ALTOONA — The State College Little Lions football team had its season come to an end on Friday night with a 42-21 loss to WPIAL Champion Pittsburgh Central Catholic.
Playing in the PIAA 6-A quarterfinals at Altoona’s Mansion Park, the Vikings broke an early tie with 27 unanswered points, including 20 in the second quarter, that overwhelmed State College and sent the Vikings to the state semifinals.
The two teams opened the game with each scoring first quarter touchdowns.
Central Catholic struck first on a 65-yard pass from quarterback Owen Herrick to Aiden Nasiadka to take a 7-0 lead.
The Little Lions answered immediately with a drive that ended with a 7-yard touchdown run by D’Antae Sheffey that knotted the game at 7-7.
From there, however, it was all Central Catholic.
Herrick completed a 25-yard TD pass to Maceo Watkins as time ran out in the first quarter, and then he opened things up with a 20-yard pass to Chrys Black early in the second quarter.
Now ahead 21-7, the Vikings kept on the accelerator.
In quick succession, running back Roman Thompson scored a touchdown from 18 yards out, and then kicker Antonio Difatta nailed two field goals of 30 and 32 yards that saw the lead balloon to 34-7 heading into halftime.
The second half began in much the same fashion.
After another CC defensive stop, Thompson increased his team’s lead to 42-7 with a 23-yard run and a two-point conversion.
To their credit, the Little Lions did not stop playing from here.
They did not allow another point on defense, and in the fourth quarter came away with two scores.
The first was a 5-yard run by Sheffey, his second touchdown in his final game as a Little Lion, and then quarterback Connor Kulka threw a 70-yard touchdown pass to Daimear Coad as time was running out that set the final score at 42-21.
Sheffey finished the night with 18 carries for 97 yards and the two touchdowns, while Kulka completed 11-of-16 passes for 192 yards and the TD to Coad.
Even in the loss, the Little Lions piled up 312 yards of total offense with three touchdowns.
State College’s season came to an end with a final record of 10-3 overall and 7-3 in the Mid-Penn Commonwealth.
The Lions finished third in the Mid-Penn, won the District 6 Title, and defeated McDowell in the subregional championship game. This was the Lions’ second trip in a row to the state quarterfinals, and their second loss in a row to Central Catholic. The Vikings won last year’s quarterfinal, 41-19.
Central Catholic will now advance to the PIAA semifinals and face undefeated Harrisburg (13-0), the District 3 Champion.
The winner of that game will take on either 12-1 LaSalle College High School (12-1) or 1-1 North Penn (12-2) in the 6-A finals at Cumberland Valley High School’s Chapman Field on Dec. 6.
