Mountain Lion head football coach Nick Felus is finally turning his program around. After dropping out of the WPIAL and returning to the Mid-Penn conference, Felus and his squad are showing signs of improvement.

Altoona’s first run in the Mid-Penn didn’t go as planned with a overall record of 27-35 through six seasons. Their run in the WPIAL was even worse as they went 24-53 through six seasons. The Mid-Penn took a vote in favor of letting Altoona rejoin the conference.

After going 2-8 in his first two seasons as head coach, Felus moved his team to the Mid-Penn and went 3-7 in their first season back in it. The record might not show it, but Altoona took a big step in the right direction towards turning their program around. Altoona only lost three games that were lost by three points which is huge.

It’s also major that they weren’t shut out in any game for the first time since Felus took over. They also had their first shutout win since he came. A big note on offense is how much better Altoona did in the run game. Altoona beat their last years rushing yards with four games still left in the season which is huge.

Defense is where things really got turned around. After getting blown out week in and week out in the WPIAL, Altoona had those three really close games, one more win, and only got blown out in two games against state ranked opponents.

People in the community will always try and bring this team down and rant about how they want Coach Felus fired, but in the end, he’s really turning this program around.