Bald Eagle boys finish schedule with a strong win over Central

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: September 19, 2023

By Kenny Varner

WINGATE – Coming off a a stretch of five game in eight days, the Bald Eagle Area boys soccer team ended the grueling schedule with a convincing way, posting a 5-1 victory over Central.

Connor Maney was very deadly in transition, posting a four of the Eagles five goals and even notched an assist in his team’s victory.

Offensively, Bald Eagle handled pin point passing and strong ball control to lead the transition game.

“We’ve been very close in the last couple of games we’ve been struggling putting the ball in the net. Even last night at Penns Valley we were really close but couldn’t put the ball in the net,” said Bald Eagle Area coach Jason Bair. “Tonight was finally one of those nights that we found the back of the net and good things happened for us.”

The Bald Eagle offense pushed the ball down into the dragon’s end of the field numerous times posting 20 shots on goal.

Central led in corner opportunities by a 7-6 margin.

Bald Eagle goalie Clayton Reigh finished with six saves while Central’s goalie Connor Biddle finished with nine.

The Dragons opened the contest pushing the ball down the field and into the Eagles back-third.

Bald Eagle was able to clear the ball and gave to its offense as they got their transition game going.

Andrew Ream hit a picture perfect pass to Maney. Maney drove the ball and then hit Ream in stride. Ream blasted a shot, giving the Eagles a 1-0 advantage at 32:29.

Both defenses dug in and kept the other at bay until the clock dipped to below 11 minutes.

This time as the Eagles brought the ball down the field, the ball would come to Aidan Bougher. Bougher hit the finishing pass to Maney. Maney did the rest smoking the ball past Biddle, upping it to a 2-0 advantage.

Before either of the two teams were able to settle in Maney picked up the ball and found an opening, blasting away and giving the Eagles a very comfortable 3-0 going into the intermission.

The Dragons came out of the half, pushing the ball and trying to take the momentum early, but like it did for most of the contest, the Eagles defense refused to allow a goal.

With the clock hitting the 25:26 mark, Maney once again found the back of the net and upped the lead to four.

Central refused to go down without a fight as they posted its lone goal at 23.05. Lane Kephart was able to push a shot through, making it a 4-1 contest.

But Maney ended the Dragons hopes as he finished the game scoring with an unassisted blast at 19:49.