Bald Eagle Area football outmatched by Jersey Shore despite a close first half
The Eagles had their work cut out for them in the second half of their 48-5 loss to Jersey Shore on Friday.
They were down 13-2 against the Bulldogs — a team that was the PIAA runnerup last year in Class 4A and is slated to again be a contender in the state football playoffs. Things slowly began to unravel. A thrown interception here. A blown coverage there. A number of other big plays were given up to Jersey Shore and the Eagles found themselves with a 48-5 loss.
“We had a couple opportunities, we dropped a couple touchdown passes,” Bald Eagle coach Jesse Nagle said. “It’s one of those things [where] the door’s open, you either kick it open and keep going or kind of let it shut and tighten. Unfortunately, we let it shut. It’s no excuses. We played a lot of young guys, but those young guys in Week 9 have got to get better and make the plays. They made the plays. You can’t beat an 8-0 team and not make the plays and we didn’t do that today.”
A bright spot in the loss for Bald Eagle was the impressive defensive performance of sophomore wide receiver and linebacker Cam Watkins. The young defender had four sacks and five tackles for loss in the game. Despite his personal success, his focus after the game turned toward making his team better and regrouping before heading into to the playoffs.
“I just think in practice, everybody needs to step up and make each other better,” Watkins said. “I think that’s a key goal for us to do next week. It’s for us to battle hard, we still have a district [championship] run, we all know it. We may not have played the best of games today, but I know we can battle back.”
The Eagles played stout defense to begin the game. The entirety of the first quarter was a scoreless affair and the Bulldogs were held to just a 28-yard field goal from Breck Miller with 10:51 left in the second quarter to give them a 3-0 lead against Bald Eagle. Brady Jordan finally got going with an 8-yard touchdown rush with 6:23 remaining in the first half.
Things began to look bleak for the Eagles in the first half following quarterback Carson Nagle’s interception to Cayden Hess. Then, Bald Eagle Area stuffed Hayden Packer for a safety to trail 10-2 with 3:46 remaining in the half. After the Eagles’ defensive stand, they attempted to push the ball downfield, but were stopped and gave the ball back to Jersey Shore for Breck Miller to kick a 32-yard field goal with no time left on the clock for a 13-2 halftime lead.
That’s when everything unraveled for Bald Eagle.
Brady Jordan had his second rushing touchdown of the game on a 67-yard carry for a 20-2 lead. He then threw a 76-yard touchdown pass to Connor Griffin for a 27-2 lead with 6:20 left in the third. Packer then got his revenge with a 40-yard touchdown run with 2:21 on the clock in the quarter. With the starters finished for the night, Elijah Jordan rushed from the 15-yard line with 49 second left in the third for a 41-2 lead for the Bulldogs.
Nick Canellos finished things off by picking off backup Eagles quarterback Nicholas Wilbe and returning the ball for 30 yards and a touchdown for a 48-2 lead. The Eagles added a late-game field goal to make the final score 48-5.
Jersey Shore improved to 9-0 on the season with its most recent win, while the Eagles fall to 7-2. Bulldogs head coach Tom Gravish was complimentary of his alma mater in the victory, going so far as to consider Bald Eagle a threat in the 2A state playoffs. As an alumnus of Bald Eagle, it made him proud to see the team’s gritty play throughout the game.
“We got some bad bounces or whatever, but we’ve just got to play with the ‘next play’ mentality,” Gravish said. “Hats off to them [Bald Eagle]. I have tons of respect for them. I hope that they win the AA state championship, the district championship. Being a former alum, I root for them every time except one. Jesse and those guys are a class group. They have great assistant coaches, great players and it’s always exciting to come back here with this many people.”
