By BOB MILLER
Daily Herald Sports Editor
— On Friday, September 8, 1995, Bellwood-Antis answered a major question with a convincing 38-14 victory over Everett, in a game that was halted for about 15 minutes when the officials stopped the game due to several close bolts of lightning.
— The Blue Devils provided a few lightning strikes themselves, with senior tailback Ryan Hostler scoring on a pair of long TDs, a 73-yard run from scrimmage and a 62-yard punt return. Hostler, who rushed 29 times for 180 yards, also scored on 12 and two-yard runs. B-A place kicker Dan Tubbs booted five PATs and added a 37-yard field goal.
— Sophomore fullback Don Lingenfelter added 71 yards on 14 carries, including a two-yard TD that gave B-A the lead for good with just under six minutes to play in the first half.
— Everett stuck with the Blue Devils by using a passing attack, but after a seven-of-12 for nearly 100 yards in the first half, was limited by the Bellwood-Antis defense to just three of 12 in the second half and the B-A defensive unit finished the game with four interceptions.
— The Blue Devils, coached by John Hayes had dropped a 34-14 decision to backyard rival Tyrone in the opening game a week earlier that was the first win over Bellwood-Antis by the Eagles in nine years.
— Locked in a tight 7-6 football game and backed up to their own 15-yard line, Bellwood-Antis needed a spark at Orbisonia on Friday, September 8, 1989.
— Lightning struck in the form of junior tailback Chris McCartney, who rambled 85 yards for a touchdown that put the Blue Devils in front for good in a 27-6 win over Southern Huntingdon.
— B-A took the opening kickoff and drove down the field for the first score. Junior slotback Bo Lardieri went around right end for the 11-yard TD. The key call was a Mike Coulter-to-Lardieri pass play that covered 34 yards. Brad Snyder booted the PAT.
— Having is number called, McCartney, who rushed 14 times for 158 yards, got to the outside and simply outran everybody for the long TD run to effectively change the game’s tempo, after Southern Huntingdon had come right back to score and close the Blue Devils’ advantage to a single point, 7-6.
— B-A went into the halftime intermission up 20-6, when Snyder tipped a Coulter pass and then made a diving catch in the end zone for a seven-yard TD.
— Lardieri ran 15 yards on the first play of the fourth quarter and Snyder booted his third extra point to set the final score. Bellwood-Antis improved to 2-0 for head coach John Hayes, after knocking off Tyrone by the same score 27-6 in the opener a week earlier.
— On Friday, September 8, 1950, Bellwood-Antis traveled to Tyrone for their annual game with the Golden Eagles before a crowd of 7,500 at Gray Field. The Blue Devils scored two first-quarter touchdowns and one extra point and then held off the Orange and Black to win 13-12.
— That was the first time in the 13-game series up to that point, in which B-A had won two games in a row against Tyrone. Tyrone led the series 10 wins to three, but the Blue Devils had won 26-6 in 1946, and 15-0 on 1949 to count three wins in the last five games between the two rivals. Bellwood-Antis would triumph six straight times from 1949-1954 to slice Tyrone’s series lead to 10-6 and probably begin for the first time to really make it a heated rivalry between near-equal adversaries. The first eight games were all Tyrone wins with the Eagles outscoring B-A 226-14, not much of a actual rivalry, before 1946.
— Midway through the opening quarter, Mike Hoffer, who would be chosen a First Team All-State running back after the 1950 season, fielded a Tyrone punt at his own 40 and ran to his right, cut back over the left and rocketed 60 yards for a touchdown.
— On the ensuing kickoff, Tyrone fumbled and Bellwood-Antis recovered at the Tyrone-30.
— Out of the Blue Devils’ Single-Wing offensive attack, Hoffer received the direct snap and fired a wide pass out to end Dick Keller at the line of scrimmage, and Keller tapped the ball to Don Roth, who ran the final 15 yards for the second Bellwood-Antis score in three plays. Big B-A fullback Ken DeRemer, playing with a bad knee kicked what would prove to the winning PAT to stretch the Bellwood-Antis lead to 13-0.
— Tyrone would score once in the third quarter and then again in the fourth quarter, but missed both tries for extra points, with Bellwood-Antis holding on for the single-point win for head coach Duke Burkholder and assistant coach Wally Fields.
— Following a short punt, Tyrone took over at the BA-24. Dick Phillips went over right tackle, reversed his field and carried to the BA-4. After a Bellwood-Antis clipping penalty moved the ball the BA-1, Phillips scored. Givler’s PAT kick was blocked.
— In the fourth quarter, the Eagles’ Ernie Anderson intercepted a Blue Devil pass to get the ball at the BA-22. After a pair of incompletions, Tony Barr, who had taken over for Hugh Wagner, rifled a long toss to Anderson, who made a spectacular catch at the BA-1. Johnny Kelly plunged for the one-yard score. Tyrone tried a run for the extra point this time, but the B-A defense stopped it short to hang on for the victory.