WINGATE — It was all Rams during the annual tilt between Penns Valley and Bald Eagle Area on Sept. 9.
Bald Eagle Area returned home in hopes of keeping its undefeated season alive. Instead, the Rams had other plans.
Jesse Nagle was handed his first loss of the season, a 41-18 defeat, as head coach of the Eagles.
“My biggest fear came true tonight,” Nagle said.
The Rams came into the contest winless, desperate for their first win of the season. Despite an opening possession interception, the Rams offense, led by Andrew Tobias, was mighty impressive the entire night.
Shifty power back Takoda Bubb opened up the scoring spree for the Rams after he dashed 56 yards, shredding through the Eagle defense to put the Rams ahead, 7-0.
The Rams did not have any problems finding the end zone on their following possession.
Tobias placed a beautifully thrown ball right over the Bald Eagle secondary, finding Jared Hurd for a 44-yard touchdown.
The fast-paced, no-huddle Bald Eagle Area offense, led by senior quarterback Tanner Kresovich, put six points on the board after Kresovich found Riley Bechdel open for a 36-yard touchdown. The extra point was blocked by the Rams.
The Rams quickly responded with a touchdown toss of their own, when Blaine Ripka hauled in a Tobias throw from 40 yards out.
The Rams led at the half, 19-6.
Tobias came out of the locker room hot after the intermission, as he found Tristan Klinefelter for a 61-yard scoring strike.
After a time-consuming drive by the Eagles, Kresovich scampered into the end zone from 8 yards out to try to keep in contention with the Rams.
Tobias and the rest of the Rams offense wanted to keep the pedal down and not allow the Eagles to climb back into it.
That is just what they did.
Other than allowing a 2-yard touchdown run from Dubbs, the stingy Rams’ defense locked down the Eagles offense over the course of the evening.
Tobias, continuing his record-breaking night, threw for two more touchdowns to close out the game.
Tobias found his go-to wideout, Ripka, from just 4 yards out to start off the fourth quarter, and then found Nick Kubulak to make the score 41-12 in favor of the Rams.
This was the first time the Eagles did not hang 50 on their opponent this season after two impressive games. But this was a different story — they were facing a hungry Rams team.
“These kids need to learn to play with adversity,” Nagle said, “and it was present tonight.”
Both teams are in action this week. BEA hosts Chestnut Ridge, while Penns Valley visits Central.
