This
Date in Blue Devil Football
•
October 22nd •
By
BOB MILLER
Daily Herald Sports Editor
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The Bellwood-Antis football team added yet another victim to their list
in downing Portage Joint High School 40-13 on October 22, 1954.
Portage did get the distinction of becoming the first and only Blue Devil
opponent of 1954 to score two touchdowns. Six teams were shutout and three
more could manage just one TD against a Bellwood-Antis powerhouse that
would go 10-0, while outscoring 10 foes 355-34 for head coach Elwood Petchel.
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Only in a 19-13 loss to Hollidaysburg late in the 1952 season, had Bellwood-Antis
allowed more than two scores going back 61 games to the 1948
campaign. In that long stretch, six teams also scored two TDs.
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In the Portage contest, Max Kneidinger opened the show by running the
opening kickoff 70 yards for a touchdown and Chub Dillen kicked the extra
point for a fast 7-0 advantage.
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Dillen, who would lead Blair County in scoring for the third straight
year, tallied a six-pointer later in the opening quarter, when he burst
in from five yards out and added the PAT kick.
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Portage scored and added the PAT to cut the margin to 14-7 after a quarter
of football, but the Blue Devils responded with 19 second-quarter points
to put the game out of reach 33-7 at halftime.
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Dillen went around right end for 51 yards and one score and then threw
a 45-yard pass to Ray Rossi for another TD. Charlie McClellan scampered
around end for an 18-yard TD and Dillen kicked one PAT to complete the
second-quarter barrage.
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In the second half, each club scored once as the Blue Devils posted their
seventh straight win of 1954 and 18th overall.
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Fred Maurer capped a long B-A march with a three-yard scamper for the
score and Dillen added the extra point kick.
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Bellwood-Antis won for the sixth time in seven weeks on October 22,
1949,
for new head coach head coach Earl Strohm knocking off Curwensville 28-6.
Strohm had been Duke Burkholder’s assistant for two years and took
over when Duke went to Dubois for the 1949 season.
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With big John Powell smashing through the line, and Len Hummel skirting
the ends, Bellwood-Antis would finish the 1949 season 8-1-1, with a 7-7
tie later in the season at Hollidaysburg and their only loss to Burkholder
and his Dubois squad 14-0.
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Against the Golden Tide, junior Delbert “Mike” Hoffer returned
a punt to the Curwensville 25 and Hummel tossed a seven-yard touchdown
pass to senior end Bill Reed. Ken DeRemer converted the PAT kick.
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Then it was Hoffer again, this time intercepting a Tide pass and running
the pick back to the Curw-13. Hummel passed to Otto Kneidinger, who lateraled
to Reed, who fumbled the ball.
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Later Len Hummel scooted 31 yards to the Curw-17, then added 15 more on
the next play, Powell plunged for the two-yard TD on the following play
and DeRemer booted the PAT.
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Bellwood-Antis marched also to the Tide-two, before stalling.
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Powell bulled 12 yards for the third score of the game and Bob Fowler,
a right guard, who was a quarter-miler on the Bellwood-Antis track team
returned an interception 80 yards for the final Blue Devils touchdown.
DeRemer booted extra points after the last two scores to give him a perfect
four-for-four in the game.
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Curwensville scored their lone TD after Strohm put the B-A reserves in
the game to cap the scoring.
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The fledgling Bellwood-Antis football team scored single touchdowns in
the first and third quarters and two in the second to wrap up their sixth
straight win of the season on October 22, 1938
defeating Hyndman 26-2, in the only game the two schools have ever played
against each other. In the just the first season of the Bellwood borough-Antis
township merger, the Blue Devils have yet to taste defeat under the leadership
of first-year coach Harry “Sis” Dinges.
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Dinges didn’t start his first string at the beginning of this game,
because of many injuries received in the 13-0 victory over a big, tough
Adams Township squad the week before. Bellwood-Antis was turned back four
times in succession after placing the ball at Hyndman’s five- and
10-yard lines, in a contest played at the new football field in Bellwood.
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The first-quarter score came when right halfback Bob Burns had his number
called for two carries to cover the final 10 yards. Gingher and Neil Estep
alternated carrying the ball down the field to set up the score. Ken Ehrisman
kicked the extra point.
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The Blue Devils drove to the Hyndman-10 early in the second quarter, but
failed to capitalize. The B-A defense held the Hornets right there and
forced a punt, which was returned to the H-15. Team captain Francis Davis
lateraled to Burns for the TD on the first play from scrimmage. Ehrisman
again added the PAT kick.
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Later, a pass from Ehrisman to Davis was responsible for the second touchdown
of the quarter and a 20-0 halftime lead.
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Bellwood-Antis also drove to the Hyndman-15 in the second quarter, but
stalled there.
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In the third quarter, the Blue Devils marched to the Hornets’ five,
but fumbled, then returned to the H-12, but again came away with no points,
when a drop-kick attempt for a field goal was no good.
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Ehrisman carried the ball to the opponents-5 in the fourth quarter, but
fumbled and Hyndman recovered. Hyndman was forced to punt from their goal
line and the kick went only to the H-20.
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Ehrisman lateraled to Davis, who took the ball to the three-yard line.
Estep went around end for the final score of the game.
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Hyndman scored their safety in the third period.
