State College football’s season comes to an end with a PIAA semifinal loss to Mt. Lebanon
State College had every reason to hold its head high following the end of its season on Saturday in a 49-28 loss to Mount Lebanon in the PIAA Class 6A semifinal.
The Little Lions overcame injuries, setbacks in close games, COVID-19 positives and contact tracing. They were sitting at 4-5 following their regular season 15-13 loss to Harrisburg. There was uncertainty about their quarterback and kicker positions throughout the year, either due to injury or lack of availability. Yet, they still continued to claw their way to four straight victories to find themselves two steps away from their final goal — a state title victory.
“There’s so many things out of the control of the kids in whether it was losing guys to injury, losing guys with COVID, contact tracing or what not, that never fazed them,” State College head coach Matt Lintal said. “They just figured out, ‘Next guy up.’ They’re team-oriented and I think the best thing about this football team is that everyone gets hung up on who the starting quarterback is and who the starting kicker is and especially those single positions.
“This team was about the team. We try to utilize different skill sets for guys at different points and they were all super team-oriented. When the guys weren’t in, they were cheering on the guys who were in.”
Mount Lebanon found the end zone early and often throughout the game. The Blue Devils took a 7-0 lead following quarterback Joey Daniels’ screen pass to Eli Heidenreich for 68 yards with just 20 seconds off of the clock in the first quarter. Later on in the quarter, Daniels tossed the ball to Heidenreich on a fly route for another touchdown — this time for 67 yards with 6:33 left in the first.
State College answered with a 44-yard touchdown pass from Owen Yerka to Jashaun Green to trail 14-7 with 4:08 left in the first quarter. However, the Blue Devils marched downfield and Daniels finished off the drive with a 4-yard touchdown pass to running back Alex Tecza for a 21-7 lead (2:02). In the second quarter with 10:07, Tecza ran into the end zone on a two-yard gain (10:07). Mount Lebanon struck once more with a Daniels screen pass to Heidenreich for 15 yards (7:33) to give the Blue Devils a 35-7 lead.
Bendik answered with a 3-yard rushing touchdown with 2:49 left in the first half for State College, but Mount Lebanon had one more answer with a 13-yard touchdown pass from Daniels to Heidenreich for a 42-14 lead at the half. Heidenreich finished the first half with seven receptions for 216 yards and four touchdowns. He ended the game with eight catches for 264 yards with a third quarter 48-yard reception (3:14). Bendik had a second rushing touchdown in the fourth (11:04) and Yerka hit Jashaun Green for one final State College score (6:34) on a 10-yard reception to put the score at 49-28.
“It’s a special feeling,” Heindenreich, a Navy football commit, said. “I’ve never had five touchdowns before — I’ve had three — I’ve never had five. To do that in a game like this was truly, truly a special feeling.”
Bob Palko’s team has improved to 14-0 on the year and will have one more game to prove its dominance in Class 6A. How the Blue Devils performed on Saturday was due in part to their game plan to push the ball downfield.
“We thought that they’re built to play smash mouth and they’re big and tough and rightfully so, but we thought if we could get up that they would have to change what they do,” Palko said. “Which is run the ball up your ass. That’s what they do. You tip your cap and they had a lot of injuries at the beginning of the year. As they got healthy, they got the guy they wanted at quarterback and figured out what they wanted to do, they were tough.”
