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Bald Eagle Area edges Jersey Shore, 24-23, in rivalry renewing thriller

Senior RB/FS Blake Roberts (32) of Bald Eagle Area High School runs through several defenders from Jersey Shore High School during a high school football game on Friday, October 19, 2018 in Jersey Shore. Bald Eagle Area won, 24-23. (The Express/Tim Weight)

JERSEY SHORE — Jaden Jones could clearly read the No. 32 on Blake Roberts’ chest. The Bald Eagle Area running back couldn’t be more open at the front of the end zone.

So Jones raised an aching right arm and fired a pass through the pain in Roberts’ direction. Immediately, Jones knew the throw was high. When the football glanced off the fingertips of a jumping 6-foot, 1-inch Roberts, Jones’ hands immediately moved to his head thinking he had missed a golden opportunity for the game-winning touchdown.

Then he watched as the ball was tipped a second time by a Jersey Shore defender in the back of the end zone. Hands still on his head, he watched as Eagles receiver Kael Gardner dropped to his knees and cradled the football in both arms for a touchdown. It was Gardner’s only catch Friday night at Thompson Street Stadium, but it was monumental as it capped the most improbable of comebacks in the most impossible of fashions.

Jones pinball 19-yard touchdown pass with four seconds left finished off a rally which saw the Eagles (8-1) rally for two touchdowns in the final 1:42 to come from behind to beat Jersey Shore (4-4), 24-23. Jones was beaten and battered in the second half by a Bulldogs defense which treated him like a punching bag in Rocky Balboa’s gym.

“I’ve been doing this 16 years and I’ve never seen anything like it,” Bald Eagle Area head coach Jesse Nagle said. “The kids didn’t quit. We couldn’t block their five-man front and they brought constant pressure because they’re so fast up front. The last play we actually blocked and slowed them down and had lots of time.”

Jones finished off a night with a smile despite a plug clogging up his bleeding nose and right arm hanging at his side which he refused to move. The junior completed 16 of 27 passes for 269 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winning touchdown. He overcame three second-half interceptions – two of which by Jersey Shore’s Anthony Shaffer – and a beating which saw him struggle to get to his feet a handful of times after punishing hits.

He got the opportunity to guide the Eagles to another victory when a low snap allowed BEA to tackle Jersey Shore punter Koby Peacock at his own 19-yard line with just 13 seconds left to play and the Bulldogs hanging on to a 23-18 lead. They had cut their deficit to just five points just 90 seconds earlier when Jones ran in a touchdown from 1-yard out after a pair of big pass plays set up the Eagles at the 1-yard line.

To that point, Jersey Shore had dominated the second half. It scored the only touchdown of the half with a two-yard pass from Tanner Lorson to Peacock. The Bulldogs had found an answer for receiver Nick Turner who finished with 11 catches, 193 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and we able to keep him from breaking loose.

Then all hell broke loose over the final two minutes.

“We just didn’t finish the game,” Jersey Shore head coach Tom Gravish said. “We could have put them away and we didn’t. Hats off to them because they played an entire game, and they had the ball bounce their way for the final two minutes.”

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