The 2005-2006 Bellwood-Antis Blue Devils began their season the way many expected they would play out the entire season, with two blowout losses. A team comprised of one senior, two inexperienced juniors and two sophomore starters showed their youth in a 65-28 opening loss against Tyrone and a 68-29 setback against Penns Valley.
Despite their lack of experience, head coach Tim Keech cautioned Bellwood-Antis fans not to panic after the opening losses, and said he believed the Blue Devils were going to surprise some people.
Keech\’s words turned out to be prophetic as junior Blaze Winterstein led the Blue Devils to their first win, against Mount Union, only two days later. Winterstein tallied 16 points to join fellow junior Paul Christner and sophomore Alan Wertz in double digits.
The Blue Devils evened their record with a win against Claysburg-Kimmel in which sophomore Ben Hatch, who scored 16 points, began to show signs of developing into a solid point guard.
Bellwood-Antis took another step by winning their first road game, in Moshannon Valley, to extend their winning streak to three games and push their record over .500.
Ten 3-pointers, including four each from Christner and Winterstein, helped the Blue Devils rebound from a loss against Southern Huntingdon to defeat Williamsburg, but a four game losing streak, Bellwood-Antis\’ longest of the season, would follow and test the heart of the young Blue Devils.
Back on the road against West Branch, Bellwood-Antis fell behind early, but a 20-2 run in the second quarter, keyed a comeback victory that helped the Blue Devils snap their losing streak and improve their record to 5-7.
One game later, the Blue Devils found themselves down 31-11 at halftime against Penns Valley, a team that had beaten them by 39 earlier in the season. However, unlike the previous game, in which the Rams outscored the Blue Devils 37-16 in the second half, Bellwood-Antis fought hard against the Penns Valley starters and outscored the Rams 30-28 in the final half.
The strong second half served as a spark plug that ignited the Blue Devils on what easily could have been a six game winning streak.
Unfortunately, after a win against Everett, the possible winning streak was halted by a breakdown at the free throw line in a game at Mount Union.
The Blue Devils let an eight-point lead with 1:05 left slip away in a double overtime loss to the Trojans. Christner and Wertz both missed front ends of one-and-one foul shot opportunities in regulation, and L.J. Seidel and Winterstein both missed crucial shots from the charity stripe in the first overtime that could have sealed the victory.
Keech could tell by the way his players looked him in the eyes after the loss against Mount Union that they would grow as a team from the loss and not be crushed by it, and once against his instincts proved correct.
The Blue Devils mounted a four game winning streak, with their most impressive victory of the season highlighting it. Bellwood-Antis traveled to Southern Huntingdon to take on the then 14-2 first place Rockets and came out with a 54-46 victory. Considering he was facing off against Garrett Speck, one of the brightest stars of the Juniata Valley League, Wertz had what may have been his most impressive performance of the season.
Wertz notched 14 points, while helping limit Speck to only 15, and hauling in a fair share of rebounds. Meanwhile, Hatch outran the Rockets defenders all night on his way to scoring six points, and senior L.J. Seidel added five points, all in the second half.
With the Blue Devils leading by five with less than 30 seconds to play, Hatch, Seidel and Wertz combined to go 5-6 from the free throw line to ice the upset victory.
Two straight setbacks followed the winning streak, but the Blue Devils closed out their JVL schedule with a win against West Branch to even their record at 11-11 before closing out their season with two tough out of conference games.
After a loss in the hostile environment of Bishop Guilfoyle\’s home gym, the Blue Devils closed out their regular season by traveling to state playoff qualifier, Bald Eagle Area. Three players over 6\’5\” did not deter Bellwood Antis through almost three quarters, as they held a 29-28 advantage with 2:42 remaining in the third quarter.
However the Blue Devils youth caught up with them in the final 2:40, when the Eagles took off on a 10-0 run to lock up the victory.
Their 11-13 record gave them a low seed in the playoffs, but the Blue Devils managed to overcome a 14-2 deficit in their first round match up against Marion Center to take a 31-28 lead when Hatch nailed a 3-pointer with 3:40 to go in the third quarter.
The Blue Devils trailed by only four heading into the final quarter, but a spirited comeback attempt in the final minute was thwarted by precision free throw shooting by the Stingers.
For their eforts, Winterstein, Hatch and Wertz were selected to sopts on the Juniata Valley League All-Star teams. Winterstein was a Second Team selection, Wertz was chosen for the Third Team and Hatch was an Honorable Mention.
With Christner, Winterstein, Hatch, Wertz and key reserves such as Eric McCrum, Tyler Elvey and Justin Miller returning next season, the Blue Devils hope to be the team showing poise and icing their playoff game with clutch free throws in 2007.
