Battle-tested Bellwood-Antis travels to Houtzdale to battle Moshannon Valley (6-1) on Friday night for their next rung on the ladder towards the district playoffs. After getting dominated by Tyrone in the season opener, the Blue Devils have run off six victories in a row to climb into the third spot in the District VI-A standings. With 890 points, Bellwood-Antis trails only Blairsville (980) and Juniata Valley (920). Both are undefeated through the first seven weeks of the 2004 season.
Bellwood-Antis (6-1) has just come off two weeks in which the Blue Devils knocked off a pair of previously undefeated foes in Philipsburg-Osceola (6-3 in OT) and Chestnut Ridge (21-14). The rough sledding isn’t over just yet however. Despite getting manhandled by Juniata Valley 48-0 last week, Moshannon Valley is a force to be reckoned with and must not be taken lightly.
The Black Knights opened the 2004 season with a 20-13 triumph over Southern Huntingdon. Five more victories came quickly as the Knights vanquished West Branch 36-13, Mount Union 25-0, Glendale 41-0, Everett 52-21 and Williamsburg 41-12. In their six consecutive wins, Mo Valley averaged 35.8 points, 274 yards rushing and another 101 yards passing.
The series between these two school began when the Blue Devils played Bigler Township from 1938-1948. From 1949-54, it was the “Green Raiders” as they were known of Moshannon Joint High School. Finally, in 1955, Moshannon Joint merged with Houtzdale-Woodward-Brisbin (H-W-B). Bellwood-Antis won the first 18 games until the 1955 encounter was won by Moshannon 7-0. The all-time series has the Blue Devils in the lead 43-9, although Moshannon Valley won the last meeting 13-7 in 2003.
Coached by long-time head coach Howie Camberg, who has 161-99-8 record in his 27th year as the Knights’ coach, Moshannon Valley has a roster of 42, that includes 17 returning lettermen. The Knights return six starters on offense and four on defense from a squad that was 7-3 last year, falling in the first round of district playoffs.
“Moshannon Valley has been very consistent over the years on offense, while coach Camberg has been there,” said Bellwood-Antis coach John Hayes. “They are usually in a Multiple-I formation, or a Pro-I. They run a couple of formations off the basic I-formation. They have an outstanding runner, who has been there for three years. Each year, he has gotten a little bigger, a little stronger. Keith has given us problems over the last two years and we expect him to them to try and use him again in the same way. They run a counter off action to the tailback and especially in the last few games, have gotten big gains out of it. They occasionally run a nice reverse to the wingback. People try to defense Keith and they take advantage of that to set up their other runners.
The quarterback throws a good ball. Most of their passing is off play action, off run looks to the tailback and they have a couple pretty good players who can go and get the football. They look to get behind the defense and get big yardage all at once.”
Senior P. J. Keith (5-11, 170) rushed for 1,603 yards last year and has picked right up, carrying the ball 172 times in 2004 for 1,089 yards and 13 TDs. Junior fullback Brandon Murarik (5-10, 180) has rushed 46 times for 412 yards and six TDs. Junior wingback Ryan Gmerek has gained 155 yards on 17 carries.
Senior Luke Martin (6-1, 190) has completed 40 of 76 passes for 627 yards. Martin has thrown five TD passes and been intercepted just one time. Gmerek has been his favorite receiver with 12 receptions for 201 yards and two TDs. Senior Charlie Kitko (6-2, 155) has caught six passes for 184 yards and one TD, junior Alan Hudish (6-0, 170) has seven grabs for 92 yards and Michael Baughman (5-9, 155) has nine receptions for 102 yards.
The Black Knights gave up an average of 130 yards rushing and 69 yards passing during their six-game win streak.
“Moshannon Valley uses a 5-2 alignment,” said Hayes. “They have been doing that for a long time. They have good size, and do not get a lot of movement. They force you to try to go around rather than through them. The secondary is a basic three-deep with a strong safety who usually lines up on the strong side of the opponents’ offense. It is a hit and react type of defense rather than doing a lot of stunting.”
Moshannon Valley used big defensive stands at the end of both halves to down the Blue Devils 13-7 at Bellwood, last year.
In a game in which almost all of the second half was played in a fogbank, Bellwood-Antis had the ball at the MV-1 before being thrown back for a three-yard loss on a fourth-and-goal at the end of the first half. Then had the ball on the Knights-4 with time running out in the ballgame. An incomplete pass on another fourth-down play gave the ball to Moshannon Valley with time for just one kneel-down to end the game.
The players who were on that Blue Devil team from last season, shouldn’t need any more encouragement for this Friday night.
Josh Kleinfelter continues to lead B-A in rushing, although the Blue Devil sophomore was held to 53 yards on 14 carries by the Chestnut Ridge defense last week, with 656 yards and seven TDs on 104 carries. Travis Ehredt, who led B-A with 89 yards rushing and two TDs last week to take over the team lead in scoring has 322 yards on 70 carries. Ehredt has eight scores for 48 points, while Kleinfelter has scored six TDs and a two-point conversion for 32 points.
Zach Tomchick has completed 326 of 73 passes for 504 yards. Tomchick has thrown four TD passes and been intercepted five times. Derrick Hoffer has caught 13 passes for 184 yards to lead the B-A receiving corps. Kleinfelter has six catches for 93 yards and one TD. Troy Brunner has four grabs for 55 yards and one score and Dan Kovac has three receptions for 85 yards.
“We have been practicing to make our kids aware of what Moshannon Valley likes to do and develop more depth,” said Hayes. “There isn’t a lot you can do at this time of year, try to get everyone familiar with what we do and correct the little mistakes we keep making. The kids are beginning to get a sense of mission. The goals we set before the season are more in reach now than they were in Sept.”
B-A will line up on offense with Elliot Geist, Aaron Geis and Chris Edmiston sharing time at wide out, Dustin Hoffer and Brandon Cherry at tackle, Dwayne Cherry and Tony DelGrosso at guard and Chris McDaniel at center, Zach Tomchick is the quarterback, Derrick Hoffer is at wingback, Travis Ehredt at fullback and Josh Kleinfelter at tailback.
On defense, Mark Rogers and Troy Brunner are the ends, Brandon Cherry and Adam Martin are the tackles and Tyler Narehood is the nose guard. Dwayne Cherry, DelGrosso and Dan Kovac are the linebackers, Kleinfelter and Derrick Hoffer are the cornerbacks and Edmiston is the safety.
