The Bellwood-Antis football program has hung up some pretty fair records since the merger of Bellwood-Borough and Antis Township back in 1938. That is a well-known fact. Seldom has a school of the Blue Devils’ size been able to escape the inevitable cycle of good years and bad years. Bellwood-Antis and nearby backyard rival Tyrone are two of the small number of programs, that with only a few exceptions have turned out winning football teams annually.
In the recent past it seems some times, the Blue Devils have gotten off to a slow start. By the time the second half of the regular season rolls around however, Bellwood-Antis has been downright lethal to be on other teams’ schedules.
The Blue Devils must love October’s bright blue weather, as the children’s poem goes. Bellwood-Antis hasn’t lost a football game during the month of October since 1997. Following a comeback by Penns Valley on Oct. 3, 1997, that gave the Rams a 29-28 victory in the final minute of the game, B-A has won 25 straight games during the month. The Blue Devils have shut out 12 of those opponents and outscored their October opponents 1,002-146 in the process.
Perhaps it is ironic that six years later the Penns Valley Rams are the Blue Devils opposition this Friday night. Friday just happens to be Oct. 3, 2003.
Penns Valley won the first two games in the series, which began in 1975, but the Blue Devils came back with 13 wins in the next 16 games and holds the series lead 16-9. The last Ram victory in the series was a 25-24 win in Sept. 1999.
Penns Valley went 6-4 in 2002, and returns 17 letterwinners from last year. The Rams have roster of 39 players, for head coach Martin Tobias, and return all of their offensive line and three of their defensive line from last year, but are inexperienced at quarterback and other skill positions.
The Rams opened their season with a big 32-20 win over Bellefonte, the first time in recent years Penns Valley has defeated their traditional season opening foe. Then Penns Valley dropped three games in a row to pretty good competition, Bishop Guilfoyle 19-0, Philipsburg-Osceola 16-14 and Chestnut Ridge 26-15. Those three teams are each 4-1 with the Bishop Guilfoyle and Philipsburg-Osceola defeats to undefeated Huntingdon and Chestnut Ridge’s one loss is to Bishop Guilfoyle. Last week, the Rams upped their record to 2-3 by edging West Branch 28-27.
“Penns Valley’s offense is a lot like ours,” said Bellwood-Antis head coach John Hayes. “They still run out of a basic I-formation-Power-I or Pro-I, but have opened it up a lot. They run blasts, off-tackle and option. They run a lot of the same basic pays from a lot of different formations. They have run the ball most of the time and have two good tailbacks who alternate. Their quarterback looks to have the capability to throw the football. He has nice size and a good arm. Penns Valley has a couple of athletic-looking receivers. We are concerned about their capability to throw. They are a lot like us in that they have shown they can move the ball, but turnovers and mistakes have hurt them.”
Curt Royer has been Penns Valley’s top rusher with 383 yards on 65 carries and Evan Leitch has 309 yards on 52 carries. Todd Bumgardner has completed 26 of 71 passes for 342 yards. Bumgardner has thrown three TD passes and been intercepted five times. Matt Brubaker is the top receiver with 12 catches for 187 yards, Jason Homan has 10 catches for 100 yards and Royer adds six grabs for 52 yards out of the backfield. Royer rushed for 209 yards and two TDs and Leitch for 122 and one score, in the opener against Bellefonte.
“Defensively they run an eight-man front much like we saw at Southern Huntingdon last week,” reports Hayes. “They line up in a 4-4 or 5-3 and will slip into a 6-2 in short yardage situations. They do quite a bit of stunting to try and force mistakes. It is a high-risk defense that you live or die with. When it works, you stuff the opponent. When it doesn’t, the opposition gets big yardage out of it.”
Dan Houser, who earned Mirror Athlete of the week honors for his performance against Southern Huntingdon on both sides of the ball, leads B-A with 479 yards on 85 carries and in scoring with seven TDs and three PATs for 45 points. Houser ran for 145 yards and two touchdowns and intercepted a Southern Huntingdon pass with time running down and the Blue Devils clinging to a 20-14 lead to insure the win.
Matt Sneath has rushed 43 times for 198 yards and one TD. Shawn Weiand has completed 34 of 61 passes for 525 yards. Weiand has three touchdown passes and has been intercepted twice. Derrick Hoffer is the leading receiver with 11 catches for 205 yards and two TDs. Sneath has nine receptions for 87 yards, Houser has seven catches for 98 yards and Matt Plummer has five catches for 118 yards and one TD.
The Blue Devils, seemingly out of playoff contention after early losses to Tyrone and Everett, have worked their way back into the picture, but must get super efforts against their remaining opponents if those hopes are to be fulfilled.
“When we go out on the field, what matters is who is the most prepared, makes the least mistakes and takes advantage of the other team’s mistakes,” said Hayes. “We have hurt ourselves this year, even in games we have won. We need to make less mistakes. Some very productive offensive capabilities have been aborted by simple mistakes.
“As the season goes on, our opponents get better and better, better in both talent and experience. We are working a lot at practice on fundamentals. Being such a young team, we still sit aside some time at each practice to work on basics, to drill until hopefully everybody is on the same page.”
