improving."
Those first two games have been huge wins over Clearfield and Bishop McCort -- teams both predicted to do very well this season.
"Everyone knows about the dominant duo in the backfield (Chase Plummer and Alex McCartney)," Lucko said. "To me, their line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball has stood out to me and impressed me. That's something we have to be ready for. They are big and physical at the line of scrimmage and have big physical backs. Their quarterback has been efficient, which is scary. You're facing a darn good football team."
Lovrich has been happy with his team so far but sees room for improvement.
"There are always little things we can clean up on both sides of the ball," Lovrich said. "But generally, we have been pretty happy with how we have been playing. The kids are excited. They have been very unselfish, and we have been playing well. We want to continue on that roll."
Huntingdon had to replace a lot of key players, especially on its line.
"We're making progress," Lucko said. "The exciting thing for us this year is that it's now time for people like Cole Lane and Javaughn Dodson to step into bigger roles. So far, they have played well in both games. We are hoping that continues. We had to replace four starters up front, so that's still a work in progress. But I love the effort the kids have given the first couple weeks."
New opponent
Hollidaysburg has traveled all over the state with its independent schedule the last several seasons, but Susquehanna Township -- the Golden Tigers' opponent on Friday at 7 p.m. -- is a new addition to the slate.
"They have a solid group of guys back from last year's 4A state quarterfinal team," Hollidaysburg coach Homer DeLattre said. "They lost to Twin Valley in the final eight, the same round we lost in. Twin Valley is also the team that beat them (in Week 2). Twin Valley is fifth or sixth ranked in 5A, and last week's game was a close game, 17-14, and a very physical game. In the first week, they lost to West York, 19-9, and got stopped on the goal line with a few minutes left down 13-9. West York is the seventh-ranked team in 4A. They are 0-2 but lost to two state-ranked teams."
Hollidaysburg is 2-0 with wins over Altoona and Allegany out of Cumberland, Maryland.
"We haven't turned the ball over, which is critical," DeLattre said. "We haven't run the football as successfully. We have had some big plays in the passing game, but our completion percentage is not really high. We have to be better with that, but we are getting a lot of people involved. We have multiple guys that can do things with the football, which has been great."
The Golden Tigers are playing without running back Carter Muth, who was injured on his second carry against Altoona in the opener.
But Hollidaysburg's practice format has helped his replacements -- Isaac Vent, Vincent Consiglio, Grayson Snyder and Joey Richardson all get time.
"We don't have ones playing each other all the time," DeLattre said. "We play ones versus twos, and our guys are getting constant reps against our best players all the time. We can practice that way with 80 guys on our roster. It's like a college-type practice where we're practicing goods on goods."