Football

Brady Jones, Penn Cambria cash in on Bald Eagle Area errors

CRESSON -- Capitalizing on two first-half turnovers gave the veteran Penn Cambria offense more than enough momentum in Friday night's matchup against Bald Eagle Area.

The pair of takeaways, as well as multiple other miscues by the Eagles offense, sparked the Panthers to a 30-point lead at halftime en route to a 47-24 victory.

"Those plays were huge," Penn Cambria coach Jason Grassi said. "If we don't turn the ball over in those instances, we're in a dogfight. We took advantage of the mistakes they made, and our offense cashed in. That was the difference in the game."

Play of the game: After an opening-drive punt, Penn Cambria senior Grant Gides recovered a fumble on Bald Eagle Area's first offensive play, giving the Panthers the ball at the Eagles' 10-yard line.

Brady Jones scored on a quarterback draw on the next snap, and Penn Cambria never looked back.

The Panthers tallied touchdowns on four of their ensuing five possessions to go into halftime leading 30-3.

Player of the game: Jones completed 12 of 22 passes for 207 yards and three touchdowns, while adding 38 rushing yards and two more scores.

After the Eagles tallied a field goal to cut the Panthers' lead to 12-3, Jones scored his second rushing score on a 1-yard sneak before firing back-to-back touchdown passes to Gides and Blake Lilly.

Gides ran for a 3-yard touchdown in the third before Jones found Lilly for a 95-yard catch-and-run to put the game out of reach in the fourth.

"Our big guys up front get it done every week," Jones said. "We made some plays and hit some holes. Leadership is going to be huge for us this season. Our veteran guys know what it takes to get the job done, and we definitely want to be at the level we were last year."

Most vital statistic: Bald Eagle Area, along with turning the ball over three times, also lost two possessions due errors on the snap.

The Eagles faced a third down in Penn Cambria territory, but the ball sailed over quarterback Kaleb Irion's head, leading to a punt. Two drives later, Bald Eagle Area was at the goal line but had to settle for a field goal after another high snap.

Bald Eagle Area coach Jesse Nagle: "Three costly turnovers and those couple bad snaps were the difference. If we don't do those things, it's probably 14-14 at the half, maybe we're even up 20-14. It's one of those things where our kids have to believe, and they did in the second half. Our kids showed they can compete with these teams, we just fell too far behind in the beginning."

Lilly: "It was a great job by all the guys on defense tonight. We know we're a physical team and other teams do, too. They might be scared of us, they might not, but we always hit hard and do what we need to do to make plays."

Notable: Lilly caught five passes for 131 yards and two scores ... Ayden Himmer recovered a fumble for Penn Cambria, while Evan Latterner had an interception ... Irion threw for 249 yards and two touchdowns for Bald Eagle Area ... Gradyn Fisher recorded eight receptions for 137 yards.

Records: Bald Eagle Area (0-2), Penn Cambria (2-0).

Next week: Bald Eagle Area travels to Penns Valley; Penn Cambria visits Forest Hills.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Bald Eagle Area 0 3 13 8 -- 24

Penn Cambria 12 21 7 7 -- 47

First Quarter

PC--B. Jones 10 run (Conversion failed), 10:17.

PC--Vinglish 57 run (Conversion failed), 2:31.

Second Quarter

BEA--Millward 28 FG, 10:38.

PC--B. Jones 1 run (B. Jones kick), 5:27.

PC--Gides 25 pass from B. Jones (B. Jones kick), 0:49.

PC--Lilly 15 pass from B. Jones (B. Jones kick), 0:00.

Third Quarter

BEA--Cunningham 6 pass from Irion (kick failed), 7:34.

PC--Gides 3 run (Golden kick), 4:06.

BEA--Fisher 18 pass from Irion (Millward kick), 4:06.

Fourth Quarter

PC--Lilly 95 pass from B. Jones (Golden kick), 6:10.

BEA--Clark 3 run (Clark run), 2:36.

TEAM STATISTICS BEA PC

First downs 15 12

Total yards 338 416

Rushes-yards 28-89 29-209

Yards passing 249 207

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 20-27-1 12-22-0

Punts-avg. 3-40.6 4-35.3

Fumbles-lost 5-2 2-0

Penalties-yards 3-15 6-67

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Bald Eagle Area, Fisher 2-(-14), Irion 3-(-12), McCulley 18-102, Clark 3-13. Penn Cambria, Lilly 3-39, B. Jones 11-38, Vinglish 13-111, Beck 1-1, Gides 1-3.

PASSING--Bald Eagle Area, Irion 20-27-249-2-1. Penn Cambria, B. Jones 12-22-207-3-0.

RECEIVING--Bald Eagle Area, Cunningham 4-27, Fisher 8-137, Millward 5-47, Kleisath 1-1, Cowan 1-36. Penn Cambria, Lilly 5-131, Gides 4-54, Nadolsky 1-6, Vinglish 2-16.