The Blue Devil defense showed that indeed they are human, on Oct. 4, 1968.
The “D” had a streak of 14 consecutive scoreless quarters broken by Tussey Mountain, but had another typical game, despite the one score, tackling Titan runners behind the line of scrimmage for losses totaling 33 yards and recovered three fumbles. Bellwood-Antis (3-1-1) upped their win streak to three after a loss to Tyrone and tie with Penn Cambria to begin the 1968 campaign.
The fumbles proved extremely costly to Tussey, because each of the three Bellwood-Antis scores came after one of the mistakes.
Blue Devil senior Larry Wyland, fell on the first bobble, on the second play of the game at the Tussey-28. Eight plays later, Chris Edmondson banged in from the one for the touchdown and then added the two-point rush for an 7-0 lead early.
One year later (1969), PATs changed, with two points awarded for running or passing them in, and one point for kicking the ball through the uprights.
On the ensuing kickoff, Tussey Mountain fumbled again and Jeff Wilson recovered for the Blue Devils at the Titan-42. A nine-play drive with Gary Vandevander pushing it over from the two-yard line for the score. Edmondson’s rush made it 14-0 about as quickly as it took to describe it.
All the scores in this game followed fumbles as the Blue Devils couldn’t find the handle on the second-half kickoff and Tussey Mountain recovered at the BA-30. The Titans took just two plays to snap the B-A defense’s 14-quarter scoreless streak, going back to the fourth quarter of the season opener with Tyrone.
Finally, Blue Devil Ralph Burkett pounced on a Tussey fumble at the TM-27 in the fourth quarter. Dan Davensizer, who earlier had a 70-yard TD run nullified on a penalty, capped the scoring for the night with a one-yard TD and Edmondson rushed for the final point for the Blue Devils of head coach Chet Dillen.
Finding themselves in their second straight defensive battle, Bellwood-Antis regrouped with three second-half TDs on Oct. 4, 1985 to zap Moshannon Valley 28-0.
The Bellwood-Antis offense included passing only occasionally during the first part of 1985, although a 20-yard Don Park to Bill Burch pass was good for the only score of the first half. Park threw for a season-high 86 yards against Mo Valley on a five-for-nine effort with no interceptions. Shawn Bailey kicked the PAT following the Burch TD.
B-A took advantage of good field position to score three times in the second half. Beginning at the MV-40, Bellwood-Antis pushed the pigskin down the field for a third quarter score with just under five minutes remaining. A Park to slotback Adam Claar pass for 24 yards, was the key and Bob Noye bulled one yard for the TD.
Minutes later, Noye, who is the last Blue Devil to letter four years, recovered a fumble and Bellwood-Antis went to work again. Jack Dorminy scooted the final 14 yards to climax a five-play drive and when Mo Valley failed to cover the holder on the PAT attempt, Adam Claar took advantage to bolt for the 2pt. PAT instead of the kick to increase the B-A lead to 21-0.
Midway through the fourth period, B-A took possession again, at the midfield stripe for the final time.
Claar moved the sticks for one first down and Don “Booker” Moore for two more, before Claar skipped in untouched on a 28-yard reverse. Shawn Bailey kicked the PAT to set the final at 28-0 for the Blue Devils of head coach John Hayes.
Booker Moore led B-A with 108 yards on 21 carries and Adam Claar added 54 on just six cracks and added three catches for 53 yards.
Bellwood-Antis lost to Penns Valley 22-21 on Oct. 4, 1996, when the Rams kicked a 33-yard field goal to overtake the Blue Devils, who had the lead for all but four seconds, when Penns Valley capped a 95-yard march with the game winning kick.
Playing at State College due to Penns Valley rebuilding their home field, Bellwood-Antis was their own worst enemy, losing a fumble on the opening kickoff, getting one punt blocked and another tipped and allowing a Penns Valley offense, that had been dormant for much of the game to suddenly come alive to drive the entire field for the game-winning chip shot.
The Rams took advantage to score on the fumble for a 7-0 lead, but B-A responded with a TD in each of the first two quarters to take a 14-7 lead at halftime.
Don Lingenfelter set up his own one-yard TD by scampering 33 yards to the PV-one after a Steve Conlon to Jim Gwinn pass completion was good for 13 yards. Then on their next series, B-A drove 72 yards with Conlon hitting Gwinn with a 41-yard TD pass. Tim Noonan booted PAT kicks after each score for the 14-7 lead at intermission.
Penns Valley scored twice in the third quarter to attempt to bounce back into the lead. Two-point conversions after both scores were turned away with Gwinn coming up with interceptions on both PAT tries.
In between the two Ram scores, Conlon located Zack Fay all alone for a 38-yard TD pass and Noonan’s PAT kick gave the Blue Devils a 21-13 advantage.
With 2:04 to play and B-A leading 21-19, a Conlon pass attempt to a wide-open Fay was knocked down at the line of scrimmage and Penns Valley took over at their own five.
David Royer, the Rams quarterback, who had completed just two of 10 passes for 12 yards and one interception, suddenly completed three passes in a row for 52 yards to manuever the Rams into range for the field goal try, which with four ticks left on the clock lifted Penns Valley (3-3) into the win and spelled defeat for B-A who dropped to 2-4, on their way to a 4-6 mark, the first losing season for the Blue Devils under coach John Hayes since 1981.
Lingenfelter led all runners with 20 carries for 106 yards, while Conlon completed 11 of 15 for 115 yards, two TDs and no interceptions.
