This
Date in Blue Devil Football
•
October 10th •
By BOB
MILLER
Daily Herald Sports Editor
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Bellwood-Antis celebrated their annual Homecoming on October 10, 1980
at the expense of Northern Bedford as the Blue Devils won for the sixth
time in seven games.
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The passing of quarterback Butch Riggleman, healthy again after three
weeks, and the running of junior tailback Steve Walker, who scored a trio
of six-pointers, sent Homecoming Queen Tammy Johnson and the rest of the
B-A fans home happy with a 40-6 bombing of the Panthers.
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Walker, who rushed 19 times for 126 yards, scored on runs of 46 and one
yards and grabbed a pass from Riggleman for 22 yards and his third score.
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Riggleman also tossed a TD pass that covered 20 yards to Bob Buck and
ended up with seven completions in a dozen throws for 112 yards and the
two scores.
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Todd Bookhamer smashed over for a one-yard touchdown and Dave Clark grabbed
a 28-yard pass from Dave DiRoma for the final TD when the ball ricocheted
off a Panther cornerback and fell into Clark’s arms in the endzone.
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Present B-A coach John Hayes was in his first year as the head coach at
Bellwood-Antis in 1980, and his coaching staff included Port Williams,
Pat Finnochio and Ken Peterson. Todd Guyer and Darrell Claar coached the
junior high program.
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Bellwood-Antis lost a 7-0 decision to Saxton-Liberty on October 10,
1958.
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The Blue Devils were experiencing the one long sustained down era in B-A
football history during 1958. A total of 24 games were played between
a 21-7 Blue Devil win over Saxton-Liberty in 1956 and a 19-13 B-A victory
over Robertsdale in 1959. All 24 were defeats and in 22 of those games
in a row, the Blue Devils were shut out. Four of those shutouts, including
the 1958 Saxton-Liberty game, were decided by one touchdown. Something
always happened that left the Blue Devils on the short end.
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The one highlight of the game was a 30-yard completion from junior Mickey
Hummel to classmate Gary Day that carried to midfield.
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Walt Galbreath was the head coach of the Blue Devils with George Guyer,
former B-A football start Earl “Red” Henry and newcomer Bob
Pearl as his assistants. Galbreath, who taught American and World history,
was an Altoona grad who went into the army following graduation, then
attended Shippensburg State Teachers College, before becoming Bald Eagle
Area’s first football coach from 1952-1955. Prior to coming to Bellwood,
Galbreath taught and coached at Coatesville in the east.
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Pearl, who was from Waynesboro and had graduated from Shippensburg, taught
commercial subjects at Bellwood.
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Richard Shope and James Parks were student managers in 1958.
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Continuing their high scoring offensive game with their usual tough aggressive
defense, Bellwood-Antis romped over Saxton-Liberty 53-0 on October
10, 1953.
This was the Blue Devils 14th win in 15 games in the series between the
two schools. Today, Saxton-Liberty is part of the Tussey Mountain School
District.
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Once again, Bob Bilka led the Mainliner Express touchdown parade, scoring
four times. Bilka blasted two yards for his first score, then dashed off
tackle and sprinted 70 yards, before going around end for scoring jaunts
of 43 and 47 yards. Bilka totaled 162 yards rushing just on the TDs and
the Blue Devils piled up 312 yards on the ground, although exact individual
totals were not recorded.
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Dean Rossi fielded a Wildcat punt and raced 60 yards for a touchdown the
very first time the Blue Devils touched the football.
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Bilka tossed a 30-yard TD pass to Dean Campbell and Charlie McClellan
capped the scoring with a pair of fourth-quarter scores on runs of 11
and 30 yards. Albert “Chub” Dillen kicked five extra points
to give Chub the lead in the Blair County scoring race with 75, while
Bilka pulled into second with his four-TD performance giving him 72.
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Bellwood-Antis was 5-0 and on the way to back-to-back 10-0 seasons for
head coach Elwood Petchel who went 20-0 at Bellwood before moving to the
east to teach and coach at Pen Argyl. Petchel followed coaching legends
Duke Burkholder and Earl Strohm at B-A and was assisted by Ted Delozier
and George Guyer.
