Indians take on reigning champs
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With the feeling-out process of the opening weeks of the high school football season in the past, Week 4 brings with it an interesting slate of games.
No test will be bigger than what the Juniata Indians will face this week, making the trip to Harrisburg to face defending Class A state champion Steelton-Highspire this weekend.
The Rollers have yet to be tested this season, picking up three blowout victories, including a 68-7 win over Newport last week to come into the contest undefeated. Steel High's other two victories came against Morrisville (77-0) and Belmont Charter (61-6).
The biggest factor for the Indians entering the game will be the status of starting quarterback Jacob Condo, who suffered an injury and did not return a week ago against West Perry. Few teams in the state will have a tougher two-week schedule than the Indians with Steel-High this week before Middletown comes to town to face the Indians next week.
Rollers' quarterback Alex Erby has had a sensational start to the season, throwing 17 touchdowns with no interceptions through three games. Erby is already over the century mark in yards with 1,086 entering Saturday's contest.
Tyrone Moore has been the number one receiving threat with 15 catches for 503 yards and seven scores so far this season. Rell Ceasar Jr. also has caught seven TD strikes.
Juniata's defense has been stellar through the early part of the season, but West Perry was finally able to score a touchdown against Kurt Condo's defense. Things won't get any easier this week.
"The defense once again, they played tough. That's what you want to see you want to see your team fighting the whole way," Condo said following Friday's game. "(West Perry) was obviously frustrated, but they found some weaknesses in our defense too."
The injuries will present just more adversity for the Indians to try and overcome on Saturday against the Rollers. The Indians defense will need to stand strong, and the offense will need to put up a big chunk of points to pull off an upset.
"It was just about life. This is this the stuff that you have to deal with," Condo said of the adversity his team faced against the Mustangs. "The guys came out fighting and they still never quit until the end. That's what you want to see you want to see from your team."
MIFFLIN COUNTY
The Mifflin County High School football team's non-conference slate is in the past after Friday's rough showing against a solid Williamsport team. The Huskies fell 24-2 in a game where penalties proved more than costly for Scot Sechler and his Mifflin County squad.
The Huskies start Mid-Penn Keystone play 0-3, but Lower Dauphin should be a quality matchup for Mifflin County. The Falcons have fallen on tough times in recent seasons, although they did pick up their first victory of the season last Friday, defeating Elizabethtown, 32-12.
New coach Josh Borreli, an LD alum and former graduate assistant coach under Mark Maciejewski at Shippensburg University has re-energized a program that hasn't had much success in the Mid-Penn recently.
The Falcons will be led by senior quarterback Braden Landis, running back Jacob Kauffman and wide receivers Charlie Fortney and Ty Millhimes. Kauffman is the team's leading rusher and he's averaging 10.7 yards per carry, rushing for 278 yards and three TDs. He's gone over 100 yards in two of the Falcons' three games.
Lower Dauphin will most likely look to keep the ball on the ground and establish the run, so if the Huskies can't stop Kauffman up front, it will be a tough challenge to get off the field. The Huskies' defense has been stout the past few weeks, so once again, the challenge will be in getting things clicking on offense in order to come away with a victory.
MIDD-WEST
The Midd-West football team enters Friday night against a struggling Bloomsburg team. The Mustangs showed flashes, but overall couldn't put much together in a tough 48-7 loss to Mifflinburg.
Mental mistakes including overthrows, penalties, a fumble that erased a score and a botched hold on a field goal attempt by Mifflinburg that turned into a touchdown for the Wildcats were just a few of the things that added up for Midd-West on Friday.
Mustangs' coach Lance Adams' focus is on the little things that will allow his team to compete moving forward. His team has the ability to put together some big plays, but has yet to put the pieces together.
"We have to learn to make plays," Adams said last week. "We didn't catch the ball, we didn't do well up front blocking and we didn't tackle. Defensively, we didn't cover people and didn't do well on special teams. We need to be better in every facet of the game. We did not play well.
"We need to improve on ourselves," he added. "I'm not worried about any of our opponents at this point, I'm just worried about us getting better."
Midd-West did limit its turnovers against Mifflinburg and if it can continue to build on Ethan Schlief's 100-yard performance and Corey Reinard's emergence last week, the Mustangs have a chance to get in the win column against an 0-3 program.
MOUNT UNION
Mount Union's game against Southern Huntingdon this week has been postponed due to COVID-19 cases and injuries within the Trojans' football program, according to Mount Union athletic director Bob Wydock.
The Trojans sit at 2-1 and suffered their first loss last week against Berlin Brothersvalley.