Everett (2-0) pulls into Bellwood on Friday night looking to continue on to weeks ahead still undefeated. The Warriors can’t afford to look very far down the road, although games with Moshannon Valley (Sept. 26) at home and Southern Huntingdon (Oct. 3) on the road are sure to be on the minds of Everett fans.
Bellwood-Antis has made a habit in recent years. Southern Huntingdon lost only to B-A during the regular season and then again in the playoffs in 1997. The same thing happened to Bishop Guilfoyle in 1999. Tyrone won the state championship in 1999, only to be sidetracked by the Blue Devils in the first game of 2000.
Those are the easiest to remember, but there are many others that came into Memorial Stadium unbeaten and took home their first loss of the season in head football coach John Hayes tenure at Bellwood. Does the same fate await Everett this week?
Everett and Bellwood-Antis began playing in 1978, when present-day Congressman Bill Shuster was the quarterback at Everett. The Warriors scored first that day, but coach Jim Gardner’s Blue Devils kept Everett out of the endzone after that to post a 24-8 win on the way to an 8-3 season. Shuster threw for 116 yards in passes, but the Blue Devil defense intercepted him three times,
Bellwood-Antis leads the series 9-2, although the two schools haven’t met since a 47-0 B-A win in 1998. Perhaps the decision in this game can tell the future of the 2003 Bellwood-Antis football team. The only two wins in the series for the Warriors came in the only two losing seasons coach Hayes has encountered in his prior 23 years at Bellwood, 1981 and 1996.
Another oddity is that Bellwood-Antis has their first four games at home in 2003. That has happened seven times before in the 65-year history of football at Bellwood-Antis. The last time it occurred was 1977 when B-A won just one of the three games. In 1951 and 1953, the Blue Devils won all four games at Bellwood to open the season.
Everett is coached by third-year coach Tom Waltman. The Warriors have 16 lettermen returning, including eight starters on offense and seven on defense. Everett has 42 on their roster, including 15 seniors and have all their skill positions manned by veterans.
Everett defeated Glendale 23-13 in their season opener and knocked off Claysburg-Kimmel 30-8 last week. In both contests, the opponent stayed close in the first half, before Everett basically wore them down 30 second-half points in the two ballgames.
“Everett is off to a good start,” said Hayes. “They have a strong nucleus with 16 lettermen back and some real good skill people. Their big concern was up front on the line and putting a few missing pieces together. They are pretty physical. In both games they had a slow start, but came back to win.
“They run the Wing-T on offense and have two good running backs who have done most of the ball carrying. Grimes is a big fullback, a heavyweight wrestler, who pounds it inside. Hillenbrand has nice size and speed to get outside. Their senior quarterback returns from last year and they also play an underclassman there. Both are athletic and throw pretty good.”
Senior fullback Wade Grimes (6-3, 215) has carried the ball 34 times for 248 yards and two TDs. Wingback R. J. Hillenbrand (6, 175) has 175 yards and four TDs on 23 carries. Senior quarterback Sloan Clingerman (6, 185) has completed five of 13 passes for 81 yards with on interception and no TD passes. Junior Sean Foor (6-3, 190 )has completed four of 10 for 70 yards with one interception and no TDs. Senior split end Alex Hall (6, 175) is the leading receiver with four catches for 61 yards and Wes Garland (6-2, 175) has two catches for 48 yards.
Hillenbrand (24 points) and Grimes (12 points) are the leading scorers. Banner Mann , the Warriors placekicker has booted four of five PATs and a 35-yard field goal for seven points.
“On defense, Everett runs a 5-3, which gives them lots of opportunities to stunt a linebacker,” Explained coach Hayes. “They are aggressive, they bring an extra rusher a good deal of the time. They like to bring people hard up front and try to create turmoil and disrupt opponents’ plays. On the other hand, if you are able to block them, you can get a pretty decent play on offense.”
Warrior cornerback Adam Miller leads the area with three interceptions.
After his big night against Mercyhurst, Shawn Weiand leads the B-A offense with 11 of 15 pass completions for 262 yards. Weiand has thrown two TD passes and has not been intercepted in the first two games.
Dan Houser has rushed 22 times for a team-best 130 yards and is the leading scorer with two TDs and three PAT kicks for 15 points. Matt Sneath has rushed 13 times for 49 yards and Mark Rogers has 40 yards on just four carries.
Derrick Hoffer has been the top receiver with four catches for 92 yards and Matt Plummer adds two receptions for 93 yards. Each has one TD catch. Houser has two grabs for 34 yards and Sneath has two for 32.
“We will go with the same lineup from last week,” said coach Hayes. “Everybody should be healthy. W e need to stop or limit their rushing attack, play strong up front and force them into doing things they are not as comfortable doing. That will be the key.”
