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Bald Eagle Area wins thriller over upstart River Valley (Gallery Included) @CoachJNagle @BStaats12 @Angelo_Bart23

Tagged under: Centre County Report, District 6, Gameday Hub, News

| November 6, 2021

Turnovers. If you win that battle, you usually win the game. There were plenty of turnovers in this game, but the game ultimately didn’t come down to who won the turnover battle. BEA had 3, River Valley had 4. You might think that stat is close but tells the story. Well, it is. And, it doesn’t. River Valley scored off of three turnovers, Bald Eagle Area scored twice after turnovers. Ultimately, this game came down to one drive. A long, time consuming drive that went 74 yards, was highlighted by penalties on both teams, But with 42 seconds and a first and goal at the two, it was Garrett Burns who carried the ball over the goal line to get the 33-29 win for BEA.

“We killed ourselves with penalties” said BEA head coach Jesse Nagle of his teams 14 penalties for 159 yards. “But the kids dealt with adversity and I always say “Plus One”” he said looking at the scoreboard. “We gotta clean that stuff up.”

The Eagles got thing rolling defensively after punting on their first drive. Ethan Koleno picked off a Braden Staats pass but the Panthers held. Then Owen Irvin picked off Staats and got to the Panther 17. Garrett Burns, who scored four times tonight, took the first play of the drive to the house putting the Eagles up 7-0.

 

On the ensuing drive, the Eagle defense sacked Staats, forcing a fumble that was recovered at the River Valley 20. Three plays later Burns scored again making it a 14-0 game. Then it looked like the wheels were about to fall off the bus from the Blairsville/Saltsburg area. The Panthers fumbled the kick off giving the ball back to BEA at the 37, but the River Valley defense stiffened, forcing a punt.

It was the spark the Panthers needed. Taking the ball at their own 11 yard line, the visiting team used a combination of powerful running from Angelo Bartolini, a couple quick completions by Staats, a few timely BEA penalties including a pass interference call on Irvin on third down that gave the drive new life after three plays, and finally, after moving 88 yards, a 1 yard plunge by the quarterback. “Our kids never gave up tonight. I’m proud of them” said River Valley head coach Jess Houser.

With just under 5 minutes left in the first half it looked as though the Eagles were about to extend their lead back to 14 points. On a first down play from the Panther 22, Carson Nagle tossed the ball to Irvin who then took off down the sideline. As he was met by a group of players, he was hit from behind, the ball popped backwards and Hank Skirboll saw in land in his hands. He sort of turned around and started jogging, almost not sure of what just happened, but then realized the play wasn’t blow dead and sprinted 86 yards to the other end of the field. The kick made it a 14-14 game going into the break.

Momentum. When you have it, it feels great. River Valley had it after score twice late in the second and they were getting the ball to start the third quarter.  It took two plays to use that momentum and take the lead. On the second play, Bartolini found a hole in the middle, then headed to the sidelines followed by the endzone to give the Panthers their first lead of the game, 21-14 with nearly the entire second half to play.

 

“I said great ones forget. His first half was rough but he came out and played how we thought he could” said Nagle of Irvins turnaround performance in the second half. Irvin hauled in two big catches, one for 23 and one for 45, to put the ball at the one. Burns called his own number from the wildcat but the kick was blocked keeping the score 21-20 in favor of Panther Valley. Again, the Eagles looked like they were about to run away with the game. Following an onside kick recovery, Nagle found Irvin over the middle for a 24 yard scoring play. Nagle sent in a two point play that came up short, and with 6:45 left in the third BEA held a slim 26-21 lead. “They were a great team. They had those two good running backs. They had trouble blocking us the first half but they made some nice adjustments in the second half” said Nagle.

The two defenses slugged it out over the next couple series, but it was River Valley’s defense that eventually won the field position battle. Pinning the Eagles their own 20, the defense came up big after yet another BEA 15 yard penalty. As Nagle dropped back to pass, the ball was slapped away and rolled towards the endzone where Conner Rebo recovered it for the go ahead score with 7:07 left in the game.  Bartolini went in for the two pointer, but the next drive by BEA sealed the win.

“This team has fought all year, we just came up short tonight” said Coach Houser. River Valley finishes their inaugural season at a very respectable 8-3. BEA will stay home next week to face Forest Hills in the PIAA D6 Semi.

Gallery below box score

Box Score courtesy Nate Cobler, CDT:

SCORE BY QUARTERS

River Valley 0 14 7 8 — 29
Bald Eagle Area 14 0 12 7 — 33

First Quarter
BEA–Garrett Burns 17 run (Kaden Burns kick), 3:39
BEA–G. Burns 2 run (Kad. Burns kick), 1:42
Second Quarter
RV–Braden Staats 1 run (Keith Behanna kick), 4:54
RV–Hank Skirboll 85 fumble return (Behanna kick), 1:21
Third Quarter
RV–Angelo Bartolini 57 run (Behanna kick), 11:07
BEA–G. Burns 1 run (kick blocked), 8:00
BEA–Owen Irvin 24 pass from Carson Nagle (run failed), 6:45
Fourth Quarter
RV–Conner Rebo 1 fumble return (A. Bartolini run), 7:07
BEA–G. Burns 2 run (Kad. Burns kick), :38

TEAM STATISTICS RV BEA

First downs 10 13
Total yards 178 362
Rushes-yards 30-124 35-189
Yards passing 54 173
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 9-14-3 14-26-1
Punts-avg. 0-0 3-40.3
Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-2
Penalties-yards 6-70 14-159
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING–River Valley, A. Bartolini 20-127, Sincere Mcfarlin 4-5, Rocco Bartolini 2-4, Luke Woodring 1-0, Staats 2-(-9), Team 1-(-3).
Bald Eagle Area, G. Burns 32-179, Kahale Burns 1-0, Chase Thompson 1-3, Camron Watkins 1-7.

PASSING–River Valley, Staats 9-13-54-0 TDs, Woodring 0-1-0-0.
Bald Eagle Area, Nagle 14-26-173-1.

RECEIVING–River Valley, R. Bartolini 3-9, A. Bartolini 1-8, Skirboll 3-11, S. Mcfarlin 1-16, Woodring 1-10.
Bald Eagle Area, Irvin 6-115, Kah. Burns 3-26, Watkins 2-15, G. Burns 2-15, Gavin Eckley 1-2.

Records: River Valley 8-3, Bald Eagle Area 9-2

Gallery from Jeff Jodon

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