GAME NINE B-A Blue Devils: 20 Bishop Guilfoyle Marauders: 0 Friday, October 27, 2006 • Memorial Field • Bellwood, Pennsylvania
By Bob Miller | Daily Herald Sports Editor
— When you have a horse and the conditions limit your game plan, run the horse and count on your defense stopping anything serious. In the rain that varied from monsoon to a light spray, but nonetheless made for slipping and sliding and lots of weather-caused mistakes, Bellwood-Antis used another big performance from Josh Kleinfelter and a very stingy defense to thwart Bishop Guilfoyle’s plans to stage an upset and get into the District 6-A playoffs at Bellwood Memorial Stadium on Friday night.
— The Blue Devils 20-0 shutout made sure the BG Marauders did not get the required four wins to qualify for the districts, which will begin next weekend. Kleinfelter went over the right side on the final play of the Blue Devils first series in the third quarter to eclipse the 5,000-yard career mark and would finish with his second straight 200-yard effort against Bishop Guilfoyle and second straight 200-yard game of 2006. In three games against BG, Kleinfelter rushed for a total of 577 yards and scored eight touchdowns.
— “The weather really hampered the offense as to what we could do,” explained Bellwood-Antis coach John Hayes. “We kind of got conservative and were concerned about turnovers. They kind of balanced out. Each team had turnovers. We got a break and got a short one, and we made one that probably cost us a score.”
— With both teams finding out what they could do, the first quarter was scoreless. In fact, Bishop Guilfoyle, who fell to 3-6 with a regular season game against Central Cambria next week to close out the season, punted on their first eight series and then closed out the game with a pair of interceptions, one by Kleinfelter and one by Bruno DeGol. The Marauders weren’t able to get their initial first down against the Blue Devil defense until the 8:32 mark of the second quarter and finished the game with just five, including three in the fourth quarter after Bellwood-Antis had jumped out to a 14-0 advantage.
— The Blue Devils moved the ball well in the first half, but kept shooting themselves in the foot, stopping themselves on three interceptions and a fumble, while scoring the lone touchdown of the half on their other series.
— Beginning from the BA-48, the Blue Devils drove the distance in 10 plays with Kleinfelter covering the final five yards for the TD and Evan Celmo kicking the PAT for a 7-0 B-A lead with 9:30 left to play in the half.
— “We kind of backed off and reduced the choices and just pounded away until something would break and fortunately it did,” said Hayes. “We had enough diversion that we kept the sticks going.”
— Bellwood-Antis received the kick to begin the second half, but couldn’t move the sticks. After BG also failed to get a first down, big B-A lineman Tyler Narehood broke through to partially block a Marauder punt and give Bellwood-Antis excellent field position at the BG-26. On a fourth-down-and-four, Kleinfelter who finished with 216 yards on 34 carries, took a handoff up the middle, after senior B-A quarterback Evan Hughes had faked first to Devon Clapper and then given the ball to Kleinfelter for a 20-yard scamper, practically untouched into the end zone. Celmo booted the PAT with 4:40 left in the third quarter.
— The Blue Devils used a 14-yard pickup by Jon Davila and three runs by Kleinfelter for 14 yards to move to the BG-18, but Celmo’s 35-yard field goal try short and left.
— With only the one first down in the first half, Bishop Guilfoyle was held once again without a first down on their next series. The Blue Devils fumbled on the punt however and BG got a restart with a first down 36 yards down field at the Marauders-47. Bellwood-Antis forced BG to punt again, but Jacob Librizzi, who does everything for BG except sell tickets and play in the band, pulled the ball down instead of punting when he noticed a huge opening, scooting for a gain of 36 yards and a first down. For the third time in a row, the B-A defense stopped Bishop Guilfoyle when Chad Coho tackled QB Brent Milliron for a four-yard loss.
— “The big key is that they had a zero on the board,” said Hayes. “We bent a couple times, but when it got down close, our defense picked it up and made some big plays. No points makes it easier for our offense.”
— The Blue Devils marched 80 yards to score their third touchdown a series later. Kleinfelter got loose over the left side for a 50-yard gain to the BG-30. Davila bulled 13 yards through and over the BG defense and Kleinfelter score his third TD of the game and 24th of the season from 10 yards out to cap the drive. On the try for the PAT, a bad snap resulted in a failed two-point attempt.
GAME NOTES: Kleinfelter has 64 touchdowns, two behind B-A all-time leader Albert “Chub” Dillen… The last time these two teams played at Bellwood, the Blue Devils shut out Bishop Guilfoyle 14-0… With 98 PAT kicks, Celmo needs just two more to become the first B-A kicker to top 100… B-A will have a bye next week and then play a home game at Bellwood Memorial Stadium the following week in the District 6-A quarterfinals… Librizzi, who had 551 yards and averaged 8.3 yards per carry for the first eight games, had 36 yards on the fake punt, but only 13 yards on six carries for the rest of the game against the B-A defense… The B-A “D” has allowed just two teams to total 200 yards of offense and held seven of nine opponents below 80 yards passing.
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