Bald Eagle Area football propelled by Garrett Burns’ rushing attack in win over Penns Valley
Garrett Burns knew coming into the season that he was going to make an impact for Bald Eagle Area’s football team.
The question was which position it would be at, quarterback or running back.
For the senior, it was the latter, as the quarterback spot was won by freshman Carson Nagle.
“We talked about it early in the season. He was pretty adamant that he understood that our best chance to win was Carson at quarterback and him at running back,” Eagles coach Jesse Nagle said following his team’s 14-0 defeat of Penns Valley at Alumni Stadium on Friday. “He told me, ‘Listen Coach, I know Carson is going to have mistakes. I’ll make sure the kids understand that is part of the position. I’m still going to be the leader at running back.’
“For him to say that to me, was unbelievably mature. He wants to win, so whatever it takes. We rode his back tonight, that is for sure.”
Burns had a career night after running for 279 yards on 32 carries to lead BEA to a Mountain League victory over the Rams. Entering Friday’s game, the 6-foot-1, 190-pound back had 33 carries and 239 yards rushing in four games.
Highlighting Burns’ night was his 53-yard run late in the game that sealed his team’s win.
“I broke that one off to the sideline, and I should’ve been gone but my legs were so tired I about lost my footing,” Burns said. “It’s tough running that much. It’s hard to get conditioned to it. You’re going to be tired after running so long, but you have to push through it for the team. I got to thank my guys upfront.”
The teams traded possessions through most of the first half with the lone points of the game coming with less than a minute left in the first half, and 30 seconds apart.
Penns Valley coach Martin Tobias said after the loss that his team’s plan was to slow down the Eagles’ passing attack. That’s a strength Nagle knows all of this team’s opponents focus on taking away. He commended Tobias’ squad for what they did.
“We knew it was going to be a game here that they would take away our stuff,” Nagle said. “We felt that they were doing a nice job slowing down the passing game. We felt like we could just line up and run them over a little bit. We just thought that was the best chance to win, so that’s what we did.”
With 5:22 left in the first half, and BEA starting a drive at its 2-yard line after a 63-yard punt from the Rams’ Jackson Romig, Nagle’s staff made the switch, and went to their “heavy” package. It was a run-heavy approach that saw Burns line up as the quarterback.
The drive saw Burns carry the ball 11 straight times. He accumulated 98 yards on the march down the field.
When asked what was going through his mind during that drive, Burns’ response was simple.
“I was thinking water,” he said with a laugh. “I just have a killer mentality, like run it down their throats and see what I can get. We did that.”
A highlight of the drive saw Burns scamper for 64 yards to get the ball to Penns Valley’s 27. He capped the drive off with a two-yard rumble with 53 seconds remaining in the half. The Eagles led 7-0.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Rams made a mental mistake and thought the ball was going out of bounds, but stayed in and BEA recovered it. Just 30 seconds after scoring, Carson Nagle threw to an open Camron Watkins, who ran a corner route to the back of the end zone for a seven-yard score.
BEA led 14-0 with 23 seconds remaining in the first half.
“They flipped the coin on us, and started to run right at us. We struggled to adjust,” Tobias said. “They were able to control the momentum at the end of the first half, and that’s a credit to them.”
In the second half, the teams traded possessions again, with neither reaching the red zone. The Rams just couldn’t get anything going offensively.
They finished with 95 total offensive yards. Tobias said his team’s inconsistency was because of the Eagles’ defense.
However, the coach was still really pleased in his team’s loss.
“I’m really proud of our kids, and the effort that they gave,” Tobias said. “It was a really hard fought contest between two football teams. We knew Bald Eagle was really good coming into this. My hats off to them, but again I’m really proud of the effort they (his team) brought, play in and play out.”
Nagle had nothing but high praise of the Rams, too. He expects to see them again come playoff time. Even though his team won, he knows there is still work to be done.
“They are a good football team. They are going to win five or six games, maybe even more,” Nagle said. “At the end of the day, we won, but I’m not happy with our performance, that’s for sure.”
Bald Eagle Area 14, Penns Valley 0
(Friday at Wingate)
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Penns Valley 0 0 0 0 -- 0
Bald Eagle Area 0 14 0 0 -- 14
Second Quarter
BEA--Garrett Burns 2 run (Kaden Burns kick),:53
BEA--Camron Watkins 7 pass from Carson Nagle (Burns kick),:23
TEAM STATISTICS PV BEA
First downs 7 22
Total yards 95 404
Rushes-yards 17-33 43-247
Yards passing 62 157
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 11-26-0 18-27-2
Punts-avg. 8-40.6 3-39.7
Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-1
Penalties-yards 7-73 10-107
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Penns Valley, Tanner Ilgen 9-24, Rylee Brungart 5-8, Ty Watson 1-5, Cole Felker 1-(-2), TEAM 1-(-2). Bald Eagle Area, G. Burns 32-279, Nagle 4-(-23), Gavin Eckley 3-(-2), Chase Thompson 3-(-1), Owen Irvin 1-(-6).
PASSING--Penns Valley, Brungart 11-26-62-0. Bald Eagle Area, Nagle 18-25-157-2, G. Burns 0-2-0-0.
RECEIVING--Penns Valley, Miles Brooks 3-25, Logan Crater 2-13, Zach Braucht 3-11, Jackson Romig 1-6, Ilgen 1-5, Watson 1-3. Bald Eagle Area, Watkins 6-51, Kahale Burns 2-44, Irvin 5-36, Hayden Vaughn 3-12, G. Burns 1-18, Eckley 1-(-4).
Records: Penns Valley 2-3, Bald Eagle Area 4-1
Next game: Bellefonte at Penns Valley, Friday, 7 p.m.; Bald Eagle Area at Tyrone, Friday, 7 p.m.
This story was originally published September 25, 2021 at 1:02 AM.
