The Bellwood-Antis junior varsity took a slim 8-7 lead into the locker room at halftime over their host Chestnut Ridge. The Lions had scored first, before the Blue Devil Jayvees came back to post a touchdown and 2 pt. conversion with just over a minute left in the first half.
With their choice to receive the second half kick, it seemed the Blue Devils were ready to make a statement to Chestnut Ridge. Instead the Lions made the statement and the Bellwood-Antis second-half series had an ominous sound to them-fumble, punt, interception, fumble, interception. Add to that an interception in the first half as well and Bellwood-Antis ended up on the short end of a 28-8 decision to Chestnut Ridge that drops the Blue Devils to 1-3.
“We lost to a very good football team tonight,” said B-A coach Randy Miller. “Chestnut Ridge was ready to play tonight. We just didn’t seem to be ready and it showed. Turnovers hurt you at any level, pro, college and JV. We have a good group of kids and they will bounce back”
B-A didn’t do that bad, but they continually shot themselves in the foot with mistakes and penalties at times when they needed to perfect a drive, the Blue Devils always seemed to do something wrong, a missed assignment, a penalty, a slip by a running back, a pass just out of the hands of a receiver. With three different throwers, Bellwood-Antis had three passes intercepted, but none of 10 caught by B-A receivers.
The Bellwood-Antis defense was able to stop the Lions three times in B-A territory in the first half, turning Ridge away at the BA-31, 22 and 30, but gave up a 47-yard bomb that went for a touchdown from Dan Novak to Mike Schade just 49 seconds into the second quarter.
The Blue Devils had trouble sustaining drives all night, but was able to put together a 61-yard march that took 11 plays in through most of the last half of the second quarter.
Sophomore quarterback Zach Tomchick picked up 18 yards on a pair of keepers, rolling to his right and cutting upfield. Matt Sneath picked up a tough seven yards on a pair of carries and Mark Rogers had his number called five times for 33 yards before Rogers slipped in for a six-yard TD. Ridge was penalized half the distance on the PAT try and Rogers, who had 44 tough yards on 16 carries bulled his way behind the B-A offensive line for the 2 pt. PAT and an 8-7 Bellwood-Antis lead. Sneath added 36 yards on a dozen carries.
While B-A was pulling their disappearing act in the second half, Chestnut Ridge took full advantage of excellent field position to score three touchdowns in their four second-half possessions. The Lions started all four second half series inside Bellwood-Antis territory utilizing the short field to put points on the scoreboard.
After intermission, the Lions got eight- and 22-yard TD runs from Fred Halbig, who led all runners with 125 yards on 12 carries and a 10-yard gallop by Casey Shaffer for another score. Anthony Lombardi added 11 carries for 48 yards and Shaffer had 11 for 44 as Chestnut Ridge outgained B-A on the ground 231-121.
