Henry Huber on football: Penns Valley’s Week 5 win marks potential turning of leaf
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Coming off Week 4's homecoming performance, Penns Valley football head coach Martin Tobias was both proud and a bit disappointed. In hanging with Philipsburg-Osceola, the Rams had just pulled off an immense moral victory after three weeks of hardships. But moral victories aren't what the program is after.
That attitude wasn't just held by Tobias and his staff. The players felt that way as well, believing they should've come out of Week 4 on top with every fiber of their being.
They turned that disappointment into determination, and that showed in the runback the following week. And where the previous Friday's cross-country rivalry failed to produce Penns Valley's first victory of the season, the next managed just that.
Against Class 4A rival Bellefonte on Friday, the Rams controlled the narrative through three quarters, getting out to a three-score lead while holding the Red Raiders to six points. And this time, whenever their opponent generated success in the fourth quarter like the Mounties did in Week 4, they were ready, holding firm to collect a momentous, 26-19 win.
Not only did the win represent Penns Valley breaking through just as the season flipped halves, it also served to prove the previous performance wasn't a fluke. Philipsburg-Osceola improved to 4-1 with an impressive Week 5 win over Bald Eagle and Bellefonte has proven capable of noteworthy wins, and that presents the latest two-week stretch as a potential leap forward for a program that's struggled in recent years.
Following a District 6 Class AA championship appearance in 2022, the Rams made it back to the playoffs for the fifth time in six seasons before experiencing two rough campaigns in a row. They won just three games combined through 2024 and 2025 and went on losing streaks of nine and seven within that span.
With key departures coming at the end of the latter, some anticipated another down year for Penns Valley in 2026, and the season's early goings corroborated that. Their average point differential through their first three losses jumped from 15.7 in 2025 to 24.3 in 2026 - a worrying uptick given last year's 2-8 finish - and their defense went into Week 4 giving up nearly 40 points per game.
But despite the tough losses, the players continued buying in and showing up with the same energy week after week. It wasn't a matter of a few players showing up either. Tobias saw that from everybody on both sides of the ball.
"I think that they're learning how to play together, and they're staying really focused on improving week to week," said Tobias following Week 4's 35-28 loss to Philipsburg-Osceola. "They've continued to show up every day to practice. They're keeping their heads up and pushing forward."
That all-encompassing thick skin showed on Friday.
After seeing its opening play go 77 yards down to right sideline to Bellefonte's three-yard line, the Penns Valley offense was stuffed four times in a row to come out of the opportunity scoreless. Two defensive drives later, its rival had taken a 6-0 lead, and it would have to respond without much momentum in the tank.
But respond, it did. Good field position earned from a well-fielded kickoff landed the Rams near midfield. And on third-and-short, quarterback Cael Smith turned a short-yardage situation into a 23-yard rush to set the Rams up in a goal-to-go scenario. Two plays later, Spencer Althouse was scoring his first of four touchdowns on a nine-yard rush.
While Althouse was the star of the show on Friday, key contributions across the board paved the way to victory. Rylan Allegretto made two crucial plays in close succession, setting up Penns Valley's two third-quarter scores with a well-executed lateral pass and interception, and the offense as a whole kept Bellefonte's off the field for much of the second half.
With its three-score lead being obtained with over 22 minutes to go, there was so much time for Bellefonte to make up the deficit, and it proved it had offensive firepower in the fourth. But the Rams drained nine of those minutes off the clock with one drive, picking up four of the drive's five first downs on third down. And when called upon to drain five more minutes for the win, it did just that, converting on two fourth downs to make it happen.
Gannyn Stover - who had three rushes through two quarters - turned nine second-half carries into 40 yards, and Cael Smith picked up 63 of his 100 rushing yards in the second half. Both were crucial in Penns Valley running out the clock on Friday, but the offensive line also deserves credit for the team's 255-yard rushing day.
“Our offensive line did a really nice job of making some blocks and helped us spring some runs, so they all deserve a great deal of credit," said Tobias. "I think it's a good team win. When you look at the 11 guys that we had out there at any one snap, they all had to perform together."
There are on-paper reasons to continue writing the Rams off. Rivalry games tend to bring out the best in teams, and it's just one win coming off four losses at the end of the day. But it's one Tobias described as 'important' for good reason.
Not only did it mark Penns Valley's first win over Bellefonte since 2023, it was its first over any Centre County squad in the same span. While the Rams kept their belief in themselves through thick and thin, they can now justify that belief with on-the-field success, and it's the kind of victory that can completely flip a script. 2023 also happens to be the last time they clinched a postseason bid.
As it stands, Penns Valley (1-4) is ranked ninth in the District 6 Class AA playoff standings, with November's tournament only fielding eight. Its remaining schedule is tough, featuring two Class 4A teams in Clearfield and Greater Johnstown, Class 3A Huntingdon and 4-1 Central, but the team is confident it can continue turning the tide.
"First one of the season, it’s all uphill from here. We're going to keep stacking them up," said Althouse following Friday's win.
"It boosts my confidence a lot," emphasized Smith. "If we can beat Bellefonte, I feel like we can beat any team. That was just a big win."