Bellefonte football reclaims Curtin Bowl trophy after topping rival Bald Eagle Area
Friday night was the annual Curtin Bowl rivalry football matchup between Bellefonte and Bald Eagle Area at Alumni Stadium.
It was also the Eagles’ Homecoming game, but the Red Raiders went across town and played spoiler in a 21-12 victory. It meant bringing the Curtin Bowl trophy back to Bellefonte for the first time since 2020.
“You know what, I’m just excited for these kids. They’ve worked so hard for me the last two years,” Bellefonte coach Tony Confer said. “Everything they’ve done for me and given to me, and the coaches this year have just done an incredible job of getting the kids ready. To get that trophy back, that means the world to the kids.”
Big plays were key for the Red Raiders, and one came right away.
After going three-and-out on their first possession, Bellefonte took their second possession of the game into the endzone on a nine-play drive that consisted of eight runs. The second play of the drive was the first of eight straight runs with Ka’ven Smith-Kirk taking an inside trap and race down his team’s sideline to BEA’s 15 for 65 yards.
The Red Raiders grinded their way into the endzone with quarterback Liam Halterman rumbling in from the one-yard line.
Bellefonte went up two scores late in the second quarter when Halterman connected with Jaeden Gabrovsek on a 34-yard score through the air. Gabrovsek just ran right through the Eagles’ defense with no defender in sight when he caught the ball.
“I felt because of the week of practice that we had, and where our quarterback, Liam, was playing this week, I wanted to take the ball and go down and score the first drive,” Confer said. “Of course, we didn’t score the first drive, but our defense held. Going up two scores on these guys is huge, because they can score at any time.”
BEA proved that when the Eagles got the ball with no timeouts and 21 seconds left in the first half at Bellefonte’s 48. They used three plays to cover the 48 yards in 19 seconds.
Quarterback Carson Nagle ran for 10 yards after the pocket collapsed. The next play saw Nagle connect with Grady Fisher for 15 yards.
Nagle hit Beau Taylor on a 23-yard strike to get BEA on the board. The extra point attempt was blocked to make it 14-6 at the half.
The teams traded possessions for most of the third quarter, but the Red Raiders got their final score on another big play.
Isaac Gall took an inside dive up the middle and raced down the Bellefonte sideline for a 59-yard score. It was 21-6 with 1:11 left in the third quarter.
The Eagles responded with Nagle picking up his second passing touchdown. He hit tight end Wyatt Spackman on a seven-yard score with 10:56 left in the game.
BEA recovered a fumble on the Red Raiders’ ensuing possession, but just couldn’t get anything going to rally.
“I knew it was going to be a dogfight. I figured the line on both sides of the ball was going to be critical. There were times that we took control, and they took control,” Eagles coach Jesse Nagle said. “We talked about eye discipline all week. They do a lot of counter action stuff. Some guys got lost with the eyes. Honestly, we missed a couple of key tackles too, which made those big plays happen.
“At the end of the day, both teams wanted it, they just came out on top tonight. We’ll get it cleaned up and figure it out.”
Centre County’s Friday Scores
Bellwood-Antis 28, Philipsburg-Osceola 0
Clearfield 59, Penns Valley 27
State College 24, Central Dauphin 7
