GAME FOUR B-A Blue Devils: 61 West Branch Warriors: 6 Friday, September 24, 2010 • L.T. Drivas Memorial Field • Allport, Pennsylvania
By Bob Miller | Daily Herald Sports Editor
— Football consists of three basic parts: offense, defense and special teams. On Friday night at Allport, Bellwood-Antis used all three to score points and all three to all but shut out West Branch from scoring in a 61-6 rout. — All-purpose player Dan Noye scored three touchdowns by three different methods for the second time in three games to lead the Blue Devil attack. Noye returned a pass interception 40 yards (the third straight game the B-A senior has scored on an interception), returned a punt 55 yards for a score and scooted 12 yards on a reverse for his third TD of the evening. — Bellwood-Antis scored 40 points in the first half, running only 13 plays in the process, while West Branch ran 30 plays over those first two quarters yielding no points. Their only touchdown of the night came with 4:19 to play in the fourth quarter. — B-A held West Branch to three downs and a punt to begin the game, then needed just three plays to get on the scoreboard. — Tyler Beech lost a yard on first down, Travis Taylor picked up a first down with a 13-yard gain, followed by senior quarterback Luke Evans finding Derek Denny behind the Warrior secondary on a long slant over the middle for the 52-yard TD. Buddy Shaw booted the first of five extra points for a 7-0 lead. — The one thing Bellwood-Antis coach John Hayes will not like when he takes a look at the game film will be losing three fumbles, including one on the Blue Devils’ second series of the game. — Two plays lost three yards for West Branch and they were forced to go to the air to try to move the sticks for a first down. That turned out to be good for B-A and bad for West Branch, because Noye intercepted the pass attempt and for the third straight week ran the pick back 40 yards for a touchdown. — West Branch then went on their longest march of the half, chalking up their initial first down of the game and using seven plays to move from their own 30 to the 45, although, a five-yard penalty and two-yard loss on the final play of the series left the ball back at the WB-38. — Jared Minori halted the next West Branch offensive series by sacking quarterback Dylan Corl for a 10-yard loss back to the WB-6. A punt 23-yard return by Noye to the West Branch 41 put the Blue Devils back in business. — B-A tailback Travis Taylor, who rushed for 98 yards on just six carries, burst over the left side covering those 41 yards through the middle of the West Branch defense on the first play from scrimmage for the team’s third score of the night. — Just three plays into the second quarter, it was Noye-time again, returning a West Branch punt 55 yards for his second score in just a little over two and a half minutes. ShawÕs PAT gave Bellwood-Antis a 28-0 lead. — After the Blue Devil defense held West Branch without a first down again, B-A quickly drove 65 yards for a score. Evans ran a quarterback-keeper for nine yards, Andrew DeGol (who rushed five times for 70 yards) burst for 35 yards, Tyler Beech picked up seven, and Noye scored his third sixpointer of the game going a dozen yards off the left side on a reverse. — “Danny Noye had another good night in different ways,” explained Hayes. “You want guys that want to make plays. When he gets the opportunity, he wanted to make those plays, and it shows.” — B-A tried to stop themselves with five-yard penalties on back-to-back plays, but DeGol dashed 43 yards for the final tally before the halftime intermission. — “The good side of this game was that the defense and special teams made a lot of big plays, scoring plays. Our time of possession of the football was limited a little bit,” said Hayes. “But those are things we practice on defense with the goal to make big plays---—and when we do, take ’em to the house. The punt return is something we work hard on, as well. The kids really did a good job with all of those things.” — The Bellwood-Antis defense held West Branch to a minus-12 yards rushing and one-of-five pass completions for nine yards in the first half, limiting the hosts to a total of 39 yards rushing on 34 carries. That included carries of 14, 11 and 17 for Chad Speigle on the last series of the game against the B-A reserves to put the Warriors on the positive side of their rushing total. — “When we did go offensively, we had some kids run hard and make some big plays,” said Hayes. “We got a good start there with Luke connecting with Derek for the touchdown pass. Everybody had a hand in the success.” — Buddy Shaw, who shares time at wingback with Noye, scored on a five-yard reverse in the third quarter, and the B-A reserves added the final two scores. — First, freshman Casey Gray scooted 51 yards for a touchdown just into the fourth quarter and following West Branch’s score, and Darian Brunner’s three-yard score capped the night’s TD total. Tyler Campbell kicked the last two PATs for the Blue Devils.
