In recent years, the State College Little Lions always seemed to end their football season somewhere in the PIAA playoffs against a team from the WPIAL.
Not this year.
After losing, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 12 of its last 13 games against District 7 teams, State College stared down history and dispatched D7’s North Allegheny, 28-7, last Friday night in the state quarterfinals held at home on Memorial Field.
SC jumped out to a 21-0 first-half lead, saw the Tigers cut the lead just before halftime, and then toughed out the win with solid defense and another score in the fourth quarter.
Quarterback Finn Furmanek ran the ball 17 times for 132 yards and two touchdowns, while D’Antae Sheffey ran 14 times for 104 yards as the Lions’ running game controlled the pace of the game. Owen Yerka, also playing quarterback, completed one 27-yard pass to Michael Gaul for a touchdown and then ran in the clinching fourth-quarter touchdown from 20 yards out.
The State College defense intercepted four passes and held North Allegheny’s 1,000-yard rusher, Alex Gavlik, to just 57 yards on 16 carries.
It seemed that every time the Tigers threatened to climb back into contention, the Lions came up with a turnover or a big stop. And with time getting short in the fourth quarter, the Lions went on an 80-yard march, with no passes, that culminated with a 20-yard Yerka run into the end zone.
It was the score that put State College back into the PIAA semifinals for the second year in a row.
The team that the Lions will now face in that game is one that they are more than familiar with —arch-rival Harrisburg Cougars from the Mid Penn Conference. Here’s a brief look at the game that will decide one of the teams playing for this year’s state championship trophy:
3-1 HARRISBURG (10-2) VS 6-1 STATE COLLEGE (12-0)
SATURDAY, DEC. 3, 1 P.M.
MANSION PARK, ALTOONA
The Harrisburg Cougars, the No. 1 team from District 3, and the State College Little Lions are both set to face off in the PIAA 6A semifinal on Saturday, Dec. 3, at Mansion Park in Altoona.
These two teams have been battling for honors in the Mid Penn Conference ever since the Little Lions joined, and they both seem poised to challenge for the championship every year.
This year was no different.
Harrisburg finished second in the conference with a 6-1 record, one game behind the Little Lions.
The Cougars’ only Mid Penn loss came at home to State College, 20-6, on Oct. 15, and their only other loss came in a nonleague contest to Manheim Township, 24-20, on Sept. 10.
The Cougars would emphatically avenge that Manheim loss last Friday with a 44-6 win over the Blue Streaks in the District 3 finals.
In the D3 game, the Cougars shot out to a 31-0 lead at halftime and never looked back. With the win, they took the 6A, District 3 championship and set up another meeting with the Little Lions in the state semifinals.
In the first meeting between Harrisburg and State College, the Little Lions fell behind by a score of 6-3 at the end of the first quarter. Two touchdowns in the second quarter — a 32-yard pass from Furmanek to Gaul and a 29-yard run by Sheffey — put State College ahead for good.
After a first-quarter touchdown, Harrisburg was held scoreless the rest of the game, and State College improved to 8-0 for the season.
SC’s defense was the star of the night after holding Harrisburg to just a single score early and nothing in the second half.
Harrisburg sophomore quarterback Shawn Lee completed 107 of 153 passes this year for 1,416 yards and 15 touchdowns, while running backs Mahkai Hopkins and Kyle Williams have combined to run for 1,358 yards and 20 touchdowns.
Williams is also the leading receiver on the team, with 39 catches for 511 yards and 11 touchdowns.
One factor that will weigh heavily in this game is the fact that Lee did not play against State College in the first game, and senior Zakii Lewis took the reins with 101 yards and a touchdown through the air. So Lee will be back for the semifinal, and SC will face a likely much more potent Harrisburg offense.
The Little Lions will counter with an ever-improving defense and balanced attack featuring Fuamanek, Yerka, Sheffey, Gaul and Dante Nastasi.
State College’s defenders brought it home in the first meeting between these two, but that was without Lee. How much of a difference he can make will no doubt be the story of the game.
Kickoff is at 1 p.m. in Altoona.
