By BOB MILLER
Daily Herald Sports Editor
— Bellwood-Antis celebrated their annual Homecoming on October 10, 1980 at the expense of Northern Bedford as the Blue Devils won for the sixth time in seven games.
— The passing of quarterback Butch Riggleman, healthy again after three weeks, and the running of junior tailback Steve Walker, who scored a trio of six-pointers, sent Homecoming Queen Tammy Johnson and the rest of the B-A fans home happy with a 40-6 bombing of the Panthers.
— Walker, who rushed 19 times for 126 yards, scored on runs of 46 and one yards and grabbed a pass from Riggleman for 22 yards and his third score.
— Riggleman also tossed a TD pass that covered 20 yards to Bob Buck and ended up with seven completions in a dozen throws for 112 yards and the two scores.
— Todd Bookhamer smashed over for a one-yard touchdown and Dave Clark grabbed a 28-yard pass from Dave DiRoma for the final TD when the ball ricocheted off a Panther cornerback and fell into Clark’s arms in the endzone.
— Present B-A coach John Hayes was in his first year as the head coach at Bellwood-Antis in 1980, and his coaching staff included Port Williams, Pat Finnochio and Ken Peterson. Todd Guyer and Darrell Claar coached the junior high program.
— Bellwood-Antis lost a 7-0 decision to Saxton-Liberty on October 10, 1958.
— The Blue Devils were experiencing the one long sustained down era in B-A football history during 1958. A total of 24 games were played between a 21-7 Blue Devil win over Saxton-Liberty in 1956 and a 19-13 B-A victory over Robertsdale in 1959. All 24 were defeats and in 22 of those games in a row, the Blue Devils were shut out. Four of those shutouts, including the 1958 Saxton-Liberty game, were decided by one touchdown. Something always happened that left the Blue Devils on the short end.
— The one highlight of the game was a 30-yard completion from junior Mickey Hummel to classmate Gary Day that carried to midfield.
— Walt Galbreath was the head coach of the Blue Devils with George Guyer, former B-A football start Earl “Red” Henry and newcomer Bob Pearl as his assistants. Galbreath, who taught American and World history, was an Altoona grad who went into the army following graduation, then attended Shippensburg State Teachers College, before becoming Bald Eagle Area’s first football coach from 1952-1955. Prior to coming to Bellwood, Galbreath taught and coached at Coatesville in the east.
— Pearl, who was from Waynesboro and had graduated from Shippensburg, taught commercial subjects at Bellwood.
— Richard Shope and James Parks were student managers in 1958.
— Continuing their high scoring offensive game with their usual tough aggressive defense, Bellwood-Antis romped over Saxton-Liberty 53-0 on October 10, 1953. This was the Blue Devils 14th win in 15 games in the series between the two schools. Today, Saxton-Liberty is part of the Tussey Mountain School District.
— Once again, Bob Bilka led the Mainliner Express touchdown parade, scoring four times. Bilka blasted two yards for his first score, then dashed off tackle and sprinted 70 yards, before going around end for scoring jaunts of 43 and 47 yards. Bilka totaled 162 yards rushing just on the TDs and the Blue Devils piled up 312 yards on the ground, although exact individual totals were not recorded.
— Dean Rossi fielded a Wildcat punt and raced 60 yards for a touchdown the very first time the Blue Devils touched the football.
— Bilka tossed a 30-yard TD pass to Dean Campbell and Charlie McClellan capped the scoring with a pair of fourth-quarter scores on runs of 11 and 30 yards. Albert “Chub” Dillen kicked five extra points to give Chub the lead in the Blair County scoring race with 75, while Bilka pulled into second with his four-TD performance giving him 72.
— Bellwood-Antis was 5-0 and on the way to back-to-back 10-0 seasons for head coach Elwood Petchel who went 20-0 at Bellwood before moving to the east to teach and coach at Pen Argyl. Petchel followed coaching legends Duke Burkholder and Earl Strohm at B-A and was assisted by Ted Delozier and George Guyer.