TIM WEIGHT/For the Express Bald Eagle Area receiver Grady Fisher (3) waits for action to resume during a football game last season. Fisher was a standout over the weekend, catching seven passes for 138 yards and a touchdown in BEA's 47-24 loss to Central Cambria.

On Friday, both the Bald Eagle Area and Bellefonte football teams endured tough losses on the road. The Eagles, facing a top five team in PIAA Class AAA, fell to Penn Cambria by a score of 47-24. And after kicking off the season with a momentous, come-from-behind victory, the Red Raiders suffered a setback in the form of a setback, falling to Forest Hills, 35-0.

In Bald Eagle Area’s case, early turnovers against a more-than-respectable opponent made its situation all the more dire. It faced a 33-3 deficit by halftime, and while it managed to get within three possessions late in the third, it could never manage to make up more ground than that.

“Three costly turnovers and those couple bad snaps were the difference,” said Bald Eagle Area head coach Jesse Nagle when discussing the first half. “If we don’t do those things, it’s probably 14-14 at the half, maybe we’re even up 20-14.”

Despite the gut punch that was the first half, it kept fighting until the end, producing some positives in the process.

After a shaky debut start at the helm, senior quarterback Kaleb Irion showed progress in his second, completing over 70-percent of his passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns. Both his touchdown passes came in the third quarter, a four-yarder to Kollin Cunningham and a 20-yarder to Grady Fisher.

It was one of many components in a respectable offensive stat line. For the second straight game, senior running back Nick McCully surpassed 100 yards, rushing for 117 on 17 carries – 6.9 yards per attempts. Fisher surpassed 100 through the air, catching seven balls for 138 yards. And Cunningham and Jackson Millward had five catches each, with Millward making his third field goal of the season.

“It’s one of those things where our kids have to believe, and they did in the second half,” said Nagle on the resurgence. “Our kids showed they can compete with the best teams in the conference. We just fell too far behind in the beginning.”

While they’re still searching for their first win, one of the Eagles’ biggest regular season roadblocks is now out of the way. It completes a two-game road stretch next week, facing Penns Valley (0-2) in a much more winnable matchup.

Forest Hills 35, Bellefonte 0

Coming off an exciting, 21-20 win over Tyrone, some might’ve expected Bellefonte to carry that momentum into its first road matchup against Forest Hills. However, the opposite ended up occurring, as the team’s struggles on offense and in the secondary continued and its deficit proved too lofty to overcome.

On the night, the Red Raiders were outgained 353-107 yardage-wise, never getting much going offensively while struggling to alleviate the big plays defensively for the second straight game.

“We need to really evaluate things this week as a staff and as a team,” said Bellefonte head coach Anthony Confer on the loss. “We didn’t play well offensively. Execution was not good most of the night. We gave up too many big plays defensively.”

In terms of standouts, Bentlee Hall and freshman Alten Howell were able to turn a small number of carries into a decent amount of yards, combining for 41 yards on five carries. Sophomore quarterback Brennan Huntsinger completed six of his 11 throws for 37 yards and Jackson Long and Caleb Bartley each had two receptions.

With the ups and downs of the first two weeks, the goal moving into Week Three for the Red Raiders is to re-evaluate and re-establish the momentum it produced in the waning moments of its Week One matchup against Tyrone. They’ll look to bounce back in another tough matchup against Bishop Guilfoyle (2-0).

“Message to the team was that we need to get better. We need to play more consistent football. This is only one loss, but our schedule doesn’t get any easier this week,” said Confer. “I need to do a better job as the head coach of making sure we are ready to play Friday nights and that we have solid practices throughout the week.”

Both of Friday’s games are set for 7 p.m., with Bald Eagle Area playing at Penns Valley and Bellefonte playing at home.

Penn Cambria 47, Bald Eagle Area 24

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Bald Eagle Area, Nick McCulley 17-117; Sean Clark 4-16, TD; Kaleb Irion 1-1; Grady Fisher 1-(-4). TOTAL: 23-130, TD.

PASSING: Kaleb Irion 20-28-1 243 yards, 2 TDs.

RECEIVING: Grady Fisher 7-138, TD; Jackson Millward 5-47; Kollin Cunningham 5-37, TD; James Cowan 1-27; Luke Hosband 1-4; Jack Kleisath 1-0.

Forest Hills 35, Bellefonte 0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Alten Howell 2-21; Bentlee Hall 3-20; Ka’Ven Smith-Kirk 5-15; Ashten Howell 3-12; Jackson Long 2-8; Isaac Gall 2-5; Parker Jodon 2-(-2); Brennan Huntsinger 5-(-9). TOTAL: 24-70.

PASSING: Brennan Huntsinger 6-11-0 37 yards; Alten Howell 0-1. TOTAL: 6-12-0 37 yards.

RECEIVING: Jackson Long 2-15; Caleb Bartley 2-7; Gavin DuFour 1-11; Parker Jodon 1-4.