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Hollidaysburg's high school football team is coming off the two best seasons in Golden Tiger history, but Friday night, it will be playing a squad in Williamsport at Tiger Stadium that is enjoying its best year in a decade.
"They have a ton of athletes out for new coach Kevin Brown's first year," Hollidaysburg coach Homer DeLattre said. "He's got the guys playing really well. They have their best record in the last 10 years. They will definitely be a challenge for us. They are a little bigger in size than some of the teams we have played recently. They boast a number of 250- or 260-pound kids up front. It's going to be a great challenge for us."
The Millionaires come to town at 6-2 despite having to play with their backup quarterback for part of the season. Their starter, Tevin Williams, is back and ready to play Friday.
"They have a lot of athletes," DeLattre said. "They have their quarterback back. He's an all-state track and basketball player and a great athlete. He was averaging 400 yards a game after the first two and a half games and then got injured. They had a backup in and still did a good job."
Hollidaysburg is coming off a 50-18 win over Jersey Shore in which quarterback Vincent Albarano threw for nearly 300 yards and looked as impressive as he has all season.
"I think we're getting really good with the timing aspects and route running," DeLattre said. "We have some good receivers winning one-on-one battles, but he's been really accurate. He's been able to throw from the pocket on the run. Really everything is coming along, and it's the time of the year you're hoping to play your best."
To do that, Hollidaysburg will need to find success against big offensive and defensive lines like it will face Friday against Williamsport.
"We're definitely going to see that throughout the playoffs," DeLattre said. "We're making a lot of progress up front and have been playing really well, not only protecting the quarterback but running the football. We hope to continue to do that this week against a really good opponent."
Refocusing
The last two weeks of football for Altoona, lopsided losses to Bishop McDevitt and State College, were discouraging after a 4-2 start to the season.
But the Mountain Lions still have a good opportunity to finish the regular season 6-4, and that starts with a Friday trip to 2-6 Cedar Cliff.
"I just want to see them continue to play hard," Altoona coach Vince Nedimyer Jr. said. "We're finally getting to having everyone back to full health. We have been lucky, knock on wood, with injuries. We want to put together two solid weeks of football and see what happens going forward."
Cedar Cliff has beaten Altoona both times since it was added to the Lions' schedule three years ago but has lost four of its last five games.
"They are always big and physical," Nedimyer said. "They are well-coached, and last year I think that's what it came down to. They were a little more physical than we were on the road down there. We have to be ready for that and play physical ourselves."
Rather than completely flush the State College loss, Nedimyer said his team will learn from it and then move on.
"We'll watch it. We always watch at least a little of it on Monday," Nedimyer said. "We'll do that and look at the good and any bad that we had, and we'll coach them up and move on. Our kids have done a pretty nice job all year long whether it's a win or a loss to forget what happened and just move on."
Passing test
It would be hard to pinpoint anything Bishop Guilfoyle Academy isn't doing well on the field right now, but Friday night when the Marauders travel to Clearfield, coach Justin Wheeler would like to see his secondary play lockdown defense.
"I like that we have Clearfield this week," Wheeler said. "The last couple weeks, we have been playing teams that like to run the ball. This is a good week for us. I want our defensive backs to continue to work to get better in the passing game. We're going to face some teams moving forward that throw the ball pretty well, so this will be a good opportunity to work on that."
Clearfield, after being a dominant run team the last few seasons, has developed more of a passing game this year and enters Friday's game with a 4-4 mark.
"They play pretty wide open and throw the ball really well," Wheeler said. "They have some really young, explosive players that have really gotten better throughout the season. I think they are building a lot of confidence and playing their best football right now."
The Marauders stand at 8-1 after nine weeks and will have a chance to avenge that loss in the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference championship game against Richland next week if they beat Clearfield.
Wheeler is hoping his team goes into that game and the District 6 playoffs a healthier team that has the depth for a long postseason run.
"We have a couple injuries," Wheeler said. "They will be coming back soon, but right now we're working some younger guys in, which is really a great experience so when those other guys come back anywhere from a week to three weeks from now, I think we'll have even more depth."