At noon on Saturday, October 26, the crowd roared as the home team surged out of the gates behind the South end zone at Beaver Stadium. The Little Lions squared off against Cumberland Valley in the first Beaver Stadium Classic, coming back from a slow start to win 33-21 in front of a crowd of more than 5,000 spectators.

Both teams were scoreless through the first quarter, but Cumberland Valley’s Dontey Rogan broke through in the second quarter, punching it in for a touchdown from the 2 yard line, then scoring again on a pick-six four minutes later to make it 14-0 Cumberland Valley.

With 3:52 left in the first half, State High quarterback Brady Dorner completed a 62-yard pass to Isaiah Edwards for the Lions’ first score and first down of the game.

“After our first score we took a deep breath,” senior Trevor Beck said. “That allowed us to make good adjustments at halftime which ultimately won us the game.” 13 points in each of the last two quarters allowed State College to hang on for the win in their last regular season game of the year. 

“Cumberland Valley is a team that always plays us tough. We knew it was going to be a fight before the game started and it didn’t disappoint,” Beck said. The Eagles dominated the run game, rushing 52 times for 261 yards, more than twice the home team’s total. The visitors also finished with 392 total yards to State College’s 352. CV running back Maximos Dell’ano rushed for 114 yards, eluding State College defenders on more than one occasion, but failed to score a touchdown.

State High led the air assault, with Dorner completing eight passes for 224 yards. Tight end Nate Lusk caught a third and long pass over the middle in the third quarter, setting up a touchdown later in the drive. Edwards caught two passes for a total of 110 yards and rushed five times, averaging 8.8 yards per rush, and Junior Dresyn Green ran for 68 yards, including two touchdowns.

“Since our season was altered and we had to move fields it was awesome to play in a place everyone in town dreams of playing in one day,” Beck said.

“I’ve been going to PSU games as long as I can remember and having the opportunity to play there was a dream come true,” senior defensive end Bryn Schoonover said. “We all knew going into the game that the atmosphere was going to be unlike any other. This was the largest stage any of us had ever played on.” The fan section, charging $10 for admission, was split down the middle between maroon and grey on the South end and red and black to the North. Although fans were only allowed to sit on one side of the stadium, the environment was still incomparable to the environment of Memorial Field or the South Track.

Moving forward, State High (9-1) will now enter the postseason, playing a non-conference game against McDowell High School on November 8th.