Another daunting task for AAHS football
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The Altoona high school football team has checked a lot of boxes this season including winning on the road and playing a Mid-Penn Commonwealth powerhouse close in its loss to Harrisburg at Mansion Park.
Friday night, the Mountain Lions will have to do both -- go on the road and play one of the upper-tier teams in Bishop McDevitt.
"They are fast and just a good football team," Altoona coach Vince Nedimyer Jr. said. "They are doing their job and playing off one another. They have been in the right place at the right time."
The Crusaders have just one loss -- to State College -- and have earned shutout wins in four of their five victories.
But Nedimyer said Altoona doesn't need to make any drastic changes to be successful offensively.
"We have to just get better at the things we're doing," Nedimyer said. "Maybe a couple things here and there, but nothing crazy. We always want our kids to know what they are doing and play fast. We'll just keep building on the things we have been doing."
The Mountain Lions got senior Luke Geishauser back in a more complete role in last Friday's win over Chambersburg, and having one of their best athletes back will help against McDevitt.
"It was great," Nedimyer said. "I know he had a blast playing. He was super excited to get back out on the field, and he definitely brings a spark no matter where he's at when he's in the game. It was great to have him."
The Crusaders have been a pass-first team this year with quarterback Sebastian Williams already throwing for 1,387 yards and 21 touchdowns. McDevitt has four players with at least 10 receptions led by Jontai Quick and his 25 catches for 452 yards.
It's the start of a tough stretch for Altoona, which will host State College next week.
"We just want to stay as healthy as we can and just keep building and go from there," Nedimyer said. "We'll see how it ends, and if we get the chance, we'll go into the playoffs and see what happens."
Upset brewing?
Northern Bedford nearly knocked off Meyersdale in the regular season last year before falling, 28-6, in the postseason.
The Red Raiders went on to win the District 5 Class 1A championship and seem to be in good position to repeat this year at 5-1 through six weeks.
"They are well coached and do the little things well," Northern Bedford coach Garry Black said. "They run the ball well, and when they want to set up their passing game, they seem to do a good job being able to find guys in space. Those guys have been given some really nice opportunities."
But when the Black Panthers host Meyersdale on Friday, Black believes the defending champions will be seeing a different team.
"Last year we experienced all those close losses," Black said. "We were just really young. Getting everyone back for another year and watching them develop in terms of their strength has been impressive. We made it a point this year to lift as part of our practice to continue what we built through the summer. I think our line has really shown to be a strength. We dealt with some injuries and guys in and out, but we have had a core seven that step in and all play and do a great job. Our skill guys went through growing pains on the field last year, but it's helping us now on Fridays."
Northern Bedford is coming off its best performance of the year, a 39-0 blanking of Tussey Mountain.
"We talked about it in the pregame, and it's something we have been chasing for a year and a half now," Black said. "There was just something I saw when we played Berlin that showed we had turned the corner and matured as a football team. I think they showed that on Friday. We won on the offensive, defensive and special teams side of things. It was a complete team win with a lot of guys contributing"
Repeating that on Friday will have to start with stopping Meyersdale's Caleb Sines, who has run for 756 yards already this season.
Hornets face challenge
The good news for Juniata Valley is that the Green Hornets moved up to No. 3 in the District 6 Class 1A football playoff rankings with a big win over Moshannon Valley last week.
The bad news is that it might be tough staying there with undefeated Mount Union headed to town on Friday.
The Trojans are led by Nasir Collins, who has already run for 883 yards and 21 touchdowns. When he fills in at quarterback, he's thrown for 312 yards despite completing just nine passes this season.
"He's obviously a very special player," Juniata Valley coach Bill Musser said. "But what helps him tremendously is that he has (Maddox) Hobbs at quarterback, and he's got (TyJeir Hooper) and (Hussan Posey) in the backfield with him. Those kids are athletes. You can't just focus on him specifically. Once he gets the ball in his hands, we need 11 guys trying to tackle him."
The Green Hornets shut out Moshannon Valley last week and held on for a 7-0 win and improved to 4-2.
"I'm really happy, and last week was big," Musser said. "Coach (Michael) Keith has that team playing with a lot of confidence and doing things that will present problems for people. We did a good job raising our level of play. But we'll have to raise it another level this week, and hopefully they understand that's the level we'll continue to need to play at to be able to get into the playoffs."
To do that, the defense will have to play even better than it did last week.
"Our defense has been and still is a work in progress," Musser said. "They are really starting to believe in what we are asking them to do. That's starting to show."