Hometown Sports - Centre County

09/08/2026

By Kenny Varner
REEDSVILLE - Every year Centre County runners shine at the Annual Big Valley Cross Country Invitational.
Saturday was no exception.
State College finished number one overall in both boys and girls division.
In the girls race, all the Little Lions runners finished within the top 25.
Pacing the way for State College was Evelyn Younkin whose finishing time of 18:18 was good enough for 2nd place.
Autumn Swisher also finished in the top ten finishing with a sixth place time of 19:06.
Rounding out the top 10 finishers for the Lady Little Lions was Silvia Hutchinson with a ninth place time of 19:33.
Coming in at 14 was Carolyn Frank who finished just outside of 20 minutes with a mark of 20:09.
Kaitlyn Baylis posted a 19th finish time of 20:28.
Close behind Frank was teammate Anne Horgas with a 21st time of 20:36.
Rounding out the girls finishes was Ainsley Baranas who topped out at 25th place with a time of 20:52.
The Little Lions boys crew landed the top spot in team and individual results.
In the team’s results, State College topped University High for the top honors.
Luke Bradbury finished first with an impressive time of 15:01.
Teammate Dexter Walker was close as he finished in third with a time of 15:30.
Rounding out the top five was Kyle Fritzsche’s fifth place time of 15:52.
In sixth, teammate Thomas Ruffing was next with a mark of 16-minutes flat.
Coletta Hutchinson finished his day with a 15th place time of 17:01.
Eiden Kidd and teammate Teon Kidd finished with times of 17:47 and 18:13, respectively.

09/06/2026

09/06/2026

Bellefonte Cross Country Battles Heat and Humidity at Big Valley Invitational
REEDSVILE, PA — The Bellefonte Cross Country teams kicked off their competition schedule against steep regional opposition at the Big Valley Invitational. Facing oppressive conditions—with temperatures hovering at 78 degrees alongside high humidity and full sun—the Raiders put together strong individual and team efforts across all divisions, headlined by a runner-up team finish for the High School Boys and an individual victory for Jonathan Gasper.
High School Varsity Boys: Standout 2nd-Place Finish
The High School Varsity Boys delivered the performance of the day for Bellefonte, placing 2nd out of 8 teams.
Jonathan Gasper set the pace for the field, capturing 1st place overall out of 60 runners with a winning time of 16:12. Two more Raiders earned medal honors: Maverick Muchmore crossed the line in 6th place (17:30) and Bowen Williams followed close behind in 10th (17:41).
• Ethan Karmelita – 19:11
• Grady Stringer – 20:07
• Braeden Strohm – 20:57
• Kaiden Musser – 21:44
High School Varsity Girls & Junior Varsity
The High School Varsity Girls took 6th out of 7 teams, led by a medal-winning performance from Alissa Kyte-Yech, who claimed 12th place out of 53 runners with a time of 22:00.
• Emily Moretz – 23:42
• Haddie Lutz – 24:04
• Aalynn Cernuska – 26:17
• Megan Showers – 28:00
• Molly Showers – 28:18
• Emma Crater – 29:32
In the JV Boys race, Wes Barefoot earned a medal by placing 17th out of a massive 101-runner field in 19:40. He was backed by teammates Brent Eisenhower (21:55), Blaise Adams (22:20), and Justin Roberts (27:11).
In JV Girls action, Adelina Zanzalari led Bellefonte in 45th place (29:37), followed by Ketevan Kashasvili (31:52) and Aruuke Mombekova (33:25).
Middle School Teams Open Strong
Bellefonte’s Middle School squads laid a strong foundation to start the day:
• MS Boys (6th / 9 teams): Tegan Detar earned a medal with a stellar 4th-place finish out of 89 runners in 10:45. Rounding out the lineup were Cedric Kais (12:56), Jackson Wells (13:15), Austin Brumbaugh (14:33), Brayden Burns (16:47), and Teagan Bercel (22:55).
• MS Girls (6th / 8 teams): Anna Coup led the charge in 21st place out of 79 runners (18:37). Supporting the team's depth were Elliana Crater (20:17), Sydney Smith (20:24), Ava Burns (20:37), Everlee Hafer (20:58), Sarah Tomlinson (21:01), and Alessia Turco (21:12).

09/05/2026

09/05/2026

Photos by Jeff Shomo
WINGATE - One of the certain in life after Friday night was never underestimate Jesse Nagle and the Bald Eagle Area football team.
After a down year for Eagles standard last season, Bald Eagle has quickly turned things around.
After an opening night victory, the Eagles found themselves with a tough task against Penn Cambria.
The contest would be a high scoring affair with the Eagles outlasted Penn Cambria 35-32.
It would be a late touchdown by Luke Hosband and a strong defensive effort that would be the deciding factor for Bald Eagle Area.

09/04/2026

Photos by Tim Weight
By Kenny Varner
WINGATE - After a hard fought season opener against Bishop Guilfoyle, the Bald Eagle Area girls soccer team was back on the field Thursday as they played host to Central.
The Dragons played the spoiler role on the evening. Central would score three first half goals and one in the second to get by a very young Bald Eagle team.
In the end, the Dragons would shut out the Eagles 4-0 in Laurel Highlands action.
“We played a little bit better on Tuesday and I would have liked to have seen that kind of aggression, that kind of challenge for the ball as we came out tonight,” said Eagles coach Jared Moore. “I didn't quite see enough of that, and I think it cost us, in some, made some mistakes, and they made us pay for it.”
The Dragons Mya Long gave the Lady Eagles fits all night, finishing with goals and capturing the hat trick.
Early on the Eagles came out very aggressive and was holding their own.
But with only seven minutes into the contest, the skies thundered, the Lightning blazed across the sky causing almost a hour delay as both teams were pushed back to the lockerooms.
When the session resumed, the Dragons slowly started to push the ball and the momentum down to the Eagles’ side of the field.
After holding things steady on defense for the first 15 minutes, the Eagles gave up their first goal of the ball game. Mya Long got free from her defender and blasted the game’s first goal, giving her team a 1-0 lead.
Both defenses took the game over and the two teams could not hold any sustainable drives.
But as the game clock ticked under 10 minutes, Long found the goal again as she was able to squeeze one past the goalie, upping the lead to 2-0.
Long would not be done yet as she blasted a 10-yard blast with just 5:40 left in the stanza, taking the game into intermission with Bald Eagle trailing 3-0.
“I thought we connected our passes a little bit better in the second half. It was still not our best,” said Moore. �“Still not the best that I've seen.”
Bald Eagle stepped up their game in the second half, pushing the ball numerous times around the Central goal but to no avail.
The Dragons defense swarmed to the when needed. As the game wore down, Central cashed one more in to send the Eagles to a 4-0 win.
Marah Diehl hit an unassisted goal at 10:34.
Bald Eagle Area will be back in action Tuesday as they go on the road to Westmont Hilltop.

Central 4, Bald Eagle Area 0
CEN 3 1 - 4
BEA 0 0 - 0
First half
CEN - Mya Long unassisted, 22:21.
CEN - Long unassisted, 7:58.
CEN - Long unassisted, 5:40
Second half
CEN - Marah Diehl unassisted, 10:34.
Shots on goal: CEN - 13 , BEA - 8.
Corners: CEN - 2, BEA - 1.
Saves: Cami Walker (BEA) 6, Kailyn Gahagan (CEN) 3.

09/04/2026

By Kenny Varner
WINGATE - Two teams with similar styles of play met up Thursday at Bald Eagle Area’s Alumni Stadium as the Eagles hosted the Thunder of Belleville Christian.
It would be a strong defensive effort for both teams as just one goal was scored in the entire contest.
The goal would come in the first half for the Eagles.
Jacob Kovalev scored off of a Kyle Uberti pass and was able to light it up for the lone goal. He scored an 18:30 mark.
“It was a beautiful in, out, in, out, and he just slid past the keeper,” said said Bald Eagle Area’s head coach Jason Bair. I also thought we had a nice defense. They played fantastic tonight. They did a good job.
With the win, the Eagles improve to 1-0-1 on the season.
That would be the only score they would need as their defense took over in the second half.
Belleville played tough as three of their shots in the game hit the horizontal bar of the goal.
But shining through was the play of Bald Eagle goalie Tanner Pearce and his backline mates.
However, it would be the Thunder that would put the pressure on their opponents back-third finishing with 14 shots on goal. Bald Eagle Area was only limited to six.
“They withstood the pressure and didn't break. And when you have an inexperienced defense, which we do right now, they're gaining a lot of experience in two games,”said Bair. �“But they're getting better with each game, and that's all I'm looking for. Belleville definitely flooded the midfield, which made our midfield play really a mess. So trying to get the ball out of the midfield and get the ball up was the key for us to help us in that second half.”
Despite the offensive pressure that the Thunder provided, the Eagles refused to give up a goal.
In the second, Landon Rhodes gave the Eagle fans a fright as he got positioned in front of the Bald Eagle Area goal and bounced a header off the crossbar and out of bounds.
Belleville was relentless in their attack in the second half and pushed things deep into Eagles territory. But each time Bald Eagle was up for the challenge whether it was a save or a backfielder clearing the ball out to stop the immediate threat.
What started in the first half as a nail biter continued on throughout the contest.
But defense is what wins championships and on this night the Eagles had what it took to live up to the challenge.�Bald Eagle Area plays Tuesday against Westmont Hilltop at Westmont Hilltop.

Bald Eagle Area 1, Belleville Christian 0
BCA 0 0 - 0
BEA 1 0 - 1
First half
BEA - Jacob Kovalev from Kyle Uberti, 18:30.
Second half
None
Shots on goal: BEA - 7. BC - 13.
Corners: BEA - 4, BC - 2.
Saves: Tanner Pearce (BEA) 5. Gage Geissinger (BCA) 1.