Bald Eagle Area football bounces back from Week 1 loss with thrashing of Huntingdon
A young Bald Eagle Area team took the field Friday night at Alumni Stadium looking to bounce back from its Week 1 loss to Central. But in the early goings of the Eagles’ 46-8 win over Huntingdon, it looked like that might not happen.
BEA was in scoring position when quarterback Garrett Burns’ pass was picked off by Huntingdon’s Darin Harmon and returned for a touchdown to give the Bearcats the 6-0 lead with 2:43 left in the first quarter.
But the Eagles regrouped during the break, and responded with a touchdown of their own — a 41-yard run by Burns — with 10:50 remaining. Carter Stere’s PAT was good, and BEA didn’t look back from there. The Eagles tallied up six more touchdowns — three that quarter — and gave up just a safety.
Burns completed 13 out of 28 passes for 246 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for 81 yards and three touchdowns. Owen Irvin caught three of Burn’ passes for 110 yards.
Coach Jesse Nagle was proud of the way his team overcame the early deficit, and saw Friday night as a step forward in his team’s growth.
“It was definitely a positive,” he said. “We are very young and inexperienced in spots. We had some opportunities early that we didn’t capitalize on, then they came back after adversity and did a nice job. It was a huge win for our program simply because I think some people forgot about us. We’re still here. Everyone says, oh you graduated this, you graduated that. We’re hoping to, instead of just graduating, to reload every year. So we’re really excited.
“We know we have a lot of good players and athletes on the field, so hopefully they continue to grow.”
Bald Eagle Area 46, Huntingdon 8
(Friday at Wingate)
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Huntingdon 96 2 0 0 — 8
Bald Eagle Area 90 26 7 13 — 46
First Quarter
H—Darin Reamer 90 interception (kick failed), 2:43
Second Quarter
BEA—Garrett Burns 41 run (Carter Stere kick), 10:50
BEA—Burns 3 run (kick failed), 10:18
BEA—Owen Irvin 76 pass from Burns (pass failed), 3:55
BEA—Cameron Watkins 21 pass from Burns (Stere kick), 2:37
H—Safety, :37
Third Quarter
BEA—Burns 2 run (Stere kick), 6:15
Fourth Quarter
BEA—Hayden Vaughn 6 run (kick blocked), 9:05
BEA—Max Yetsko 1 run (Stere kick), :54
TEAM STATISTICS H BEA
First downs 6 18
Total yards 123 454
Rushes-yards 35-69 27-191
Yards passing 54 263
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 8-18-0 15-31-1
Punts-avg. 7-31.6 3-21.3
Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-1
Penalties-yards 6-40 5-35
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Huntingdon, Landen Regitz 1-(-2), Myles Baney 13-33, Alec Cooper 7-24, Harman 5-(-7), Connor Eagle 2-4, Braylan Ronk 6-13, Kyle Barnett 1-4. Bald Eagle Area, Chase Thompson 6-48, Burns 8-81, Gavin Eckley 5-25, Vaughn 5-32, Kyler Cunningham 2-4, Yetsko 1-6.
PASSING—Huntingdon, Harman 8-18-54-0. Bald Eagle Area, Burns 13-28-246-1, Yetsko 2-3-17-0.
RECEIVING—Huntingdon, Ronk 5-33, Matt Crotsley 1-9, Tyson Cook 1-6, Cooper 1-6. Bald Eagle Area, Eckley 3-35, Cunningham 2-27, Watkins 4-41, Irvin 3-110, Trey Foster 1-(-3), Tanner Bower 1-20, Vaughn 1-20.