Carson Nagle tosses 5 touchdowns in Bald Eagle Area’s 45-19 win over Bellwood-Antis
Bald Eagle Area quarterback Carson Nagle lives for moments like Friday night.
Before the District 6 Class 2A quarterfinal against Bellwood-Antis, he ran onto the field and and started tossing the ball around with his coaches. Nagle went on to throw five touchdown passes in the game, a career-high, in a 45-19 victory over the Blue Devils.
“It feels amazing — I wanted one or two more,” Nagle said. “But at the end of the day, if you look at the scoreboard, we won and that’s all that matters at this point. We need to go week-by-week and right now, we’re 1-0. The past of this season doesn’t matter at this point.”
Not to be outdone, Eagles safety Mikey Snyder had the best game of his career. While he gave up a 53-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter, he wouldn’t allow it to happen again. Snyder picked off Bellwood-Antis quarterback Gaven Ridgway to stymie an early second quarter possession. He notched his second interception with 44 seconds left in the third quarter, this time robbing backup quarterback Holden Schreier. His last pick came with 2:40 remaining in the game to halt a 10-play drive.
“(I thought to myself), ‘I’ve just got to bounce back,’” Snyder said. “That was a big play that I gave up and I had to make it up to my teammates. Coach (Jesse) Nagle lets me run free on defense and I just go and do my job.”
Bald Eagle jumped onto the board with an 8-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a 28-yard touchdown pass from Nagle to Cam Watkins with 7:35 left in the first quarter. Nagle had his second touchdown pass on a 45-yard streak to Kahale Burns at the 4:28 mark in the first.
The Blue Devils fought back with Ridgway hitting Griffin Kyle on a 53-yard touchdown pass. Bellwood-Antis trailed 14-7 with 1:41 remaining in the first. Their comeback opportunity fell apart with a 7-yard touchdown rush by Cameron Dubbs (9:00) and Nagle’s 10-yard touchdown to Gavin Eckley (3:31) to put Bald Eagle up 28-7 at the half.
Nagle threw his fourth touchdown to Watkins on a 48-yard bomb to lead 35-7 with 8:54 on the clock in the third. Schreier entered the game with Ridgway moving to wide receiver. They linked up for a 65-yard touchdown to pull the game to 35-13 following the missed extra point. Schreier had his second touchdown, this time on a 14-yard scramble at the 1:11 to make it 35-19.
The Eagles pulled away with Nagle’s fifth touchdown pass, linking up for Elliott Splain on a 73-yard route with 51 seconds left in the third. Kaden Burns put the icing on the cake to give Bald Eagle a 45-19 lead with 9:38 left in the fourth quarter.
Bald Eagle is set to take on Penns Valley next week in Spring Mills. It will be the two team’s second matchup this season after the Eagles defeated the Rams 42-27 on Sept. 16. Bald Eagle head coach Jesse Nagle understands that it’ll be “a battle.”
“It’s going to be a fight,” Jesse Nagle said. “They played us very well down there. It was the fourth quarter when we pulled away. They’re a better football team, we’re a better football team. It’s going to be a battle — no question.”
