State College gets comeback win over Central Dauphin East in homecoming game

With fanfare everywhere at Memorial Field and the student section giving its best rendition of the “White Out,” State College played its homecoming game Friday night against Central Dauphin East.

It took a while to get started, but the Little Lions steamrolled Central Dauphin East, winning 43-17.

Teams want to win every game, but no one wants to lose their homecoming game — an opportunity for students, staff, alumni and many others to come together and show school pride.

For junior quarterback Eddie Corkery, it was important that the squad was able to assert its dominance on homecoming.

“It’s big, especially a comeback win,” Corkery said, “coming out playing for the seniors.”

In the first quarter, junior Jared Porter gashed the squad with two runs of more than 60 yards — helping the Panthers jump out to a 10-0 lead.

The shifty back was able to make the defense miss with big cuts, leaving wide-open lanes. Corkery didn’t let that become the reason for the early deficit though — he blamed himself.

“I had a really bad first quarter,” Corkery said. “I hold that on myself.”

The special teams unit seemed to start the momentum swing, as a bad snap from the Panthers gave State College the ball at Central Dauphin East’s three-yard line.

At that point, the switch flipped and Corkery turned it on — first striking on a goal-line fade to junior Michael Gaul.

Corkery and Gaul have been longtime best friends, which has allowed them to develop chemistry and know that when Gaul is on the goal line one-on-one, more times than not, he’s going to make the play.

And Gaul had himself a game, hauling in two touchdowns, an interception, a fourth down tackle-for-loss along with many other big-time plays.

“Michael’s a special kid,” coach Matt Lintal said. “He’s a player in every phase of the game.”

After that, things started to pile on, as the Little Lions had heavy control of the possession battle, not giving the Panthers a chance to keep themselves in the game. At one point, the Little Lions even kicked the ball short and hustled down to recover the ball and steal possession back.

As the game went on, things started to get chippy, but the camaraderie built within the Little Lion program allowed them to stay the course and stay together.

The win for State College yielded contributions from not only Corkery and Gaul, but junior Ty Salazer, senior John Zipf and senior Justin Castro-Dixon — just to name a few.

Castro-Dixon was all over the field, even completely covering a screen late in the contest to add to what was a huge day for him.

“That’s our guy,” Lintal said. “He’s the face of our program just in the fact that he brings so much life and energy to everyone around him.”

The senior defensive tackle is known as “Pot Roast” around the program, and his efforts seemed to help the team rally the troops and take over the contest.

Even on the offensive side, his impact was noticed, with Corkery confirming Castro-Dixon as the “face of the team.”

“Pot’s got impact with his size,” Corkery said, “he controls that defense.”

State College won the game in all three phases, and even though Lintal acknowledged the “sloppy” start, he was proud of his team’s ability to stay the course and notch the victory.

With the 43-17 win, the Little Lions moved to 4-1 and will look to take on Carlisle on the road next Friday.

Other Centre County scores

Bellwood-Antis 20, Philipsburg-Osceola 7

Bald Eagle Area 55, Bellefonte 7

Clearfield 35, Penns Valley 7