The district playoffs begin this week and the Bellwood-Antis Blue Devils are the second-ranked team in District VI-A to begin the second season. Facing off against the Blue Devils are an old-new opponent. Although Bellwood-Antis has faced Laurel Valley in the playoffs on three previous occasions, the last time was in 1997, so the faces on both rosters were barely in seventh grade. Only the coaches remain the same.
The Rams long-time head coach Jerry Page and Blue Devils’ John Hayes both reached the 100-win plateau in the same year and each is well respected among fellow coaches.
The first meeting was in 1993, when the two small-school powers met in the District 6-A finals. Only two of 20 Class-A teams qualified for playoffs that season, with Laurel Valley top-seeded undefeated (10-0 with eight shutouts) and ranked sixth in the state and Bellwood-Antis second seeded (9-1, with their only loss to Mount Union), ranked eighth in the state. Both schools had 46 ratings points to tie for the top spot, but Laurel Valley earned the number one seed because of a better record.
Laurel Valley, completing their second straight undefeated regular season, recovered a B-A fumble at their own two-yard line and turned around and drove 98 yards for a back-breaking score in a 25-13 win for coach Page and his Rams. The fumble came when the Blue Devils were ready to tie the score 6-6 in the second quarter and instead led to a 12-0 halftime advantage for Laurel Valley, playing at Altoona’s Mansion Park.
The same two teams met again a year later in the 1994 semifinals. This time four schools qualified for the playoffs. B-A was second behind Homer Center and Valley was third ahead of Portage.
Both schools posted 7-1-1 records during the regular season, but this time, Bellwood-Antis came out on top 28-7 at Hollidaysburg. The Blue Devils overcame a 7-0 disadvantage with 28 unanswered second-half points and a defensive effort that characterized the Bellwood-Antis football team in 1994. Laurel Valley never got any closer than the BA-30 in the second half, while Chad Swogger and Ryan Hostler scored two TDs each for the win.
Finally in 1997, Bellwood-Antis and Laurel Valley met for the third time. This time around, eight Single-A schools qualified with B-A facing the Rams in the first round at Bellwood.
The Blue Devils (7-2, with losses to Tyrone 27-20, and Penns Valley 29-28) were seeded fourth in the District playoffs and third in the state. Laurel Valley (7-2) won their first seven games of 1997, only to drop their final two regular season games to tumble from the top seed to number five.
While the B-A offense was piling up points and averaging 300-plus yards per game, the defense was quietly doing the job. When the “O” stumbled against Laurel Valley, the defense held the Rams to only a safety in an 18-2 Blue Devil win. Don Lingenfelter scored a pair of TDs and the defense limited Laurel Valley to a minus five yards rushing and 62 yards total offense.
The 2004 edition of Laurel Valley (7-2) opened the season with a 25-18 to undefeated Blairsville, then ran off five wins in a row. Victories came over Northern Cambria 21-0, Saltsburg 34-12, Marion Center 28-14, Homer Center 16-6 and Penns Manor 37-14. United knocked off the Rams 20-13, before Laurel Valley finished the season with wins over Purchase Line 12-6 and Ligonier Valley 37-0.
“Laurel Valley is primarily a Power-I football team,” revealed Bellwood-Antis coach John Hayes in his weekly interview. “They have a pretty nice backfield with a nice sized fullback, tailback and halfback, who all get a good number of carries. They will get out of the Power-I and go to trips. a double slot or even gadget plays to try to outflank you. Primarily they are a good power-running football team.
“They have a real nice big tight end and they like to try to get the ball to him. Their quarterback is a left-hander, a big tall kid, most of their passing comes off play action. They also will look for a running back coming out of the backfield.”
The Rams’ leading runner is Jon Saxton with 830 yards on 127 carries. Saxton has also caught 21 passes for 254 yards and has scored 18 TDs and eight 2-pt. PATs for 124 points. Scott Saxton has rushed 68 times for 256 yards.
Quarterback Chris Smithley has completed 49 of 111 passes for 713 yards. He has thrown for seven TD passes and been intercepted seven times. Tight end Justin Chop has 17 catches for 313.
The Rams have rushed for 1,481 yards, an average of 164.5 per contest, and passed for 713 yards, averaging 79 yard through the air. Laurel Valley has outscored nine opponents 216-97.
On defense, Laurel Valley has given up 1,048 yards rushing for an average of 116 yards per game, and 525 yard passing for an average of 58 per game.
“On defense, Laurel Valley will line up in a 5-2 with a monster,” said Hayes, indicating the monster designation is a linebacker, who will blitz 90 per cent of the time. “They have practically what you could call a 6-1, with that linebacker coming, and a three-deep secondary, with a rover who will float to what they consider important at any given time.”
Bellwood-Antis (8-1) won the Nittany Division of the Inter-County Conference outright this year and shared a part of the first Mountain Athletic Football Conference Nittany Division crown with Tyrone and Philipsburg-Osceola
Bellwood-Antis has outscored their nine foes 202-86. During their current eight-game win streak, the Blue Devils have produced a 189-46 margin.
Bellwood-Antis has rushed for 1,520 yards, an average of 169 yards per game and passed for 588, an average of 65 per contest. The B-A defense has allowed 1,301 yards rushing, an average of 144.5 per game and 591 yards passing, 165.7 per game. NOBODY has scored on the Blue Devils in 10 straight quarters. Derrick Hoffer leads the area in interceptions with seven picks.
Josh Kleinfelter needs just 44 yards to become the first Blue Devil sophomore to rush for 1,000 yards. Kleinfelter has run 147 times for 956 yards and seven TDs. Senior fullback Travis Ehredt has rushed 89 times for 408 yards and nine TDs for 54 points.
Kleinfelter has a two-point conversion as well to lead B-A in scoring with 56 points. Sophomore Evan Celmo has kicked 21 PATs and a field goal for 24 points.
Junior Kyle Drost has completed eight of 20 passes for 54 yards in leading the Blue Devils to victories in the last two games since taking over for the injured Zach Tomchick. Tomchick completed 36 of 73 tosses for 504 yards with four TD passes and five interceptions.
Derrick Hoffer has 14 catches for 195 yards, Kleinfelter has seven catches for 91 yards and one TD, Ehredt has seven grabs for 35 yards, Troy Brunner has four receptions for 55 yards and one TD and Dan Kovac has three for 85 and one score.
Bellwood-Antis will start Tony DelGrosso at center, Brandon Cherry at left guard, Adam martin at left tackle, Dwayne Cherry at right guard and Dustin Hoffer at right tackle on the line. Troy Brunner will be the tight end, Chris Edmiston, Aaron Geis and Elliot Geist share the wide receiver spot, Ehredt will be at fullback, Drost at quarterback and Kleinfelter at tailback.
On defense, Mark Rogers and Brunner are the ends, Brandon Cherry and Martin at the tackles and the noseguard is Tyler Narehood. Dwayne Cherry, DelGrosso and Dan Kovac are the linebackers, Derrick Hoffer and Kleinfelter are the cornerbacks and Edmiston is the safety.
