How Bald Eagle Area erased a 6-point halftime deficit to beat Clearfield 36-28

Clearfield snapped the ball inside the red zone 15 times in the second half of Friday night’s game against Bald Eagle Area. Four of those snaps were on fourth down.

And 15 times the BEA defense held, shutting out the Bison when the game was in the balance, including the last time when the secondary broke up QB Oliver Billotte’s fourth-and-7 pass from the Eagle 14 with just over a minute left in the game. That’s how BEA emerged from Bison Stadium with a 36-28 victory in a game that left everyone running short of oxygen.

“These kids played 14 games last year. We’ve been in this position before,” said Eagle coach Jesse Nagle. “That kind of stuff doesn’t bother us anymore. We had eight starters returning on defense. We’re where we want to be. In the first half we didn’t play our defense. In the second half we settled down. The kids understood what they had to do and they did it.”

They had to because Clearfield jumped out to a 14-0 lead with 4:18 still to go in the quarter.

The Bison took the opening kickoff and drove 65 yards in 11 plays with Billotte going the final yard. Zach Hess booted the PAT with 7:21 still on the clock.

BEA handed the ball back to Clearfield two plays later when a fumbled exchange was recovered by Clearfield’s Allan Myers on the Eagles’ 47. It looked as thought the Eagles were going to hold, forcing a fourth-and-20 from their 30. But Billotte threw a perfectly placed pass to Matt Pallo, who made an over-the-shoulder, one-hand catch in the back corner of the end zone for the touchdown. Hess kicked the PAT with 4:18 to go.

“Billotte played outstanding,” Nagle said. “He made some unbelievable throws.”

But the Eagles answered with a 67-yard, 10-play drive that was capped by an 18-yard TD pass from Jaden Jones to Mathew Reese on a fourth-and-11 call and Carter Stere kicked the extra point with just 59 seconds to go in the quarter. Jones finished the game by completing 11 of 19 passes for 190 yards and four TDs.

The teams traded scores on the next two possessions as the Bison drove 68 yards and got a 2-yard scoring run by Billotte on fourth-and-goal from the 2. BEA went 72 yards in six plays with Jones and Kaden Bittinger combining for a 15-yard strike after the two had hooked up for a 53-yard play earlier in the drive.

The Eagles went for two points after the score and got them when Bittinger hit Tommy Snyder for the points at the 5:53 mark. Jones got hit in the face midway through the drive and his nose was bleeding so badly his jersey was soaked in blood and he had to come out of the game for a play. Because of the blood he had to change jerseys with teammate Isaac Packer.

“We had to clog his nose (with cotton) to get the bleeding stopped,” Nagle said.

The scoring continued as Clearfield went 63 yards and got a TD on a 12-yard run by Brett Zattoni with 2:22 to go in the half. BEA hit back with a 14-yard strike from Jones to Reese from 14 yards out with 29 seconds to go in the half. Stere made it 28-22.

The Eagles took the lead for good on their first possession of the second half when they marched 53 yards in four plays with Jones scoring from the 11 and Stere kicking the PAT at the 10:55 mark. Then the BEA defense began to assert itself, stopping the Bison on the 17th play of a 65-yard drive when Bittinger intercepted Billotte at the 1.

The Eagles couldn’t move the ball and shanked the only punt of the game, giving Clearfield possession at the 28. The Bison got to the 15 but a bad snap out of the shotgun put the ball on the 24. Gage McClenahan then broke up a Billotte pass on fourth down.

Hanging on to a 29-28 lead, BEA‘s offense ignited as Reese ran for 10 yards, Snyder got five, Jones ran for 15 and then Snyder broke cleanly through a hole on the left side and went 47 yards for an insurance touchdown with 6:59 left in the game.

But again, the Bison offense put together a drive, starting on its own 35 and reaching the BEA 14 before Billottes last-ditch pass was batted down.

BEA is now 7-1 and will entertain Jersey Shore Friday at 7 p.m. while Clearfield, 6-2, visits P-O Friday night at 7.

BEA 36, Clearfield 28

Friday at Clearfield

Score by quarters

BEA 7 15 7 7 — 36

Clearfield 14 14 0 0 — 28

1st Quarter

C — Billotte, 1-yd run; Hess (Kick), 7:21

C — Pallo, 30-yd pass from Billotte; Hess (kick), 4:18

B — Reese, 18-yd pass from Jones; Stere (kick), :54

2nd Quarter

C — Billotte, 2-yd run; Hess (kick), 7:57

B —Bittinger, 15-yd pass from Jones; Snyder, pass from Bittinger, 5:53

C — Zattoni, 12-yd run; Hess (kick); 2:32

B — Reese, 14-yd pass from Jones; Stere (Kick), :29

3rd quarter

B — Jones, 11-yd run; Stere (kick), 10:55

4th quarter

B — Snyder, 46-yd run; Hess (kick), 6:58

Rushing — BEA: Jones, 13-87, Snyder, 5-47, Reese, 1-10, Team, 1-(minus) 1; C: Zattoni, 34-103, Billotte, 11-41, Kline, 2-8, Pubell, 4-2, Finarski 2-3, Team, 1-(minus) 9.

Passing — BEA: Jones,111-18-0, Bittinger 1-0-0; C: Billotte, 20-31-1.

Receiving — B: Bittinger, 5-91, McClenahan, 1-24, Eckley, 1-20, Reese, 3-37; C - Pallo, 8-89, Domico, 3-22; C: Kline, 1-16, I. Billotte, 1-27, Finarski, 5-31, Zattoni, 2-4.

Records —BEA 7-1, Clearfield, 6-2.

Next — Jersey Shore at BEA, 7 p.m. Friday. Clearfield at P-O, 7 p.m. Friday.