Rams grab Iron Bell in OT

Ron Bracken For the CDT

WINGATE — Kody Bjalme is a man of his word.

CDT/Michelle Bixby

Penns Valley's Drew Zettle tries to take down Bald Eagle's Dillon Schall (3) during the Penns Valley at Bald Eagle Area varsity football game Friday, Sept. 11, 2009. CDT/Michelle Bixby.

View larger

And because he is, the Old Iron Bell is in Spring Mills this morning.

Bjalme, Penns Valley’s tailback, promised his coaches he’d score in overtime against Bald Eagle Area Friday night and he kept his promise.

After BEA had taken a 22-19 lead in overtime thanks to Kyle Kinley’s 26-yard field goal, the Rams got their shot from the 10.

Bjalme got the call on first down and gained five yards. He got the call again and slammed into the end zone to give the Rams a 25-22 win over the Eagles in the annual clash between the county’s small schools.

Bjalme admitted he was overwhelmed with emotion once he reached the end zone.

“I cried,” he said. “I never thought this would feel this good. The is the most incredible feeling I’ve ever had in football. When it got to overtime, I promised the coaches I’d get into the end zone.

“When I was in 10th grade, we played Philipsburg-Osceola in double overtime and I thought I’d love to be there.”

Bjalme finished the night with 244 yards on 31 carries to pace a Rams’ running game that netted 330 yard.

“We wanted to come out and go right at them,” said Penns Valley coach Martin Tobias. “We had some success doing that but we weren’t able to get into the end zone. If we had been able to capitalize in the early going, it would have been easier for us.

“Bjalme played great tonight and the guys up front did, too. We knew we had to try to control the ball and the clock against them because they are big and strong.”

The Rams had a pair of scoring opportunities in the first half after going ahead 7-0 when Bjalme capped an 80-yard, 20-play drive by scoring from the 4. Greg Witherite made it 7-0 with 32 seconds left in the first quarter.

A pair of BEA fumbles set the Rams up at the BEA 32 and then the 17, but both times the BEA defense stiffened and kept the Rams off the scorerboard.

The Eagles finally got on the scoreboard when Kinley booted a 23-yard field goal with 48 seconds left in the half.

“Our defense did a great job,” said BEA coach Jack Tobias. “It seemed like they were playing inside our 20 for most of the first half.”

Both offenses loosened up in the second half.

BEA took the lead when Justin Taylor scored from a yard out and then hit Dillon Schall for the two-point conversion to make it 11-7 with 1:30 to go in the third quarter to end a 92-yard drive. Key in the drive was a 21-yard run by Jon Gingrich on a fake punt to give the Eagles a first down at the Rams 27.

Back came the Rams with a 86-yard march that saw Tibben Zerby score from the 4. The PAT kick failed, leaving the Rams up 13-11.

With 7:18 to go in the game, BEA got the ball back and took off on a 65-yard drive that was culminated by Gingrich slipping around the left side from the one and the Tay-lor- Schall combo hooking up for the conversion that made it 19-13 with 2:01 left.

Penns Valley, which had not thrown a pass the entire game, then went to the air three times as it tried to beat the clock and Zerby was good on all three throws, the last a 42-yard strike to Ashton Koval, who was all alone behind the BEA defense along the left sideline with 21 seconds left in the game. The PAT kick was blocked, sending the game into overtime.

“We know we have a passing attack, we just don’t know what we’re going to get,” Martin Tobias said. “But we had to go to the air down the stretch.”

Penns Valley won the toss and elected to play defense.

“I was hoping to win the toss so we could play defense and see what we had to do,’’ said Rams’ coach Tobias. “And when we held them to a field goal all we had to do was get six. We didn’t have to worry about an extra point. So we just stuck with our game plan.”

“We knew they were going to run the ball,’’ said Jack Tobias. “Bjalme is a strong kid and he just ran through tackles. If you don’t square up on him he’s going to break loose. He had an excellent game. We didn’t do a real good job of tackling and he was able to run through the holes.”