Bellefonte tops Bald Eagle Area In rivalry game

By rscaife
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Updated: October 28, 2017

By Kenny Varner

WINGATE – This one had rivalry written all over it.
With possible post season scenarios on the line, the Bellefonte and Bald Eagle Area football teams met on the grid iron for more than just pride on the line in their annual rivalry match.
This year’s meeting was held at the young, up and coming Bald Eagles back yard and for almost three and a half quarters the two teams revived the classic match up between the two as Bellefonte went into the final stanza leading just a slim 14-6 advantage.
However, the 7-2 Red Raiders were on a mission two finish the regular season on a strong note as they head into post season play next week, scoring 28 fourth quarter to pull out a 42-14 victory over the Eagles.
“They played hard tonight. They gave everything they had. We had very few possessions. We only had one possession that we didn’t score tonight,” Bellefonte coach Shanon Manning said. “In the second half I thought we played pretty good football.”
Leading the march for Bellefonte was quarterback Dylan Deitrich who passed for 98 yards and ran for 108 yards and finished with three running touchdowns and one through the air.
Teammate Dexter Gallishaw was a strong force in the middle as he busted his way through the Eagles defense for 102 yards.
Bald Eagle Area got a strong night through the air from their quarterback Jaden Jones. Jones threw for 173 yards and one touchdown pass. The only blemish on his night was two picks.
“We fought and battled. They (Bellefonte) are a very good football team. They’re hard hitting. They have a nice quarterback and a nice running back,” said Bald Eagle Area Head coach Jesse Nagle. “We knew they were going to be hard to stop. We just didn’t make enough plays.”
In the first half, the Red Raiders used its ground game to start with and it paid dividends early on as Deitrich capped off a long drive with a 3-yard touchdown run.
With the Chris Persiko kick, the Bellefonte offense put its team ahead 7-0 after one.
With time running out in the second, Bellefonte was able to take another time-consuming drive to put one last score in before the half. Deitrich once again got the call and muscled it in from one yard out.
When the two teams went into the intermission, the Red Raiders held a slim 14-0 advantage.
Bald Eagle got the ball to start the second and made the most of it as Jones would hit a wide open Nick Turner for the 36-yard touchdown pass, cutting the lead to 14-6.
On the ensuing kick, the Eagles pulled off a successful on sides kick as Tommy Snyder gave his team the ball in Red Raider territory.
However, the Bellefonte defense held strong and thwarted the Eagles effort.
In the final stanza it was almost all Bellefonte.
Only five seconds in the fourth, Deitrich hit teammate Cade Fortney on a 20-yard TD hook up, extending the lead to 21-6.
After a Bellefonte interception on the following drive, the Red Raiders went for the end zone again.
Deitrich finished off a drive once again, this time posting a 6-yard touchdown run, upping the lead to 28-6 with still 10:07 left.
BALD Eagle had the play of the day as Jones went back to pass and sent a basketball-type backwards bounce pass to teammate Derek Henry. Henry picked it off the bounce and threw a 65-yard strike to teammate Nick Turner for the touchdown. With the successful 2-point conversion, the Bald Eagles were in striking distance at 28-14. However, on the next two possessions Bellefonte would ice it with touchdown runs from Deitrich and Gallishaw with TD runs of 5-yards and 19-yards, respectively.
With the win, Bellefonte will host Clearfield next week while Bald Eagle enters the post season with an away game at Juniata.