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Bald Eagle football cruise past rival Penns Valley, improves to 3-0

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WINGATE – It was a Friday night battle early on at Alumni Stadium In the battle for the 41st edition of the Iron Bell Classic between Penns Valley and Bald Eagle Area football teams, the two played an old fashion smash mouth style football contest to start the game.

It would be a tale of two halves for the Bald Eagles and Penns Valley. After being held to just a field goal in first half, the Eagles came out of the intermission playing inspired ball, rallying to take home the commanding, 31-7 victory.

"This one’s another good win. It’s a rivalry, so we’ll call it a good win," said Bald Eagle Area football head coach Jesse Nagle. "But I think the kids are starting to believe, they are starting to understand they could be very good. But we’re not there yet."

Leading the ground game for the Eagles was running back Sam Clark. Clark finished with two touchdowns and 115 yards rushing. Teammate Xavier Nagle had a strong game as well, notching two touchdowns and 54 yards rushing.

Quarterback Chase Cane was 4-7 for 70 yards through the air and 59 yards on the ground. The team finished with 339 yards rushing total.

"he’s still very timid, still very unsure of himself. Hopefully, this takes care of it," said Coach Nagle on Xavier Nagle. "He’s a great athlete, great football player. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

"So, hopefully he continues to do that, continues to work hard, continues to get battered. He’s continuing to grow,” he added.

Penns Valley suffered a blow to their offense when starting quarterback Cael Smith was hurt on a running play in the second quarter and was lost for the rest of the game. But the Rams got a solid rushing performance from Tripp Watson, as he finished with a late touchdown and 47 yards. He was Penns Valley's leading rusher.

"I think we came in and they (Penns Valley) are little down right now, and I think the kids took it for granted. I thought we were playing very flat, that wasn’t acceptable," said Bald Eagle coach Jesse Nagle when asked what he talked to his kids about at halftime. "We had to play ball and play physical, play with urgency, and I think we did that in the second half."

In the second half, the Rams started with the ball deep in their own territory to start. Penns Valley moved the ball from its own 10 to the 20 before the Eagles defense forced them to punt.

The Eagles would get the ball to start their first possession of the second half at the Rams 44. With a rejuvenated run game, Bald Eagle fed the ball to Clark and company and slowly maneuvered themselves down the field.

After driving the ball down to the one, quarterback Chase Cane handed the ball to Clark, and Clark muscled it in from a yard out at 4:46. With the Andrew Penland kick, the home team went up 10-0.

The Eagles fed off each other as the defense clamped down on the Penns Valley offense on their next possession, forcing a three-and-out. With the Rams second punt of the quarter, the Eagles then wasted no time at all getting back on the scoreboard.

Again, Bald Eagle Area went to Clark. Clark did not disappoint as he capped off a three-play drive, going in from five yards out to give his team a comfortable 17-0 lead with two minutes left to go in the third.

Going into the final stanza, it was more of the same dominating play by both sides of the Eagles defense.

Early in the fourth, Xavier Nagle got his name in the scorebook as he capped off a drive with a four-yard touchdown run. With a Penland kick, the night was growing brighter for the Eagles, as they 24-0 with 9:38 left.

Nagle's eight-yard run midway through the fourth quarter put the game out of reach as they up the lead to 31-0. The runners were finding the holes the line was making for them, which has been a foundation for Bald Eagles success.

"Our line is our key. Our line is our strong point for sure. I said that coming in. So, we’re definitely going to lean on them in hard times," said Nagle. "I think tonight, we had some penalties and everything. It was a little sloppy in the first half, but, you know, we took care of business.”

With nothing but pride on the line, the Rams made their last possession an impactful one as they avoided the shutout. Tripp Watson capped off an eight-play drive as he ran it in for a five-yard touchdown run, ending the scoring at 31-7.

In the first half, both defenses made statements early.

Despite the Bald Eagle offense moving the ball downfield a few times in the redzone, Penns Valley held strong, allowing just a field goal by Andrew Penland. With the tough defensive play, the Rams found themselves only trailing 3-0 coming out with the ball at halftime.

After improving to 3-0 on the season, Bald Eagle will look to keep it rolling in a road test at Tyrone next Friday. Penns Valley (0-3) returns to action with a tough home contest against Philipsburg-Osceola, hoping to bounce back and secure its first win of 2026.

Bald Eagle Area 31, Penns Valley 7

PV – 0 0 0 7 – 7

BEA – 0 3 14 14 – 31

Second Quarter

BEA – Andrew Penland 27-yards Field goal, 8:09.

Third Quarter

BEA – Sam Clark 1-yard TD run (Penland kick), 4:46.

BEA – Sam Clark 5-yard TD run (Penland kick), 2:10.

Fourth Quarter

BEA – Xavier Nagle 4-yards run, (Penland kick), 9:38.

BEA – Xavier Nagle 8-yards run, (Penland kick),6:58.

PV – Tripp Watson 5-yard run (PAT)

TEAM STATISTICS PV BEA

First downs 7 21

Total Yards 173 339

Rushes-yards 21-92 43-269

Yards passing 31 70

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 6-16-1 4-70-0

Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties-yards 5-45 5-39

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Penns Valley, Spencer Althouse 1-7, Tripp Watson 9-47, Cael Smith 4-29, Isaac Harpster 3-13, Gannyn Stover 4-(-4). Bald Eagle, Luke Hosband 3-27, Chase Cane 11-59, Sam Clark 20-115, Xavier Nagle 6-52, Mason Quimby 4-23, Kenyon Ubenhouer 1-3.

PASSING: Penns Valley, Smith 2-4 -(5), Harpster 4-9 36. Bald Eagle,Cane 4-7 70.

RECEIVING : Penns Valley, Althouse 2-5, Harpster 1-10, Rylan Alegretto 1-10. Bald Eagle, Hosband 1-14, Justin Johnson 1-7, Isaac Johnson 1-15; Jack Kleisath 1-32.

Starting at /week.