Bald Eagle Area football keeps it close for a half — then loses big against Huntingdon

The Huntingdon football team simply has too much to contain.

The Bearcats blazed to 38 points in the span of 12 minutes, 46 seconds over the end of the second and most of the third quarter to spoil Bald Eagle Area’s homecoming 45-0 Friday night at Alumni Stadium.

“We just have so many weapons it’s hard to cover everything,” said Jonathan Price, who caught a 52-yard touchdown pass, returned a kick 75 yards for a score and also blocked a field goal to lead the Bearcats (7-0). Price finished with 186 yards in returns and receptions.

Quarterback Andrew Hudy was 9 of 12 passing for 170 yards and two scores.

The Eagles bottled up running back Ian Border, who entered the game with 937 yards on the season but was slowed by injury and had just 10 rushes for 38 yards, scoring on runs of two and three yards. Huntingdon had just 66 yards on the ground in the game, but got plenty of help from the Eagles (3-4), who have lost four straight.

Blake Roberts’ 13 carries for 39 yards led BEA. Eagles quarterback Jaden Jones was sacked four times in the first half and did not play after the break as a precaution. Gage McClenahan had five carries for 28 yards and also left with an injury.

“We’ve got a lot of guys banged up,” Eagles coach Jesse Nagle said. “We’ve got to get healthy, and once we get healthy I think we’ll be OK.”

Price had the game’s first score, a screen pass that turned into a winding, twisting run of 52 yards.

Still, the lead was a mere 7-0 as halftime approached.

Giovan Scaccia drilled a 40-yard field goal, with plenty of room to spare, with 1:41 left, and after forcing a quick three-and-out by the Eagles, a Price punt return to the BEA 34 set up Border’s other score with 12 seconds to go.

The game, still fairly even at halftime, was all but over 12 seconds after the break, when Price was crossing the goal line after a 75-yard kickoff return.

“I liked the return,” Price said. “No one touched me. I got to jog the whole way.”

Nagle knew why it was so easy.

“It was a killer,” said Nagle, who initially wanted to use an onside kick until he saw Huntingdon preparing for the play.

Nagle then wanted the kick deep toward a sideline, but it was instead directly to Price in the middle of the field.

“Then the kids started doubting themselves,” Nagle said. “I don’t think they figured they could fight back.”

The Bearcats knew they had the game won.

“I think that really killed their vibe out there,” Price said. “They started hanging their heads after we did that.”

An interception a few plays later set up Border’s second short scoring run, Hudy hit Jairus Werner on a 32-yard score a little later, and another interception led to a 13-yard TD run for Drew Weglarz to cap the scoring.

BEA had a solid start to the game with a long drive that ate up nearly seven minutes, sustained by a 22-yard McClenahan run on a fake punt. But the drive stalled, and Charlee Harris’ 24-yard field goal attempt was blocked by Price, who could have had another score.

“I forgot that you could run it back,” Price said. “I basically caught the ball. I just dropped it and kept on walking. I realized they were starting to run it so I had to go make the tackle.”

Against a powerful team like Huntingdon, Nagle knew those were valuable points lost.

“You don’t (have) them on the ropes, but you’ve got them down there and you’ve got to cash in, get seven, get three, something,” Nagle said. “When you come up empty, that just gives them momentum.”

This story was originally published October 7, 2017 at 12:19 AM with the headline "Bald Eagle Area football keeps it close for a half — then loses big against Huntingdon."