Bald Eagle Area was pushed to the brink by River Valley last Friday night in the District 6, 2A quarterfinal, but the Bald Eagles scored with less than a minute to play and pulled out an exciting 33-29 victory.
However, both Bellefonte in the 4A semifinal and Penns Valley in 2A quarters lost their opening games and saw their seasons end.
Bellefonte fell behind No. 1 seed Juniata by 14 points at halftime and that expanded to 27 in the third quarter. The Raiders did score twice in the fourth quarter, but Juniata was too far ahead and the Raiders were eliminated 41-12.
Juniata’s run defense was the difference, holding Bellefonte to negative yardage. Quarterback Trevor Johnson threw for 239 yards and two touchdowns, but Juniata’s early lead was too big to overcome.
Penns Valley held with No. 2 Bellwood-Antis through the first quarter, but the Antis running game wore down PV in a 49-28 loss in the D6, 2A quarterfinal.
Bellwood ran 59 times for 330 yards against the Rams and threw for another 147 yards while holding the Rams to just 25 yards on the ground. Bellwood will now advance to play No. 3 Richland at home on Friday.
The two remaining local teams, BEA and State College, will both be on the field this weekend in Week 2 of playoff action. Here is a brief look at each game:
NO. 1 STATE COLLEGE VS. NO. 2 WILLIAMSPORT
DISTRICT 4-6, 6A FINAL
NOV. 12, 7 P.M., MILL HALL
After finishing its season with a 21-7 victory over Altoona on Oct. 29, the State College Little Lions earned a bye in the District 4-6, 6A Tournament.
Altoona, as the No. 3 seed, then took on No. 2 Williamsport on Friday night in the semifinal. The Mountain Lions scored first in the game, but very little went well after that in a 36-14 loss to the Millionaires.
Williamsport tied the game at 7-7 in the first quarter, went ahead by a touchdown at halftime, and then steadily pulled away in the second half for the win.
At one point in the fourth quarter, it was 36-7 before Altoona scored to fix the final score at 36-14.
The Millionaires ran up 420 yards of offense in the game, including 257 yards rushing and another 163 through the air.
Nasir Hennigan ran 24 times for 119 yards and two touchdowns, and quarterback Frankie Marrone completed 15 of 17 passes for 163 yards to four different receivers.
Williamsport, now 6-5 for the season, advanced to the District 4-6 Finals against 5-5 State College.
The Little Lions fell behind Altoona early by a touchdown in the regular season finale two weeks ago, but scores by Jack Morris, Owen Yerka and Brady Bendik put the Lions in front 21-7 at the end of the third quarter. The SC defense did the rest.
The district final between the Millionaires and Little Lions will kick off at 7 p.m. Friday at Central Mountain High School in Mill Hall. The winner will advance into the PIAA tournament.
NO. 8 FOREST HILLS (6-5) AT NO. 4 BALD EAGLE AREA (9-2)
DISTRICT 6, 2A SEMIFINAL
NOV. 12, 7 P.M., WINGATE
No. 4 Bald Eagle Area was pushed to the limit by River Valley last week in the D6, 2A quarterfinal, but BEA had enough left for a final drive.
Down 29-26 with time running out, the Eagles drove for the winning touchdown that was finally pushed across in the wildcat by Garrett Burns from the one-yard line with 38 seconds to play.
Burns, who scored two other touchdowns in the game, finished with 28 carries for 154 yards, and quarterback Carson Nagle completed 12 passes for 169 yards.
It was a wild night with both teams trading touchdowns, but the Eagles came through when they needed to the most.
The win puts BEA in the semifinal against surprising No. 8 Forest Hills on Friday at home.
Forest Hills went into No. 1 seeded Cambria Heights (9-2) and threw a shutout in a 29-0 victory over the Highlanders.
The Rangers nursed a 6-0 lead into the fourth quarter and then exploded for 23 points to take the upset win.
Running back Damon Crawley carried 24 times for 182 yards and scored three touchdowns in the win. For the season, Crawley now has an incredible 2263 yards, an average of over 205 yards per game.
The Forest Hills defense held Cambria Heights to zero yards passing (0-4) and just 130 yards on the ground on 43 attempts.
The winner of Friday night’s game will face either No. 2 Bellwood-Antis or No. 3 Richland next weekend with a berth in the PIAA Tournament up for grabs.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. in Wingate.
This story appears in the Nov. 11-17 edition of the Centre County Gazette.
