SCHUYLKILL HAVEN - Turnovers can either make or break a team’s night.

Unfortunately for Tamaqua, two early turnovers shattered its game plan against Blue Mountain. The Raiders couldn’t overcome their early miscues in a 28-0 loss on the road to the Eagles.

Getting movement up front and controlling time of possession wasn’t an issue early for Tamaqua. The Raiders ran a lopsided 12 more plays than the Eagles in first quarter, but still found themselves trailing 6-0 after the opening frame.

Tamaqua’s first costly mistake came on its second possession on a backward pass that sailed past the running back and was scooped up by Blue Mountain’s Bryce Hensley, who returned the fumble 66 yards for the score.

The turnover capped off a frustrating first quarter for the Raiders, who also drove inside the Eagles’ 5-yard line on their first possession of the game, but came away with no points.

It didn’t get much better for the Raiders in the second quarter either.

After putting together another a clock controlling possession - this one 15 plays and 61 yards - the Raiders had the ball at the Blue Mountain 10-yard line. But a snap rolled between the legs of the Tamaqua quarterback and was recovered at the 15 by the Eagles.

On the very next play, Blue Mountain speedster Eman Parker took a jet sweep 85 yards to give Blue Mountain a 12-0 advantage.

“We did some good things offensively in the first half. We probably controlled the ball for 80 percent of the half,” said Tamaqua head coach Sam Bonner. “But we didn’t finish off the drive to start the game inside their five, then we turn it over on the backward pass, and then we turn it over again going in from their 10.

“Those are two possessions right there where we should have scored, but instead we’re down 12. You just can’t make those type of critical mistakes against a team the caliber of Blue Mountain.”

The Eagles would then use the big play to pull away from Tamaqua after it was reeling from the early miscues. A 32-yard hookup between quarterback Gavin Bartholomew and Hensley with 1:42 left in the second quarter gave Blue Mountain a commanding 20-0 lead at the half.

Early in the third quarter, Bartholomew once again scored using the big play. This time, he used his legs as he rushed around the right side from 34 yards out to make it 28-0 at the 9:51 mark.

Bartholomew, who is headed to Buffalo to play tight end was switched to the quarterback position this week to try and inject some energy into a Blue Mountain offense that has been struggling over the past few weeks.

“Gavin is going to Buffalo on a Division 1 scholarship as a tight end, so we wanted to play him at his position and not make him play quarterback,” said Blue Mountain head coach Cory Mabry. “We haven’t been running the football very well over the past few weeks, so we thought by making the switch we could take advantage of Gavin’s size and speed as a runner.

“We thought he could get to the edge and we were able to do that tonight.”

EFFICIENT ... The Eagles were very efficient offensively. The Blue Mountain offense racked up 14 first downs, converted both the Raiders turnovers into scores and didn’t turn the ball over.

DUAL-THREAT ... Bartholomew’s first start at quarterback was an impressive debut as he threw for 136 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 70 yards and a score.

RED ZONE WOES ... The Raiders had three possessions that reached the Eagles’ 10-yard line and were not able to get into the end zone.