• Baseball
º Phillies
º Spikes
• Basketball
• Football
º Eagles
• Colleges
º Penn State
º Big Ten
• Columnists
• Fantasy Sports
• Golf
• Hockey
• Motorsports
• Outdoors
• Other Sports
• Penn State Athletics
• Game Match-Ups
• Injuries
• Latest Odds
email this
print this
Trio of Little Lions earn all-state honors
By Todd Ceisner
tceisner@centredaily.com
State College football coach Al Wolski said he challenged Collin Wagner to improve his punting last summer. Already an accomplished placekicker, Wagner responded in a big way, averaging 39 yards per punt for the District 3/6 Class AAAA runner-up Little Lions.
On Saturday, Wagner, along with teammates Nate Stupar and Josh Eden were selected to the The Associated Press' Pennsylvania Class AAAA all-state team.
Wagner was named the first-team punter, while Stupar, a junior, was the first-team tight end. Eden made the second team as a defensive lineman.
"That's what I was hoping for," said State College coach Al Wolski. "That's great."
Wagner, a 5-foot-9, 165-pound senior, also made 40 of 41 extra points and kicked seven field goals, including five from 40 yards or longer for the Little Lions, who finished 9-4 after starting the season 0-3. He was chosen as the first team punter and placekicker in the Mid-Penn Conference's Commonwealth Division this season.
"We knew he was a good kicker and we challenged him to work on his punting and he did," Wolski said. "He really improved and got us out of a lot of jams."
"I did a lot of punting last summer as opposed to the summer before," said Wagner, who is drawing interest from Division I-AA schools.
Stupar follows in the all-state footsteps of his brother Jon, who was a first team pick at tight end in 2002 and now plays tight end at the University of Virginia.
Nate Stupar had a team-leading 42 receptions for 644 yards and seven touchdowns. He also rushed for a touchdown and returned an interception for another score. He will likely be among the most recruited players in the state next year.
"Our line did a great job blocking and gave (quarterback) Ben (Ganter) time to get the ball to me and all of our receivers," Nate Stupar said. "Ben did a great job of being consistent throughout the year."
"He's a great player. The fact that he made first team as a junior is a credit to that," Wolski said. "There's some guys who are just natural football players and he's one of them. He uses his athletic ability to the utmost."
Eden, a two-way lineman, was a dominant force at defensive end for the Little Lions and improved throughout the season.
"I just felt like I got more confident as the year went on," he said. "I started recognizing things a little faster and it just became a little bit easier toward the end of the year."
Wolski thinks Eden could be a steal for a Division I school.
"He's definitely a Division I player and hopefully, in the next couple of weeks, some people are going to realize that," Wolski said.
