Both of our two local schools have advanced to the District 5/6 playoffs, although for the first time in three years, they will not be in the same classification.
Tyrone remains in Class AA, while following two years of competing in Double-A, Bellwood-Antis has moved down a step in size to play in Class A. Actually by the time the football season rolled around, the Blue Devils were under the limit for Class A, but have played up a class the last two years, because the final count has to be handed in early in the school year previous to the football season and according to the PIAA, schools remain in the particular class for two years until another census is taken.
Tyrone moves up to the No. Four seed in Class AA with their win over Punxsutawney on Friday and with that ranking will host the No. Five team, Ligonier Valley on Saturday night at 7 p.m. The Golden Eagles and Ligonier Valley were fifth and fourth respectively prior to last weekend, but flip-flopped positions with the Eagles earning a home payoff game for the first time in two years.
“I am very happy for the fans that we have a home game in the playoffs,” said Tyrone coach John Franco. “But every team is a good team now or they wouldn’t be in the playoffs. We have won three games in a row on the road and we lost our last home game. Good teams do their best, no matter where they play. The homefield advantage, especially in the playoffs is very overrated in my estimation. You have to play your best wherever, one loss and you’re done. You have to play every game as if it’s the championship. We have to come out firing, not holding anything back.”
Ligonier Valley, who plays in the Heritage Conference, lost their first two games of the season to Laurel Valley 45-18, in the opener and to undefeated Class A power Blairsville 21-14, in the second week. Since then the Mounties have run the table with seven straight wins.
“If there is a favorite,” said Franco, “it would have to be Forest Hills in Class AA. They are a really good football team with a ton of talent. Credit that to coach Don Bailey and the Forest Hills program. To say someone is the favorite though, is just something to say that puts pressure on the team. Every team has to prove that they can go on to the next level.”
Advanced tickets for the Ligonier Valley-Tyrone game on Saturday night at Gray Veterans Memorial Field, can be purchased in the Tyrone Area High School Athletic Office from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Tickets will be $2 for students and $5 for adults. The Shoe Fly will have adult tickets only on sale during their regular business hours. There will be no student tickets sold at the gate, all tickets at the gate will cost $5. Gametime will be 7 p.m. Gates will open at 5:30 p.m.
Other matchups in Class AA will be Central Cambria (No. 8) at Forest Hills (No. 1) and Penns Valley (No, 7) at Bishop McCort (No. 2) on Friday night and Marion Center (No. 6) will play at Bedford (No, 3) on Saturday night
Bellwood-Antis will travel to Windber to play the Ramblers. Windber (9-0) is the No. Four seed, while Bellwood-Antis is the number five seed.
Windber, a member of the WestPAC Conference, opened the season by handing Portage their only loss of the season 33-14, and then proceeded to add the remainder of the schedule to the win column as well.
Winder has an outstanding program,” explained Bellwood-Antis coach John Hayes, “going undefeated year after year. They are a very sound football team, led by a senior quarterback, Steve Slatcoff, who is the brother of Jeff Slatcoff, who played against us when we defeated Windber in the 1999 district playoffs. They are pretty balanced between the run and pass. Sizewise, they are not as huge as some of the teams we have been playing. They like to run the option and throw the ball a good bit. They are somewhat familiar since we played them in ‘99. We feel this will be a good challenge for us.”
Bellwood-Antis stepped up over Moshannon Valley in the standings, with the win over the Knights on Friday. Mo Valley, in fact fell all the way back to the No. Seven seed and will travel to undefeated Heritage Conference champ Blairsville (No. 2 seed) on Friday night.
Hayes referred to the Moshannon Valley game in commenting, “For us to be behind in those kind of conditions and come back to win the ballgame, I think the kids grew up a little bit. We have been having a lot of success lately, but much of it has come with us leading the whole game. It was a relatively new experience to have to play from behind and to win was a boost in our confidence just knowing we could do it.”
In other match-ups, Northern Bedford (No. 8) plays at Bishop Guilfoyle (No.1) and Portage (No. 6) travels to Ebensburg to play Bishop Carroll (No. 3) on Saturday.
“Windber is undefeated and we have one loss, so I guess we would be considered the underdog,” said Hayes. “But you are only the underdog if you think you are. Class A is pretty wide open. Bishop Guilfoyle is the top seed and have beaten everybody they played pretty handily. Bishop Carroll has played so many top teams and with the exception of Forest Hills, (No. 1 seed in Class AA) have come through all of it with only the one loss. Windber plays with a tremendous amount of confidence. Blairsville went undefeated with an outstanding quarterback. Moshannon Valley is big and with the right circumstances, like last Friday can pull off a win when their style is conducive to the weather. Portage has only the one loss to Windber. We are looking forward to the challenge. It looks like if things go as expected and we can beat Windber, the semifinal could be against Bishop Guilfoyle. Anybody could get the momentum and win the title.”
Advance tickets may be purchased at the Bellwood-Antis High School Business Office Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. Student tickets are $2 and will not be sold at the game. Adult tickets are $5.
