GAME SIX B-A Blue Devils: 38 Mo Valley Black Knights: 0 Friday,October 9, 2009 • Houtzdale, Pennsylvania
By Bob Miller | Daily Herald Sports Editor
— On Friday evening at Moshannon Valley High School, Bellwood-Antis achieved a milestone for the program and took a big step toward ICC and district honors as well. — Bellwood-Antis (6-0) controlled the line on both offense and defense, setting the tone early and continuing with a stifling defense, special teams contributions and solid offensive support to shut out previously undefeated Moshannon Valley 38-0. — With the win, gained in a steady rain that couldn’t dampen the spirits of the Bellwood-Antis faithfull in attendance, the Blue Devils posted the 500th win of the program, something very few schools can claim. It means a lot of coaches, players and fans had a part in getting to the point the Bellwood-Antis program has reached. — Present Bellwood-Antis head coach John Hayes alluded to the significance of the moment and those who have contributed to it over the years. “To get that (500 wins) is something that we can be very proud of. The school and community, a lot of people contributed to that over the years that have made the Bellwood-Antis football tradition what it is,” explained Hayes. “It’s great, but bigger than that, is for this particular team to come in against a very good football team and pretty much control all aspects of tonight’s game.” — B-A set the tone early when on the first offensive series of the game from the MV-16, a six-yard loss on a quarterback sack of Nick Gmerek by Blue Devil junior Jared Minori, coupled with a five-yard penalty against the Black Knights, forced a punt that Nick DeGol returned 14 yards to the MV-27. Four plays later, a Nate Plummer screen pass to Zack McCaulley in the left flat went for a 20-yard touchdown and the rout was on. — “We didn’t get a good return, we had an illegal procedure penalty and we started out behind the ball,” said Moshannon Valley head coach Murray Fetzer. “You can’t do that against a good team. A good team will take advantage of that, as Bellwood did. We had practiced against that screen, but our linebacker misread it, coming in instead of taking the running back out in the flat. Mistakes happen, but, bottom line, we will not make excuses. We got beat offensively and defensively on the line of scrimmage. We just weren’t able to control that line of scrimmage. Hats off to Bellwood. They have a very nice line. They are physical, our line is quick, but they got overmatched tonight.” — Mo Valley senior tailback Brock Love burst through the middle for back-to-back first downs on runs of 17 and 11. But then the defense stopped Gmerek for another loss, this time four yards, tackled Love for no gain, and forced Gmerek into an incompletion and Moshannon had to punt again. — This time, Bellwood-Antis started at their own 19, but quickly proved distance was not a deterrent on this night. Zack McCaulley, who rushed for 128 yards on 22 carries, began the series with a 10-yard pickup and Nick DeGol ended it eight plays later by taking a reverse from McCaulley for 34 yards and the TD. Nate Plummer booted both PATS. — Moshannon Valley had to punt on their first three series, and Bellwood-Antis turned each into a score. Beginning at the BA-32, McCaulley had his number called twice for just minus three yards, but then got loose on the outside and raced 51 yards on a draw play to the MV-20. One play later, junior fullback Tyler Beech bulled up the middle, broke several tackles and raced 20 yards to paydirt. The PAT kick was partially blocked, but Bellwood-Antis led 20-0. — “Special teams did a great job getting us started, and our line did a great job—they won the battle of the trenches,” said Hayes. “And the offensive line did a great job opening up holes. We got some good yards, some diversity. The tailback position, the fullbacks, the wingbacks, everybody had a good night. It was largely the guys up front and the backs blocking for each other. We had all the bases covered, it was a very complete effort. Other than a couple penalties on special teams, I think it was pretty picture perfect.” — Bellwood-Antis added one more score in the third and fourth quarters. In quarter number three, Beech, who carried seven times for 91 yards, burst 19 yards to score his second touchdown of the evening. Three runs by McCaulley of 13, 10 and 25 keyed the drive. — In the fourth quarter, Nick DeGol returned a punt 87 yards for a TD, only to have the score called back on a phantom block-in-the-back penalty. Instead, DeGol was credited with a 56-yard run back to the MV-31. Buddy Shaw ran a reverse the final eight yards for the TD. — “This team won’t give up, they are not intimidated, they won’t give up,” said Fetzer. “They just got beat by a team that played better tonight. We’ve been down this road. It happened last year and we bounced back to play a much better game in the playoffs. We just have to see what happens.”
Blue Devil Notes: Plummer finished four of six for 61 yards and two touchdowns without an interception. Over the last three games, Plummer has completed 70 percent of his passes. Bellwood-Antis did not attempt a pass in the second half… Zack McCaulley has four straight 100-yard rushing games, 693 total rushing yards, 12 rushing TDs, and two more TDs on passes… Grant Martin had two quarterback sacks… Danny Noye recovered a Mo Valley fumble… Nick Gmerek had completed nearly 58 percent of his passes, but was only seven of 17. Gmerek was limited to a minus 17 yards rushing, after averaging more than six yards per carry, with eight TDs coming in.
