As junior high football games often run their course, Tyrone sliced through the Bellwood-Antis defense like a hot knife through butter on one series, for the early lead, and the Blue Devils turned two big plays into scores on back-to-back possessions, and the rest of the game was a good play here and then a mistake there.
The end result was a 16-6 triumph for the Little Blue Devils over the Tyrone Junior High.
After the two teams traded punts, Tyrone took over at their own 30. Kyler Johnson turned into a one-man wrecking crew for the Eagles. Johnson had his number called on 10 of the 12 plays in the 70-yard march, netting 62 yards, including the one-yard touchdown. The score remained 6-0, Tyrone, when the PAT kick attempt was lined low off the crossbar and back out on the field.
“Right before the half, when there was a minute and 30 seconds left, and we were up by six,” explained Tyrone junior high coach Dan Plummer, “I think we just broke down defensively, thinking the half was over, and Bellwood was in there. They ran a nice sweep to the outside and scored, and then came back the next play when they were back on offense and threw a nice fade down to the left side.”
Lightning struck for the Blue Devils, after being held to just one first down on their first three series on offense. With the ball on the BA-44, after the Little Eagles score, Zach McCaulley got loose over the right side, and outraced everybody down the right sideline for a 56-yard touchdown.
The Bellwood-Antis defense forced a three plays and punt for the Tyrone offense. On the first play from scrimmage, again at their own-44, B-A quarterback Nate Plummer threaded the needle down the left sideline between two Tyrone defenders to Jared Minori, who grabbed the pass and raced into the endzone to complete the 56-yard TD play.
On the first PAT try, Plummer tossed a pass to Buddy Shaw all alone in the end zone for the two-point conversion. Then following the Minori score, Plummer ran a quarterback bootleg around the left side for the two-pointer. In just two offensive plays, the Blue Devils changed the complexion of the contest. For the remainder of the game, Tyrone was forced to attempt to rally from a 10-point deficit.
“We started off very sluggish in the first quarter,” said Bellwood-Antis junior high coach Charlie Burch. “We couldn’t move the ball, couldn’t do anything, but neither could they. Then they put that huge drive on and scored. We were very concerned. It looked like we were not going to be able to stop them, we had tried all of our defenses.
“Then we got that big spark. It was just a toss right and Zach McCaulley broke it for huge yardage and the touchdown. Our kids from that point on, got some life. Getting towards the end of the half on the next series, we said ‘go for a pass, and the worst is we would be ahead 8-6.’ Nate Plummer made a nice throw and Jared Minori made an even better catch to give us some padding.”
Both teams were able to move the ball better in the second half, but neither was able to find the end zone over the final two quarters.
Tyrone went to the air in the fourth quarter, with Shane Walker, whose father Steve Walker rushed for over 1,000 yards for Bellwood-Antis in both 1979 and 1980, guided the Eagles down the field. Shane Walker was 0-for-three over the first three quarters, but connected on six of eight passes in the fourth quarter for 96 yards. Bellwood-Antis came up with an interception by Travis Taylor, to stop one drive and a fumble recovery to halt another.
“My hat’s off to Bellwood-Antis. This game -Tyrone and Bellwood-Antis – is always an epic battle, both junior high and varsity. There were two good teams on this field tonight,” said Coach Plummer.
