Barnyak paces BEA with two goals; Eagles shut out Bellefonte

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: September 27, 2019

By Kenny Varner

WINGATE – Round Three!

For the third time this season, the Bald Eagle boys soccer team met up with their rivals Bellefonte Thursday night at Bald Eagle Area High School.

With the Eagles winning the last meeting, the Red Raiders were looking to beat Bald Eagle in its home field and return the favor.

However, the Eagles were ready to defend their turf and did so shutting out Bellefonte 3-0.

Pacing the Eagles was Dillon Barnyak who posted a goal in each period to help his team take home the victory.

Also coming up strong under pressure was Bald Eagle goalie Conner Robinson and his defensive back-third. Robinson had an active night in the goal area collecting a total of 15 saves.

“First of all its always great to defeat your buddy. Scott (Martz) got me last year and I got him this year. That’s just the nature of high school sports. His team was outstanding last year,” said Bald Eagle coach Jason Bair. “It was fun to beat him but they are always a great game.

For Bellefonte, goalie Quin Tucker was tested strongly in the opening period and then finished the game with nine saves.

“I gave our defense a little lecture at halftime. They (Bald Eagle) scores some nice goals but I think we allowed goals. We didn’t step towards the ball and we allowed open shots to them,” Bellefonte coach Scott Martz said. “In the second half, I made some adjustments there. I thought we had some nice through balls and some good shots on goal but we hit everything to their goalie tonight. We really didn’t challenge him tonight hard. We just kicked everything right to him.”

In the first half, the Eagles took the early momentum and pushed the ball into the Bellefonte end of the field.

An early corner opportunity led to a momentum booster for the home team.

However, the Red Raiders were able to hustle the ball downfield on separate short stints but the Eagles would recover defensively and push the ball back into the Red Raiders back-third.

After 23 minutes of pushing the ball and blasting away at Tooker, the Eagles each time were left empty handed as the scoreless tie remained.

However as the clock wound down under the 16-minute mark, Bald Eagle would finally crack the defensive shell around the Red Raiders goal area.

Dillon Barnyak picked up a rebound off a previous Bald Eagle shot and blasted it away, making it 1-0.

After the goal, the Red Raiders started to take back its field position and put it in the Bald Eagle end.

But Robinson and company would keep the Bellefonte offense from tying it up.

The Eagles went into the intermission leading 1-0, leading in shots on goal by a 11-9 margin and in corner opportunities, 2-0.

“I’m working with my guys to put two complete halves together. We did better at that tonight,” said Bair. “So all-in-all I’m happy they never gave up and kept plowing along and got a ton of shots in there tonight and to be able to keep them off the scoreboard.”

Starting the second half, the Bellefonte offense came alive looking to tie the game up.

Despite the Red Raiders being in the Bald Eagle end for the first few minutes of the second, it would be the Eagles that would make the first statement of the second half.

Seth Koch got loose on the right side of the field and blazed his way in for the unassisted and uncontested goal at 34:46, giving the Eagles a little breathing room at 2-0.

Bellefonte refused to give up as it went back to putting the ball back in position to find a weak spot in the Bald Eagle goal Area.

Time after time, shot after shot, the Red Raiders were sent packing without a goal to show for their hard work.

As the clock dipped just below the 25-minute mark, the Eagles iced the game on Barnyack’s second goal of the game.

On a breakaway, Barnyak blasted a shot on the run that sailed past Tooker, making it 3-0 with 24:47 left.

Bellefonte had a good opportunity to score as Dan Persiko lined up to convert a penalty kick opportunity.

The stare down between Persiko and Robinson resulted in a blast that Persiko sailed just over the horizontal bar of the net.

Bald Eagle was able to hold on from there and managed the 3-0 shut out.

With the win, the Eagles improve to 9-2 with a rematch with Huntingdon looming Monday.

Bald Eagle 3, Bellefonte 0

BEL 0 0 – 0

BEA 1 2 – 3

Scoring