Turnabout is fair play, and this was almost an exact turnabout.
The first time State College and Harrisburg met up this season, the Cougars outlasted the Little Lions for a 15-13 Mid Penn victory on Oct. 23 in Harrisburg. The Cougars stopped a last-second two-point conversion to preserve their win.
The second time the two faced each other, it came down to the final seconds again.
But this time, under far brighter stage lights last weekend in the PIAA quarterfinals, a State College last-quarter rally was capped with a 34-yard field goal by Kajetan Kaszubowski with three seconds remaining giving the Lions a thrilling, 16-13 victory.
The win placed State College in the state semifinal against WPIAL champion and 13-0 Mt. Lebanon on Saturday, at Mansion Park Stadium. It’s State College’s first semifinal appearance since 2009.
Harrisburg led most of the way in the mostly defensive clash in the quarterfinal. The Cougars took a 7-0 lead at halftime and extended that to 13-3 heading into the fourth quarter.
But SC closed that to 13-10 after a Brady Bendik (34 carries, 132 yards) 4-yard touchdown run with just under nine minutes to play.
The Lion defense subsequently forced a three-and-out and SC began to drive again. This time the drive was stopped, but Kaszubowski nevertheless tied the game with a 37-yard kick with 4:55 to play.
Then another big Lion defensive stand forced another 3-and-out.
State College took the ball this time on its own 37-yard line as time began to run down. Led with runs by quarterback Owen Yerka and Bendik, SC took the ball in 10 plays to the Cougar 17.
From there, Kaszubowski entered again, lined up, and drilled the winning 34-yarder on the final scrimmage play of the game.
State College was now, despite all of the injuries and misfortunes during the season, among the final four 6A teams still standing in the state.
That status of course comes with increasingly impressive opponents, and undefeated Mt. Lebanon certainly fits that description. The Blue Devils ran roughshod through their schedule — no one got within 11 points of them — and won the WPIAL championship on Nov. 20 with a 47-7 rout of Pittsburgh Central Catholic.
On Nov. 26, in the PIAA quarterfinal, they fell behind early and then roared back for a 47-14 victory over District 10’s Erie McDowell at home.
Mount Lebanon is led by three seniors their fans affectionately call “The Triplets” — quarterback Joey Daniels, running back Alex Tecza and wide receiver Eli Heidenreich. For the season, the trio has numbers that are almost off the charts.
Tecza has run 215 times for 1,887 yards and 22 touchdowns, while Daniels has completed 94-of-162 passes for 1,644 yards and 22 touchdowns. Heidenreich has 44 catches for 1,011 yards and 15 more touchdowns.
Against McDowell, Heidenreich had 110 yards receiving, but he also ran from scrimmage eight times for 165 yards and three touchdowns. Tecza ran for 109 yards and two touchdowns, and Daniels threw six completions for 171 yards and a touchdown.
Leading McDowell 21-7 early in the third quarter and with McDowell on the move, the Devils forced a fumble inside their own 20-yard line. On the next play, Heidenreich ran 80 yards for the touchdown that broke the game open and sent the Devils on their way to Altoona.
The semifinal shapes up to be a standoff between the triplets and the rest of their offense and the very stingy and physical State College defense. The Little Lions have been scoring just enough to get to this point, relying heavily on that D, but the Devils will be very difficult to keep within range.
If State College can somehow do that, however, it has shown itself to be a very good fourth-quarter team. The winner will play in the state final in Hershey against either St. Joseph’s Prep out of District 12 (Philadelphia) or District 1 champion Garnet Valley on Dec. 11.
Prep won last year’s title with a 62-13 victory over Central York. The semifinal will kickoff at 1 p.m. in Altoona.
This story appears in the Dec. 2-8 edition of the Centre County Gazette.
