Bald Eagle Area football closes out regular season with rout of Penn Cambria
Friday night’s matchup between Bald Eagle Area and Penn Cambria was set up to be a pretty good game on paper.
Both teams entered the game 8-1. The Panthers were riding an eight-game winning streak as the Eagles were winners of two straight on Senior night.
In the end, BEA kept its winning streak alive with a 46-0 thrashing of Penn Cambria in each team’s final game of the regular season inside Alumni Stadium.
“ I was really proud of the kids. We got tested there with Clearfield,” Eagles coach Jesse Nagle said. “I challenged the kids, and I think they responded very well.”
BEA started the year on a six-game winning streak heading into that game with Clearfield.
The Bison handed the Eagles their first loss of the season that week, 13-7. In that game, BEA’s defense struggled to close the game out.
Fast forward to Friday night.
The Eagles’ defense was a key component in the rout of the Panthers. They pitched their third shutout of the season — second week in a row.
“They did a good job. They were daring us to run the ball. They were dropping a lot of guys in coverage,” said Penn Cambria coach Nick Felus of BEA’s defense. “They were giving us the run, but we didn’t run it well enough. We didn’t run the ball well. It was a good game plan.”
Penn Cambria finished the game with just 34 yards rushing on 27 carries. It was forced to the punt the ball eight times.
The Eagles gave up a total of 98 yards for the game — only 25 in the first half. Also in the first half, defensive linemen Eric Clark, Alex Lefebvre and Brayden Dubbs were terrors.
Clark collected two first-half sacks as Lefebvre and Dubbs added one sack a piece.
“I think defensively we were challenged throughout the year. We were trying to get it right,” Nagle said. “I think we got all the pieces correct. I think our defense is definitely playing better. The kids are believing in one another, and playing as a team.”
Earlier in the week, Nagle was critical of this game of two tough teams being put up against one another with the postseason on the horizon.
Just as the defense took it to heart with its stellar play, the offense was matching it stride for stride.
It took a little bit of time for BEA to find the end zone, but when it did, the rout was on.
Carson Nagle connected with Beau Taylor on a 50-yard score with 7 minutes, 06 seconds left in the first quarter. Taylor seemed to float in the air to catch it as it appeared as though the ball was going to be overthrown.
Just under two minutes into the second quarter, the Eagles found the end zone again on an 8-yard scamper from Kahale Burns. He used his speed to outrace Panthers’ defenders to the corner pylon.
Five minutes later, BEA had another rushing score on the board with Cameron Dubbs rumbling in from 15 yards out. It was 21-0 with 5:33 left in the first half.
The second half began with Penn Cambria going three-and-out. The Eagles used just one play to up its lead by four scores.
Carson Nagle hit Gavin Burns on a 59-yard bomb. Burns caught the ball at the 20 and did the rest, turning a defender in circles before turning on the jets for the score.
Nicholas Wible had BEA’s third and final rushing score of the night, going 31 yards untouched with 2:21 left in the third quarter. On the next possession with both teams’ backups in, the Eagles’ Kollin Cunningham picked off a pass, and returned it 21 yards for a score to make it 40-0 with 1:39 remaining in the third quarter.
The final score of the night was Kaleb Irion connecting with senior Gavin Brooks on a 66-yard score with 1:08 remaining in the game.
“Hopefully, they don’t get over confident. It is a momentum builder,” said Jesse Nagle of what this win meant heading into the postseason. “It’s a new season now, nothing else matters now. Everybody is 0-0. We got to get everybody all in. We got to be ready to go.”
Other Centre County scores
Penns Valley 41, Central Cambria 34
State College 21, Chambersburg 14
Bellefonte 14, Somerset 13
Philipsburg-Osceola 22, Bishop McCort-Carroll 21 (2OT)
Bald Eagle Area 46, Penn Cambria 0
Friday at Wingate
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Penn Cambria 0 0 0 0 -- 0
Bald Eagle Area 7 14 19 6 -- 46
First Quarter
BEA--Beau Taylor 50 pass from Carson Nagle (Kaden Burns kick), 7:06
Second Quarter
BEA--Kahale Burns 8 run (Kad. Burns kick), 10:39
BEA--Cameron Dubbs 15 run (Kad. Burns kick), 5:33
Third Quarter
BEA--Gavin Burns 59 pass from Nagle (kick blocked), 10:40
BEA--Nicholas Wible 31 run (kick failed), 2:21
BEA--Kollin Cunningham 21 interception return (Kad. Burns kick), 1:39
Fourth Quarter
BEA--Gavin Brooks 66 pass from Kaleb Irion (kick blocked), 1:08
TEAM STATISTICS PC BEA
First downs 6 14
Total yards 98 464
Rushes-yards 27-34 27-196
Yards passing 64 268
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 11-23-1 15-24-0
Punts-avg. 8-45.5 3-46.7
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-1
Penalties-yards 5-45 5-40
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Penn Cambria, Evan Latterner 5-29, Thomas Plunkett 7-15, Cam Coudriet 4-10, Marcus Eckenrode 1-9, Gavin Harrold 3-6, Chase Plazek 1-(-4), Brady Jones 6-(-31). Bald Eagle Area, Dubbs 13-99, Wible 5-67, Kah. Burns 2-14, Nick McCully 2-11, Sam Clark 1-5, Blake Houtz-Leitzell 1-5, Cam Watkins 2-2, Nagle 1-(-7).
PASSING--Penn Cambria, Jones 9-16-0-45, Latterner 2-7-1-19. Bald Eagle Area, Nagle 14-23-0-202, Irion 1-1-0-66.
RECEIVING--Penn Cambria, Carter McDermott 3-36, Isaac Strittmatter 1-16, Harrold 5-10, Eckenrode 1-3, Plunkett 1-(-1). Bald Eagle Area, Brooks 1-66, Taylor 3-64, G. Burns 1-59, Watkins 4-43, Kah. Burns 4-28, Dubbs 1-5, Wyatt Spackman 1-3.
Records: Penn Cambria 8-2, Bald Eagle Area 9-1
Next game: TBD at Bald Eagle Area, District 6 Class 2A First Round, Friday, 7 p.m.
This story was originally published October 28, 2023 at 12:04 AM.
