Dragons' Rally Falls Short Against BEA

The 2019 football season came to a close last Friday night, Nov. 1, for the Central Scarlet Dragons, but not before the Dragons gave top-seeded Bald Eagle Area all they could handle.

Playing at BEA’s home field, Central, seeded fourth, led early in the contest and was in position to pull the upset in the final minutes before falling short 21-19.

The loss ended the Dragons’ season with a 4-7 record.

After playing most of the opening quarter scoreless, the Dragons scored on an 8-yard pass play from Jeff Hoenstine to Hunter Klotz. The PAT failed and Central led 6-0 after one quarter.

Bald Eagle scored twice in the opening two minutes of the second quarter, but the Dragons answered with a 5-yard reception from Braden Kitt to Ben McConahy, cutting the deficit to 14-12 at intermission.

Bald Eagle had the only score in the third quarter and took a 21-12 advantage entering the final frame.

With under seven minutes remaining, Kitt hit Hoenstine with a 14-yard scoring pass and the Dragons trailed by just two points. Although Central got the ball back and drove into BEA territory, it was unable to get the go-ahead score.

For the game, Central had a 13-8 advantage in first downs while BEA had a slim 222-198 advantage in total yards. The Dragons had 88 yards rushing on 26 carries with Parker Gregg leading the way with 36 yards on 10 tries.

Kitt connected on 12 of his 26 passing attempts for 87 yards. Hoenstine was 3-for-5 passing for another 23 yards. Josh Biesinger was the leading receiver with 45 yards on six receptions.

There were 19 penalties accepted in the game as Bald Eagle finished with 12 penalties for 98 yards and the Dragons 7 for 40. Central turned the ball over three times – twice on fumbles and once on an interception. BEA lost one fumble and also threw an interception.

“We played pretty well and took the top seed right to the wire,” Central coach Dave Baker said. “We had opportunities but couldn’t make the big play. This was a tough loss but we played really hard against a top team.

These boys gave a great effort all season and improved. We lose some talented seniors, but the underclassmen gained enormous experience throughout this season.”