Eagles offense rolls over Lewistown

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Lewistown will play Indian Valley at 7 p.m. next Friday in the Old Iron Kettle game at Mitchell Field.

LEWISTOWN - It was Senior Night Friday at Mitchell Field as the Lewistown Panthers honored 16 seniors.

The honoring of the senior players may have been the highlight of the game for the Lewistown against Bald Eagle Area. The Eagles offense and defense came to the forefront generating 337 yards of total offense while the BEA defense smothered the Panthers allowing 91 total yards, 44 on the ground and a mere 47 via the air in a 41-0 defeat of Lewistown.

Bald Eagle Area (3-6) was led by senior running back A.J. Robinson with 24 carries for 135 yards wand three scores.

On defense the middle linebacker collected 14 tackles as the Eagles totally dominated the Panthers.

Jon Gingrich chipped in with 87 yards on nine carries and also did a yeoman's job on defense as well as the Eagles allowed the Panthers a mere four plays of 10 yards or more.

"To say the least, it was another tough loss and not a whole lot you can say," sighed Lewistown coach Allen Muir. "I can't question the players' effort. They played hard, and they will next week and continue to keep coming back and have shown a lot of character to be able to come back week after week."

Lewistown went 3-and-out to start the game and BEA went right to work going 74 yards in nine plays with Robinson bulling in from three yards out for the score. Robinson then tacked on the two-point conversion for a quick 8-0 lead with 6:09 on the clock. On the drive, Robinson ran five times for 30 yards while Gingrich added 26 yards on three carries.

The Panthers came right back with their longest drive of the game, going 44 yards in 12 plays getting to the BEA 14 before being stopped on downs. Connor Muir ran five times for 32 yards and also completed two passes for 2 yards on the drive that ended the only serious threat Lewistown would generate.

After an exchange of punts, BEA's Noll hit Justin Kleczek for a 15-yard completion but the Eagle was drilled by a Panther defender and fumbled. Following a scrum, Lewistown came away with the loose pigskin. But, as luck would have it, the Panthers could do nothing with the miscue and ran three plays and were forced to punt.

Robinson returned the punt 22 yards to the Lewistown 26 to set up another score. Following an incomplete pass, Noll found Donnie Burns in the right flat for three yards then Robinson swept the left side for the score from 11-yards out. The PAT failed but the Eagles took a 14-0 lead into the locker room.

"We told the kids we can play with anyone on our schedule," BEA coach Jack Tobias coach. "We just need to eliminate the mistakes. We were able to make some adjustments at halftime and the defensive coaches came up with some schemes that enabled us to put a lot of pressure on them. A couple of sacks were also key in stopping Lewistown from getting any momentum."

BEA made it 21-0 midway through the third period as Robinson capped a nine-play, 81-yard drive - that was aided by a pair of personal fouls on Lewistown - with a two-yard plunge. Robinson ran five times on the drive for 30 yards. Noll's PAT made it 21-0 entering the fourth.

Lewistown lost Muir following a one-yard run and did not return to the game as Bill Madden (0-2-0) and Codey Wray (1-8-0 13 yards) finished the game at quarterback.

Only trailing 14-0 at the half, the Panthers had generated 75 yards of total offense, 41 rushing and 34 passing on 6-of-15 but Lewistown could not get into any kind of rhythm over the final 24 minutes amassing a mere 16 yards of total offense on just 22 plays.

On BEA's next drive, Gingrich's 23-yard jaunt was the key as he spun out of four tackles. Robinson added 20 yards, Gingrich 28 and John Decker 11 to get the ball to the 1 where Noll bulled in for the score. Noll also added the conversion for a 28-0 lead with 11:56 to play.

The Eagles' Stevie Eisenhuth was the highlight player of the next scoring drive that covered 60 yards and took nine plays. Noll found Nathan Kistner in the left flat on a 10-yard touchdown after Eisenhuth ran three straight times for 36 yards that got BEA inside the 10. The kick failed but BEA had a 34-0 lead with 5:40 to play.

Robinson showed his mettle on the ensuing kickoff and drilled Kody Stein to force a fumble that Justin Taylor recovered at the Lewistown 31.

Cody Hickes burst through the Panthers' defense but was drilled, popping the ball loose. The odds were in BEA's favor all evening, and the loose ball was plucked from the air by Kyle Womer who sprinted 21 yards for the final score.

"I thought we moved the ball well tonight," Tobias said. "A lot of our problems have been mental things. We've been playing a lot of guys that didn't have a lot of experience. We told them before the game, we had two more games and to stay focused and hopefully this will give us a nice spring into next week's game against Bellefonte. It should definitely give us a lot more confidence. I was very proud of them tonight."