Harrisburg has gone 5-0 against Altoona recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Friday. The Harrisburg Cougars will venture away from home to take on the Altoona Mountain Lions at 7:00 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Harrisburg has five straight wins, Altoona has seven straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Harrisburg's defense heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Saturday. They claimed a resounding 42-0 victory over Carlisle at home. Given the Cougars' advantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania football rankings (they are ranked 15th, while the Thundering Herd are ranked 280th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Harrisburg's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Messiah Mickens, who rushed for 156 yards and a touchdown on only 14 carries. The team also got some help courtesy of Nehemiah Ewell, who rushed for 102 yards and two touchdowns.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Harrisburg was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 323 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since back in November of 2023.
Meanwhile, Altoona scored the most points they've had all season on Friday, but it wasn't enough. They fell 28-21 to Bishop McDevitt.
Harrisburg's victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 5-1. As for Altoona, their loss dropped their record down to 0-6.
Everything came up roses for Harrisburg against Altoona in their previous matchup back in September of 2023, as the squad secured a 54-7 win. In that match, Harrisburg amassed a halftime lead of 40-7, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
