TIM WEIGHT/For The Express Bellefonte’s Alten Howell looks to throw during a game this year. Bellefonte travels to Juniata in tonight’s District 6 Class AAAA championship game.

Fresh off a commanding, 34-0 win over Greater Johnstown in the District 6 Class 4A semifinals, the Bellefonte football team heads into Friday’s final with momentum, momentum which it needs for what should be a challenging matchup.

For the second straight season, it faces off against top-seeded Juniata (6-4) in a championship setting on the road, a program that’s had a lot of success throughout the 2020s. It’s also the third straight season the Red Raiders have matched up with it in the postseason, with the last two meetings being 37-0 and 20-6 losses.

“Juniata has been a playoff nemesis to us for the past two years, losing to them both times,” said Bellefonte head coach Tony Confer on the matchup. “They are well coached and always play a physical brand of football. I feel like I can say the same about us.”

Of the last four District 6 Class 4A championships, the Indians have won…well, all four. The four-time defending champs have had a stranglehold over the district under head coach Kurt Condo and have taken it a step further with state quarterfinal appearances in 2023 and 2024.

While they’ve had a turbulent season, with two two-game losing streaks having them one loss away from .500, that shouldn’t fool anybody heading into this matchup. Juniata plays a tough Mid-Penn Capital schedule, with its league featuring the likes of Line Mountain (10-0), Steelton Highspire (8-2) and Halifax (8-3). And in its last two deep postseason runs, it went in with regular-season records of 5-5 and 7-3.

When discussing focuses for Friday’s game, Confer was quick to highlight receiver Jasper Shepps as a player Bellefonte has to key in on if it hopes to win.

Shepps has proven effective as both a pass-catcher and runner, accumulating just over 1,000 yards of offense through his senior season while averaging 20 yards per reception and nine yards per rush. He has a team-high 31 receptions and 12 total touchdowns, and the Indians will surely be feeding him the ball throughout the contest.

“We will need to minimize the impact wide receiver Jasper Shepps has in the pass game as well as the run game for Juniata,” said Confer on Shepps. “He is a tremendous athlete who makes big plays for them. And they absolutely love to run the football.”

Despite that outside weapon, the Indians attempt less than ten passes per game while completing less than half of them. Their offensive strong suit has been the ground game, which averages just under 150 yards per outing while featuring multiple efficient backs.

Sophomore Ty Rowles and senior Camden Bargo have each surpassed 300 yards on the season, averaging over four yards per carry while giving Juniata flexibility in the backfield. And while not as efficient as the aforementioned two, Isaiah Ramirez can be a force on the goal line, coming into the game with a team-leading six rushing touchdowns.

Defensively, the Indians give up less than 16 points per game and present the framework for what could be a low-scoring brawl.

They have five players with two or more sacks on the season, with Ramirez leading the team with three alongside eight tackles for loss. Shepps leads the team in interceptions with six, and the unit averages one pick and over two turnovers forced per game.

For Bellefonte (5-6), the silver lining is that it seems to be overcoming its injuries at the right time.

Freshman Alten Howell settled in at quarterback last week, throwing three touchdowns, completing 60 percent of his passes and compiling 179 yards of offense. Jackson Long is coming off a career game at receiver and has been explosive in the return game with multiple kickoff returns for touchdowns on the season.

The Red Raiders would be excited to have Ka’ven Smith-Kirk back from injury for Friday’s game. But if he misses sixth straight contest, their committee led by Ashten Howell can be expected to build on recent success, having just rushed for a combined 238 yards in last week’s semifinal.

Defensively, Bellefonte bounced back well from a shaky Week 10 outing, shutting out Greater Johnstown. It previously forced five turnovers against Richland in Week 8, held 1,200-yard rusher Alex McCartney to his second lowest rushing output in Week 9 and has held its 11 opponents to an average of 19 points per game.

Having been a postseason obstacle for the last three seasons, the Red Raiders head into their matchup against Juniata motivated to finally overcome the hurdle. They haven’t beaten the Indians since 2010, with Juniata holding a five-game win streak in the matchup.

“We are looking for a physical football game that we will have an opportunity to win, but we need to execute in all three phases of the game, not turn the ball over and not give up big plays,” said Confer on the keys to overcoming the hurdle.

The game is set for 7 p.m. at Mifflin County High School.