GAME SEVEN B-A Blue Devils: 21 Glendale Vikings: 14 Friday, October 10, 2008 • Dr. Roy F. Baker Field • Flinton, Pennsylvania
By Bob Miller | Daily Herald Sports Editor
— Glendale was a big underdog coming in to their Senior Recognition Night football game against Bellwood-Antis at Dr. Roy F. Baker Field in Flinton. But from the Vikings performance, you would have thought it was the other way around. — Bellwood-Antis (6-1) used two second-half touchdowns and was able to escape with a 21-14 victory for their sixth straight win after a season-opening loss to Tyrone. — “Getting away with a win allows you to build on and try to correct a lot of the things that went wrong tonight, without the pain or the sting of defeat,” said Bellwood-Antis coach John Hayes. “You have to give Glendale a lot of credit. They played with a lot more enthusiasm and excitement than we did. They were out to really play a football game. There may have been a lot of reasons—no school today, the kids were out of their routine. — “We were just kind of flat from the very beginning. I don’t want to take anything away from the way Glendale played. They pursued, they ran plays down from the back, plays that normally break and go a lot better didn’t go tonight. We didn’t block very well at the point of attack. Again, I think that is a tribute to how determined they were.” — The Bellwood-Antis offense lost a big fumble on their first series from scrimmage which could’ve changed the complexion of the game early, but Glendale came up with the Nate Gray fumble, after the B-A QB had moved the sticks with completions of 15 yards to Trey Mock and 11 to Tyler Geis. — With just 1:57 to play in the first quarter, the Blue Devils did get into the end zone to take the lead. Zach McCaulley burst one yard for the TD and Geis gave the Blue Devils a 7-0 lead with his PAT kick. McCaulley raced 24 yards on the second play of the drive, and Nick DeGol scooted 11 yards a couple plays later to key the march. Glendale began their final two drives of the first half in B-A territory, largely because the Blue Devils kept stopping their own offense with timely penalties. — On the first of those series, starting from midfield, Glendale got an 11-yard completion from sophomore quarterback Tyler Jenny to Rusnak and then later in the series, Brad O’Donnell got loose on a broken defensive coverage that left him all alone for a big 41-yard gain on a pass from Jenny to the BA-2. Faced with Glendale at the two-yard line with a first and goal, the B-A defense dug in and came up with a stop. First, Kimberly was tackled for no gain, then, Codi McClellan was stopped for a three-yard loss. Jeff Novak then stepped in front of a Jenny pass for an interception that halted the threat. Bellwood-Antis committed a pair of procedure penalties on the following series and couldnÕt overcome them, handing the ball right back to Glendale. — Finally, Steve Rusnak intercepted a Gray pass and the Vikings took over at the BA-27. Jenny tossed a pass to Robert Ivory for 19 yards to the BA-8, and then hit Vance Kimberly out of the backfield for six more to the BA-2. Jenny missed on his first try, but then connected with Kimberly for the two-yard TD pass and kicked the extra point to tie the ballgame for Glendale with 25 seconds remaining in the first half. — With a 7-7 tie, the momentum and the football to start the third quarter, Glendale was in the driver’s seat. But the Bellwood-Antis defense shut the Vikings down, sacking Jenny twice for losses of four and 10 yards and forcing a punt from the G-15. A return of eight yards by Buddy Shaw put the pigskin at the G-37 to begin the Blue Devils first offensive series of the second half. — Zach McCaulley, in the game after senior tailback Randy Pfahler was injured again on his second carry of the game, got the ball on four straight calls totalling 19 yards. Jason Miller went through the right side for three yards and a first down, and Nick DeGol scampered for 10 more to move the sticks again. Tim Collier picked up four to put the ball at point-blank range and McCaulley powered in for his second one-yard touchdown of the night punctuated by the Geis PAT. — Bellwood-Antis began all four of their second-half drives in Glendale territory, but still had trouble moving the ball, ending up with just 166 yards rushing. — Starting at the Glendale-35 after a 22-yard Shaw return, Bellwood-Antis moved to the G-21 where they were faced with a fourth -and-11. Gray lofted a pass to Tim Collier behind the secondary, for what would prove to be the winning score, and Geis made it three straight PAT kicks and a 21-7 B-A lead. — Jenny completed six passes to drive his team for the final score, and Kimberly bounced in for the one-yard score to close to within seven points. — The B-A defense limited the Vikings rushing offense to just 17 yards on 27 carries, but like the Everett game earlier had no answer for the passing of Jenny, who completed 13 of 22 passes for 173 yards to keep Glendale in the game down to the very end. Jason Miller fell on the Vikings attempted on-sides kick and Bellwood-Antis was able to drain the clock. — “Defensively, they had us on our heels,” said Hayes. “The quarterback did a pretty good job and they got enough big plays and a penalty here, a penalty there against us, that really kept our backs against the wall most of the night. It was a game hopefully we can step back from and do us some good to reflect on this and hopefully take a big breath and go forward.” — After starting the last five games, McCaulley came in for Pfahler and finished the night with 108 yards and two scores on 18 carries. For the season, McCaulley now has 805 yards rushing and 14 TDs on 98 carries. Bellwood-Antis had their scoreless streak on defense stopped by Glendale after 13 quarters.
