This would probably be the Inter-County Conference Game of the Year if they were both in the same division. However, instead, Bellwood-Antis, celebrating their annual Homecoming, is the two-time defending champion in the ICC Nittany Division and Southern Huntingdon is the defending champ in the ICC South. That being said, the rivalry is nonetheless one that both schools have looked forward to since last year. There are a lot of bragging rights, as well as actual district playoff consequences riding on this ballgame.
Somewhere down the line, someone said that to stay the same, you have to change. Tell that to the Blue Devils and the Rockets. Although the battle was at Southern Huntingdon last year, Southern Huntingdon came into the contest undefeated at 4-0 and had dominated all four foes. Bellwood-Antis lost to Tyrone in their opener and then won three straight to enter the Southern game 3-1.
This time around, of course, everything is different. In 2006 Southern Huntingdon is undefeated at 4-0 and has dominated all of their opponents, outscoring four foes 159-33. Bellwood-Antis dropped their season opener to Tyrone and has won their next three in a row. Well, sometimes as you can guess, things tend not to change too much.
The 4-0 start in 2005 was the first for the Rockets since 1991. They haven’t defeated Bellwood-Antis since 1979.
Bellwood-Antis has won the last 15 games in a row and leads the series 25-7. The Blue Devils won the first five games in the series, which began with an 18-6 B-A victory in 1961, although after a 30-0 Southern triumph in 1979, the Rockets had sliced the deficit to 12-7. In the 1996 game, Bellwood-Antis edged Southern 17-14 in the first overtime game ever played by the Blue Devils.
Southern Huntingdon hasn’t lost during the regular season except to Bellwood-Antis since before the 2004 B-A/Southern Huntingdon game. The Rockets posted wins in their final five games of the season and then went 8-1 a year ago when Bellwood-Antis went to Southern Huntingdon and came back with a 42-21 win.
Second-year head coach Ryan Garlock has compiled a 12-2 mark with only the loss in regular season play to the Blue Devils, during his watch.
Southern Huntingdon blew past Moshannon Valley 43-14 in their opener, then pasted Northern Bedford 48-13 the following week, shut out Juniata Valley 21-0, and then trampled Williamsburg 46-6 last week.
The Rockets have been led by a stingy defense and a talented group of seniors on offense.
“Right now mostly Southern Huntingdon is using a one-back look on offense. The fullback, Hoover, runs veer-type plays, inside the tackles. They have an option off that, but haven’t used it much,” explained Bellwood-Antis coach John Hayes in his weekly interview. “They actually have a number of sets, they are a little bit like Wing-T, but are not. They employ two wideouts, a wingback and a fullback. They have been very successful both running and throwing the football. Mansberger is a quarterback who is athletic and very versatile and has had success running and throwing. They have a couple good receivers and they try to get them both to one side where they try to get into a situation where one defender has to guard both guys.”
Senior fullback Troy Hoover (5-0, 205) was mostly a blocker last year for senior tailback Johnny Neuder, who rushed for 1.427 yards and 23 TDs. Hoover did rush for 471 yards and 14 TDs in 57 carries, an average of over eight yards a carry when he did have his number called. Through four games this year, Hoover has rushed 72 times for 413 yards and nine TDs.
Senior Tyler Mansberger (6-1, 175) was injured and didn’t play his sophomore season, then played only sparingly in 2005, throwing only 22 passes in 2005. This season, Mansberger has completed 27 of 41 passes for 469 yards, with six TD passes and just one interception. Mansberger, who is always a threat to take off, has also rushed 21 times for 154 yards, including TD scampers of 58 and 61 yards.
Senior split end Josh Crull (6-1, 165) was the Rockets leading receiver a year ago with 22 receptions for 435 yards and three TDs. In 2006, Crull has caught 11 balls for 239 yards and four scores. Junior flanker Corey Knepper (5-7, 155) has five catches for 100 yards and two TDs, and junior tailback Nick Hall (5-9, 150) has four grabs for 40 yards and has rushed 23 times for 185 yards and two TDs.
Hoover is the Rockets’ leading scorer with nine TDs for 54 points. Crull has five TDs and a two-point conversion catch for 32 points. They have divided their place kicking chores between Mike Gaston, a transfer student from nearby Fannett Metal and Pedro Almeida, a Brazilian foreign exchange student, whose brother was Southern Huntingdon’s place kicker two years ago when he spent the year in the U.S. Gaston is 11 of 14 on PAT kicks, while Almeida is two of five.
Southern Huntingdon has averaged 39.8 points, 213.5 yards rushing and 117.3 passing per game. The Rockets defensive unit has allowed 8.3 points, 77.3 yards rushing and 80 passing per game.
“Southern Huntingdon mostly uses a 4-4 defensive alignment with a three-deep secondary,” said Hayes. “Their defense is a lot more traditionally Southern Huntingdon than their offense is. They will stunt a linebacker a lot to try to create havoc, if they are not blocked. It’s a bust or big play situation, if you block them, big plays can result. Hopefully we get more big plays than busts on Friday night.”
Bellwood-Antis, led by All-State tailback Josh Kleinfelter with 662 yards on 84 carries, has been averaging 29.3 points, 224.3 yards rushing and 71.8 passing. The Blue Devil defense has been allowing 6.3 points, 129.8 yards rushing and 39.8 yards passing.
“We are going to have our hands full on Friday night,” admonished Hayes. “We can’t just load up front to stop them. Our defense will have to stay in their lanes and play well and expect either run or pass. Southern Huntingdon has always been known for being able to run the quarterback option and always seem to run it well, no matter who is the quarterback. Hoover is a big strong runner and Mansberger can run or pass effectively and they have big, strong receivers. On offense, we have to block well and although the blocking scheme has gotten better, we are still making too many mistakes.
“The kids have had good attitudes and have been working hard in practice. A game like this makes for an exciting week of practice, tough games are always better to prepare for. A lot more energy goes into the preparations with Homecoming and all the league and district playoffs implications.”
Hayes acknowledged that Cody Smith will get time on the offensive line to spell Tyler Narehood, who in all likelihood will not go both ways, but will be limited to defense.
