Home • Back to 2009 Results • Week Two Z-Game Ball

GAME TWO
B-A Blue Devils: 21
Everett Warriors: 7
Friday,September 11, 2009 • Everett, Pennsylvania

B-A struggles on offense, defense and special teams help post 21-7 victory

By Bob Miller
Daily Herald Sports Editor

— “No, it wasn’t very pretty,” echoed Bellwood-Antis coach John Hayes. “It’s always good to win those games when you make a lot of mistakes and play the way we did tonight. We were a little lackluster. We talked all week about a letdown after a big win (over Backyard rival Tyrone), and we knew that Everett would really be working hard to get that big ‘W.’ I don’t think we played with a lot of emotion and it showed.”
— Bellwood-Antis committed 13 penaties for 98 yards. The Blue Devils put one touchdown on the scoreboard in each of the first three quarters, while Everett scored their only TD in the second quarter to briefly tie the game. One of the biggest plays occurred immediately following the Everett score.
— On the kickoff, B-A sophomore Andrew DeGol muffed the kick, went back to his own 15 to pick up the football, angled left toward the B-A sideline and then raced all the way to the Everett-13, a return of 72 yards. Zack McCaulley had his number called on three straight plays, the last for a five-yard TD that put the Blue Devils up 13-7, a lead they would not relinquish.
— Bellwood-Antis had opened the scoring on their first offensive series of the night marching 65 yards in nine plays, with Nate Plummer tossing an eight-yard TD pass to Buddy Shaw, and then adding the extra point kick.
— McCaulley jump-started the drive with gains of 12 and 14 yards on the first two plays, and Plummer, who completed eight of 19 passes for 102 yards, hit Nick DeGol for 23 yards. Although he missed several open receivers and had at least two passes dropped, Plummer exceeded the 100-yard passing mark for the second straight time in as many starts.
— Everett came back in the middle of the second quarter to knot the score at the six-minute mark. Beginning from midfield, Luke Hoover, who led the Warriors with 69 yards on just five carries, motored 44 yards for the big play of the series, and Levi Grimes plunged one yard for the touchdown. Tyler Bulger, who caught Everett’s only two pass completions for a total of 25 yards, booted the PAT to tie the score 7-7.
— “Special teams—both kickoff and punt teams—really did a good job,” said Hayes. “We work hard on those things in practice.” Everett had the first two series of the game on offense. After the Blue Devil defense held the Warriors and forced punt, B-A fumbled the punt and Everett recovered at the BA-46, only to be stopped again. When Bellwood-Antis finally did get a chance, they converted for the first score of the game. Later in the contest, Everett blocked a Plummer punt and took over on the BA-23, but handed the ball back to Bellwood-Antis four plays later at the BA-31. B-A committed three penalties totalling 30 yards on their next series and lost a fumble to put Everett back in business at the BA-10. This time Everett committed two penalties and the Blue Devils one, with Bellwood-Antis stopping the Everett scoring threat and getting possession of the pigskin back at their own 7, again without any Everett points.
— “The bottom line was that our defense played pretty good,” cited Hayes. “We kept them out of the end zone a lot of times when they had some pretty good opportunities.”
— In the third quarter, Bellwood-Antis took advantage of a 49-yard punt return by Nick DeGol to set up shop at the Everett-24. Despite getting hit with a five-yard procedure penalty, the Blue Devils put the ball in the end zone. McCaulley, who led all runners with 95 yards on 19 carries, went nine yards for a first down and then burst off right tackle for the seven-yard TD. On the extra point try, holder Lucas Evans picked up a bad snap and rolled right into the end zone untouched for two points and a 21-7 lead with 4:21 in the third quarter.
— “We made some big plays when we had to, but overall we were sloppy,” explained Hayes. “We had too many penalties, some of the things we missed and just didn’t execute. We just didn’t play with the right kind of emotion. We talked about it all week, cautioned against it. We worked hard and had a pretty good week of practice. We had the ride down here on the bus, got here late, the rain and all that, we just weren’t very enthusiastic. We made some plays—some nice plays—but we missed too many things. We have a lot to learn, and a lot to work on.”

Bellwood-Antis 21, Everett 7

Score by quarter:

Scoring summary:

First Quarter
B-A - Shaw 7 pass from Plummer (Plummer kick) 3:00

Second Quarter
E - Grimes 1 run (Bulger kick) 6:00
B-A - Z. McCaulley 5 run (kick failed) 4:14

Third Quarter
B-A - Z. McCaulley 7 run (Evans run) 4:21

Team Statistics

Back to 2009 Results • Week Two Z-Game Ball
.