Bald Eagle Area goes ‘toe-to-toe’ with reigning state champ, but falls in PIAA quarterfinal

Bald Eagle Area had flummoxed a team with six straight state championships in the first half.

Southern Columbia, whom Bald Eagle Area coach Jesse Nagle referred to as “the King,” found all it could handle as the two teams battled to a scoreless first two quarters. That all changed with one drive in the second half.

Southern Columbia broke away in the second half to end Bald Eagle Area’s season, 18-8, in a PIAA Class 2A quarterfinal at Jim Roth Field at Tiger Stadium on Friday night.

With the win, Southern Columbia (13-1) advanced to face Dunmore in the semifinals next week while Bald Eagle Area finished its season at 12-2.

“I’m so proud of these guys, and it hurts really bad because I’ve known some of these players since they were little,” BEA coach Jesse Nagle said. “It’s really special to me to see what they’ve accomplished, and I’m really proud of them because they didn’t quit. These kids came into the King’s house and went toe-to-toe with them for four quarters.”

But for two quarters, the Eagles kept the Tigers at bay as two potent offenses were forced to fight for every possible yard.

The Eagles defense led by standout Eric Clark prevented the Tigers’ pair of 1,000-yard running backs, Garrett Garcia and Louden Murphy, from finding room to run free while the Tigers did the same to the arm of Eagles quarterback Carson Nagle as field position dominated the opening half.

The tense battle for field position changed on the first possession of the second half as Garcia and Murphy worked the ball down the field methodically for the Tigers, with Garcia eventually jumping over a pile into the end zone to give Southern Columbia the game’s first score with 7:09 left in the third quarter.

Facing a 6-0 deficit, the Eagles went right back to the grit that had helped them match the Tigers early.

That included a bounce back on both sides of the ball as the Eagles’ running game started to establish a rhythm with an 18-yard run from Cameron Dubbs immediately following the Garcia touchdown and its defense preventing the Tigers from an immediate second touchdown late in the third quarter.

The Eagles faced the same six-point deficit heading into the fourth quarter and had the Tigers behind the chains to start the final period.

But Southern Columbia’s Murphy quickly altered the game on the third play of the quarter, breaking an Eagles tackle and escaping from a swarming defense in the backfield to race 69 yards for a Southern Columbia touchdown.

“On that big first run, we had him dead (before the first-down marker),” Jesse Nagle said. “That would have been fourth-and-8 and we would have been getting the ball down 6-0 ,and that’s exactly where we wanted to be. (Murphy) made a good play and we didn’t finish on a couple tackles.”

Bald Eagle Area pushed the ball into Southern Columbia territory after the Murphy touchdown, but the drive stalled and Murphy took advantage.

With Tigers coach Jim Roth calling for another reverse, Murphy found a seam and extended the Southern Columbia lead to 18-0 with 6:31 left to play. Aided by his two touchdown runs, Murphy finished with a game-high 142 rushing yards.

Needing a quick score, Carson Nagle showed the rapport with his receivers that led to 38 touchdowns and more than 3,000 passing yards this season for the junior quarterback.

Throwing around to Wyatt Spackman, Kahale Burns and Camron Watkins, Carson Nagle quickly pushed the ball into Southern Columbia territory before he found Watkins on a 15-yard touchdown to cut into the Southern Columbia lead with 3:30 to play.

“Offensively, all game, we were just not normal,” Carson Nagle said. “(Southern Columbia) got up three touchdowns and we just thought, ‘We’ve got to put our head down and we have to work if we want to have a chance.’ We needed that drive and we needed to score.”

A two-point conversion brought the Eagles to within 10 points at 18-8 and, with his defense forcing a three-and-out from Southern Columbia, Carson Nagle had the ball back in his hands.

The Eagles advanced back into Tigers territory, but the clock expired before they could pull closer.

Carson Nagle finished with 219 passing yards and the touchdown, finishing 26-for-46 through the air. Gavin Burns and Kahale Burns each caught eight passes for the Eagles.