GAME THREE B-A Blue Devils: 42 Claysburg-Kimmel Bulldogs: 6 Friday, September 18, 2009 • Claysburg, Pennsylvania
By Bob Miller | Daily Herald Sports Editor
— It took three games before the Bellwood-Antis rushing attack could get going. In wins over backyard rival Tyrone and then Everett, the Blue Devils had an almost perfect balance between the run and pass. While that sounds good on paper, fundamentally, any John-Hayes-coached offense is tailback- (specifically) and rush- (generally) oriented. Coach Hayes knows that any team needs to be able to do more than one thing on offense to advance any distance into district and state playoffs, but a successful rushing offense not only puts points on the scoreboard, it keeps the opponents offense off the field when a team grinds out the yards and clock and moves the pigskin down the field. — “We had a couple of things we felt we could do well with our guys up front. It turned out we ran well—all our backs had some nice holes to run into,” said Hayes. “They did a nice job once they got through them.” — The Blue Devils’ Zack McCaulley ran 11 times for 145 yards and scored three touchdowns, and his backup, Travis Taylor, also carried 11 times for 116 yards and one score. Nine B-A backs totaled 331 yards after running for just 290 yards in the first two games combined. — Bellwood-Antis stuffed Claysburg-Kimmel on their first eight of nine total possessions, to continue a defensive effort that Hayes has talked up as the one theme that has been strong throughout the early season. — The Bulldogs had just one first down, and that didn’t come until just 2:40 remained in the third quarter, and a total of 16 yards rushing and 19 passing through the first three quarters. — “The defense has been playing very well all year,” explained Hayes. “They played really well tonight. We were in the right position, the kids tackled well and gave us good opportunities to get the ball on a short field and score some points. They did a really great job tonight.” — Claysburg-Kimmel ended up with four first downs rushing and one passing, including back-to-back runs of nine and 12 yards by Tyler Ickes, both of which moved the sticks for first downs on the Bulldogs touchdown drive. James Dodson was caught in his backfield for a one-yard loss, but one play later scrambled for a 40-yard TD, starting to his left and then cutting back over the right side and outracing everyone for the score with 2:02 remaining in the game. Ickes’ extra point kick was wide. — “We couldn’t move the ball against them,” explained Claysburg-Kimmel coach Joe Kitt. “We knew they had a good defense coming in. We just struggled offensively all night, only had a few first downs. It was tough all night, we just couldn’t do much against their defense.” — Bellwood-Antis opened up a big lead at the start, putting three scores on the board in the opening quarter. — On the first series from scrimmage for the Blue Devils it was Zack McCaulley left for 12 yards and a first down, then McCaulley went right for 27 more. Two plays later, McCaulley slipped through the right side and rambled for 14 more before finally bulling one yard for the score. Bellwood-Antis caught Claysburg napping when they failed to cover the muddle huddle on the extra point try, and center Zach Doyle picked the ball up and threw it to Tyler Beech, who waltzed around the left side for the two-point conversion. — One series later, Nate Plummer missed on two pass attempts, but McCaulley, running at will, went for 17 and a first down and four plays later raced 24 yards for his second TD of the quarter. Plummer booted the PAT for a 15-0 lead. — That advantage soon jumped to 22-0, when the Blue Devils took over at the CK-36 following a 20-yard punt return by Nick DeGol. A pass play went incomplete before McCaulley made it three scores in the first quarter, scooting 36 yards to paydirt. In all, McCaulley had his number called nine times in the quarter for 140 yards and the hat trick of TDs. — “We knew they were a balanced offense, and they ran the ball really well, like the old Bellwood-Antis teams of the past. You can’t fault them, they did a great job—they did everything they had to beat us tonight. We know they are a good football team.” — With B-A playing reserves for much of the second quarter, the two teams exchanged punts and the Blue Devils lost the ball on downs after the Bulldogs stopped them at the CK-43, after knocking Bellwood-Antis back from the 39, where the series started. — Then, with Plummer back under center, Travis Taylor ran twice for 15 yards and Danny Noye scampered for 10 and a first down. Plummer found Derek Denny for a completion of 20 yards, and then hit Trey Campbell for a 15-yard TD toss. The PAT kick was wide left, but Bellwood-Antis led 28-0 at the half. — The Blue Devils took the kick to begin the second half and marched 56 yards for one more score to invoke the Mercy Rule at the 8:56 mark of the third quarter, with a little bit of luck. Taylor picked up three, 10 and 30 yards on consecutive plays, but a pass fell incomplete. From the CK-4, Taylor had his number called, but fumbled the ball in the backfield, where an alert Nick DeGol scooped up the football and went around the left side for a five-yard touchdown. Plummer added the point after. — Bellwood-Antis added one final score when Taylor got loose and simply outran everybody for a 43-yard score. Buddy Shaw kicked the extra point.
