Philipsburg-Osceola’s Carson Long is the Centre Daily Times’ Athlete of the Fall Season

Editor’s note: This is the final Athlete of the Week poll story for the 2021 fall season. Thank you to all who voted, and look for weekly polls to return once the winter season gets started.

Philipsburg-Osceola soccer’s Carson Long was voted the Centre Daily Times Athlete of the Fall Season by our readers. He won with 22.69% of the vote (565 votes). Trailing him was Bellefonte football’s Nolan Weaver, who finished with 21.65% of the vote (539 votes).

Long led Philipsburg-Osceola’s boys soccer team with 22 goals and 16 assists for 60 points and a 3.3 points per game average. The freshman connected on nine of 10 PATs for Mounties football and had five kickoffs for 235 yards.

Long broke the program’s 25-year-old single-game assist record with eight against Tyrone. The record had been held by his father, Ryan Long. A few days prior, Long nailed a key point-after attempt to give the Mounties football team a 7-6 win over Huntingdon.

Philipsburg-Osceola went 8-10-1 on the year in boys soccer and lost 8-0 in the first round of District 6 playoffs against Bellefonte. While Long enjoyed his first season playing soccer for the Mounties, he wishes it would have lasted longer.

“It feels great, but I think it went by a little too quick,” Long said. “I scored all of those goals and then we lost in the first round. It just all went too fast in districts. Scoring my first goal at Clearfield was my most memorable moment and I scored it left-footed.”

Breaking his father’s record came as no surprise to both Carson and Ryan Long. The elder Long has seen his son prepare for the moment to build on his soccer career from day one.

Now with Carson Long’s first high school season on the books, Ryan Long can reflect on what he has accomplished.

“It’s a huge deal,” Ryan Long said. “All of our family, all of our friends, many of my co-workers and my wife’s co-workers, along with his teammates and coaches with Celtic at State College, all of them have been helpful in supporting him — especially with voting for him. We’ve had a lot of support from everyone and we appreciate that. He has a great support system.”