Raiders, PV ready for inter-county rivalry matchup
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BELLEFONTE - For a third straight week, a matchup between Centre County rivals in set to take place, with Bellefonte (2-2) playing host to Penns Valley (0-4) this Friday. Each team is coming off a performance that displayed progress, which makes this Week 5 matchup particularly intriguing for both fanbases.
The Red Raiders are coming off a bounce-back win on the road at Clearfield (1-3). There, they were able to outscore the storied program 21-0 in the first quarter before holding off the Bison's late surge for a 28-21. That win got Bellefonte back to .500, and it'll look to surpass that mark for the first time on Friday.
That Week 4 matchup featured the team's most balanced performance offensively. After relying more on the run in their Week 2 win over Forest Hills, the Red Raiders saw big plays in the pass game fuel them in their second victory.
The sophomore tandem of quarterback Alten Howell and receiver Parker Jodon connected on three long touchdowns, with Jodon logging a fourth on his opening kickoff and finishing with 116 receiving yards. Howell completed five of his six passes for 138 yards while adding 65 yards on the ground, as the team totaled 161 rushing yards and 153 passing yards.
Howell heads into Week 5 completing over 62 percent of his passes without an interception and averaging five yards per rush, surpassing 200 yards in both categories and totaling 563 yards of offense. Jodon has 237 receiving yards and four touchdowns, and fellow sophomore Bentlee Hall surpassed 200 rushing yards last Friday.
For the Rams, Week 5 precedes their most promising performance yet. After getting outscored 114-41 through their first three games, they hung in there against a 3-1 Philipsburg-Osceola team with a win over Clearfield on its resume, falling just short of their first win in a 35-28 defeat.
Penns Valley led as late as the fourth quarter, leading 28-27 before a Mountie touchdown and two-point conversion turned the tide. Quarterback Cael Smith surpassed 100 rushing yards and tossed three touchdowns - both first time occurrences for the sophomore - and tight end Emory Reed finished with 128 yards and a touchdown on eight receptions.
Smith heads into Week 5 with six passing touchdowns and almost 300 yards on the ground, and Reed, Spencer Althouse, Christian Merrill and Isaac Harpster give him multiple options in the pass game. Althouse and Merrill have two receiving touchdowns, and Harpster logged a 37-yard score against the Mounties.
"Cael Smith continues to grow as a sophomore quarterback," said Penns Valley head coach Martin Tobias when discussing the game. "He really made some nice plays, made some really good decisions. He's continuing that positive trajectory of development."
Penns Valley's handling of Bellefonte's multi-faceted rushing attack will be key in it giving itself a shot at an upset, while the Red Raiders will need to maintain the consistency and balance it displayed offensively last Friday. Friday's Week 5 affair begins at 7 p.m. at Rogers Stadium.
"We've got to be ready to go," said Tobias on his thoughts heading into Week 5. "We've got to make sure we bounce back from a tough defeat and stay focused on the same preparation and intent to get better."
"There's no secret that it's going to be a tough contest, inter-county game, big rivalry. All of that stuff goes into it," he added.