What to look for in Bald Eagle Area football’s first-ever state semifinal appearance
Bald Eagle Area is the last Centre County team standing in the PIAA high school football playoffs. The Eagles are set to play in the Class 3A semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday night in Moon Township, with a trip to Hershey and the state championship game on the line. This will be the first semifinal appearance for BEA in program history.
Their opponent, Central Valley, will enter the game well-rested after having a bye in the last round. The matchup features two top-5 teams in PennLive’s No. 1-ranked Warriors and the No. 4 Eagles. Pennsylvania Football News has Central Valley No. 1 and BEA No. 3.
The Warriors enter the contest with a 12-1 record and a high-powered offense led by dual-threat quarterback Ameer Dudley. Dudley has thrown for 1,721 yards and 21 touchdowns on 88-of-148 passing this season, along with rushing for 465 yards and eight touchdowns on 88 carries, according to MaxPreps. The junior quarterback doesn’t run often, but has the ability to make plays with his feet when he needs to.
Bald Eagle head coach Jesse Nagle said stopping Dudley will be a major key for the Eagles Friday night.
“Their quarterback is outstanding,” Nagle said. “He’s one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the state of Pennsylvania.”
When Dudley isn’t making plays on offense, senior running back Jaylen Guy is. Guy has 1,153 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns on 166 carries this season, according to MaxPreps, and plays a key role in a versatile Central Valley offense.
“I like to think we’re multidimensional,” Warriors coach Mark Lyons told the Centre Daily Times. “We’re going to try to find a hot hand, and then ride that hot hand.”
The 11-3 Eagles will need to slow the Warriors’ offense if they want to play in Hershey next weekend. Maintaining discipline on that side of the ball will be important Friday night, Nagel said.
“We have to play our team defense,” he said. “We have to do our job and stick to our roles. We have to tackle well and prevent the big play. We’re going to be running some different concepts defensively to try to confuse them, so we have to make sure we have them down.”
Fortunately for the Eagles, they have their own playmaker at quarterback. Senior Jaden Jones has been dynamic all year and has shown the ability to make plays with his arm and has used his feet to help facilitate those plays. Lyons knows the task his team will face when it takes on Jones and the Bald Eagles offense.
“We’re going to have our hands full with their quarterback,” he said. “He’s as good as a quarterback we’ve seen at extending plays. We’re going to have to be very conscious of that. I don’t think we can allow him to dictate the play. He does a great job of extending the play and finding the right receiver. We’re going to do what we can to take away time and space from him.”
Jones has put up similar numbers to Dudley this season with 1,891 passing yards and 25 touchdowns on 131-of-243 passing to go with 462 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 104 rushing attempts, according to MaxPreps.
While Jones is the facilitator of the Eagles’ offense, he isn’t the only playmaker the team has. The senior quarterback has plenty of options to get the ball to and the Warriors know it.
“You can tell (Gage McClenahan) plays with a lot of heart and is their leader,” Lyons said. “(Matthew Reese) and (Kaden Bittinger) know how to get after the ball. They’re great route-runners. They have some ways to spread the ball around.”
Those playmakers, all of whom are seniors, have played a major role in getting the Eagles to the state semifinals this year. Nagle has developed a family culture that keeps those players, and the rest of the team, level-headed and confident in each other.
Lyons said that culture was on full display when he watched the Eagles win their 21-20 quarterfinal win over Sharon last Friday.
“They made all of the tough plays,” Lyons said. “They didn’t waver in any situation. No matter what situation was in front of them, they played with confidence. It didn’t matter if they went down a score or gave up a big play. It was all about them staying composed and making the next play. They must have great leadership and that’s in direct correlation with their head coach.”
This story was originally published November 28, 2019 at 10:02 AM.
