Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference football title on line in Bishop Guilfoyle-Richland rematch
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Bishop Guilfoyle Academy suffered its only loss to date in the 2026 high school football season in a heartbreaking manner back on Sept. 4, when Richland junior outside linebacker Alex Bond's interception at the Rams' 3-yard line with 35 seconds left in the game stymied a potential go-ahead BG scoring chance and secured a 21-16 Richland victory.
That game took place at Richland's Herlinger Field, where a rematch between the two 8-1 teams will take place tonight at 7:30 p.m. with the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference championship on the line.
These kinds of do-overs aren't commonplace in life or in sports, and BG aims to make the most of the opportunity.
"It's great to be in the Laurel Highlands Conference championship game,'' said BG coach Justin Wheeler, whose Marauders will be making their third appearance in the conference title game in the four seasons that the league's East-West season-ending format of crossover games has been used.
BG sustained a controversial loss at Penn Cambria in the 2024 championship game, and lost to a very talented Bishop McCort Catholic squad in the 2025 title game on Saint Francis University's DeGol Field.
"You don't love playing the same team twice in one season, but, since we didn't win that first game, we are excited to get the chance to beat them when we play them for a second time,'' Wheeler said of Friday's rematch against Richland.
The Marauders boast an outstanding junior quarterback in Wheeler's son, Jay, whose agility and open-field speed and shiftiness have enabled him to rush for 1,098 yards on 146 carries and 20 touchdowns this season. He has also completed 59 of 87 passes for 825 yards and seven scores.
Coach Wheeler, who has directed the BG program to five PIAA Class 1A state championships and seven appearances in the state title game in his 16 years at the Marauders' helm, has stressed the importance to his team of cultivating offensive balance as the year has progressed, and the players have heeded that advice.
"I think that we're probably a little bit more of a different team now than we played (Richland) the first time this year,'' Coach Wheeler said. "I like the way that in the last half of the (regular) season, we have really become pretty balanced.
"We're running the ball well and we're throwing the ball well, and I think that's got to be the game plan again this week.''
Senior slotback Evan Schimminger leads the Marauders in receiving with 37 catches for 574 yards and five touchdowns this season, and he has also rushed for 160 yards on 26 carries.
Rugged sophomore back Keegan Hewitt has rushed for 566 yards on 96 carries and 11 scores for BG this year.
"Watching them on film, they are really balanced offensively,'' Richland coach Brandon Bailey said of the Marauders. "I think that they make a real effort to get a lot of different kids involved.''
That said, Jay Wheeler is still the proverbial straw who stirs the drink for BG.
"At the end of the day, we have to get our 11 guys on our defense lined up against their offense, and we have to be able to tackle No. 2 (Jay Wheeler),'' Bailey said.
Defensively, BG has allowed opponents an average of just eight points per game, and the Marauders have posted four shutout wins, including a 38-0 whitewashing of Clearfield last Friday.
That staunch BG defensive unit will get a stiff challenge from a Richland offense that runs and throws the ball equally well, and has scored an average of over 33 points per game.
Junior quarterback Jake Regan is a veteran at the position who has completed 129 of 215 passes for 1,901 yards and 21 touchdowns this season for Richland, while rushing for 384 yards on 68 carries and three scores.
Regan has two outstanding senior receiving targets in Rutgers University commit Arnold Mugerwa, who has 42 receptions for 581 yards and eight touchdowns this season, and Jamere Christian, who has a team-leading 49 catches for 803 yards and seven scores.
Bullish senior back Grayson Mahla provides the Rams a nice ground complement with 594 rushing yards on 88 carries and seven touchdowns, and wideout Bond, who has 22 receptions for 328 yards and three touchdowns, is another valuable element in Richland's air game.
"There's no doubt that they have probably the two best receivers as a duo in the conference (in Mugerwa and Christian), and a quarterback (Regan) who is a dual threat kid,'' Coach Wheeler said of the Rams, who suffered their only loss of the season, 16-13, on the road to Bellefonte Oct. 16 but bounced back to rout Bedford, 64-14, last Friday.
"They're pretty difficult to defend,'' Coach Wheeler said. "If you widen out on defense they can run the ball with their quarterback and the Mahla kid, and if you key against their run, their passing game is very tough to defend.''
Coach Wheeler believes that limiting Richland's big plays will be a key factor Friday.
"We did a pretty good job defending against them in the first game, but they still hit us for some big plays, so we really have to do a better job of stopping their big plays and forcing them to go the length of the field,'' Coach Wheeler said.
BG has locked up the top seed for the upcoming District 6 Class 1A playoffs, while Richland controls its own destiny in its quest to secure the top seed in the District 6 Class 2A playoffs and will clinch that top seed by beating BG on Friday.
That fact makes Friday's LHAC championship game important for more than one reason for Richland.
"I think that both programs know how difficult it is to get here,'' said Bailey, whose Richland program lost to Central in the 2023 LHAC title game. "Both Richland and BG have actually been the losing teams in the conference championship game in the three years of the existence of the (conference's East-West) crossover games.
"Neither of us has won the league championship during those three years, so this is a really big game, and I'm sure that it will be a great battle on Friday night,'' Bailey said.