The Bellwood-Antis Blue Devils celebrate Senior Night on Friday by hosting Moshannon Valley.
The Blue Devils have moved into the number two position in district seeding points with 860, behind Bishop Carroll (1030) for the top spot, but 10 points ahead of Portage and 50 ahead of Southern Huntingdon. If the Blue Devils are able to down Moshannon Valley and final regular-season opponent Bishop Guilfoyle next week, Bellwood-Antis will be guaranteed two home playoff games and a trip to the finals again, if they win out.
Moshannon Valley (5-2) controlled the stats (50 yards more total offense, but losing two interceptions and a fumble) in a 15-6 season opening loss to Southern Huntingdon, and then got manhandled 34-0 by Juniata Valley last week. In between however, the Knights put on an amazing offensive display, averaging 39.8 points and 375 yards of offense, while giving up just a total of 12 points and an average of 68.2 yards total offense, in five straight wins. Wins came over West Branch 41-6, Mount Union 46-0, Glendale 45-0, Everett 40-0 and Williamsburg 27-6.
Long-time Mo Valley Coach Howie Camberg is retiring after the 2005 season completing 28 years as head coach at Moshannon Valley. A Mo Valley and IUP grad, Camberg is currently 167-103-8.
The Knights return 13 letterwinners from last year’s squad which finished 7-3 last year, with losses to Juniata Valley 49-0 and Bellwood-Antis 23-0 in the regular season and then Juniata Valley again in the playoffs 27-0.
Moshannon Valley first appeared on the B-A schedule as Bigler Township from 1938-1948, then as Moshannon Joint High School from 1949-1954, when they were known as the “Green Raiders.” Finally in 1955, Moshannon Joint merged with Houtzdale-Woodward-Brisbin High School (H-W-B) to form the present-day Moshannon Valley School District.
Bellwood-Antis won the first 18 games of the series and leads all-time 44-9, including the win last year. Moshannon Valley’s last win in the series was a 13-7 win at Bellwood in 2003.
Moshannon Valley has been led on offense this season by their tailback/quarterback duo of Brandon Murarik and Ryan Gmerek, who have combined their talents for just short of 2,000 yards of offense from the line of scrimmage. Murarik (Sr. 6-0, 185) has carried 153 times for 1,245 yards and 15 TDs and has caught four passes for another 29 yards. Gmerek (5-10, 168) has 401 yards and nine TDs on 63 carries, has completed 10 of 29 passes for another 98 yards with one TD and two interceptions and has returned two punts for scores as well.
Gmerek, a senior was a flanker last year, leading the Knights with 12 catches for 198 yards and two touchdowns, but asked coach Camberg to play quarterback this year. The Knights haven’t passed much because with the obvious firepower running the ball, they haven’t had to.
Senior fullback Nathan Pataky (5-11, 185) has rushed 36 times for 155 yards and one TD and sophomore Anthony Kruise (5-9, 160) has 121 yards on 17 carries. Junior tight end Chris Wulderk (6-3, 195) has four receptions for 39 yards and senior Alan Hudish has two catches for 30 yards.
The catch to the above information, is that Murarik was ejected from last week’s game for fighting. According to PIAA rules, he will not be able to play this week.
“Moshannon Valley runs a basic Power-I formation on offense keeping the formation very tight with two tight ends and at times a wing,” explained Bellwood-Antis coach John Hayes. “They have counted on their tailback to carry the load, although they have always been very good at running the quarterback keep. They run the tailback or fullback into the middle and have the quarterback keep the ball and take off. They do it unbelievably well. This year their quarterback is a pretty good runner with a lot of speed.
They haven’t done much passing, but the happenings last week (Murarik’s suspension) leaves them with an air of mystery for us. Regardless of who it is, we expect Mo Valley to go more with Gmerek to carry the load, one way or another. A team always will go with their better players, with a proven history of success.”
Mo Valley has a good-sized line going with either Justin Smith (Sr. 6-4, 240) or Kyle Smith (Jr. 6-0, 190) at left tackle, Shawn Sloppy (Sr. 5-8, 190) at left guard, Paul Holencik (Jr. 6-0, 250) at center, Ken Gates (Sr. 6-1, 240) at right guard and Andy Stine (Jr. 6-2, 300) at right tackle on offense. On defense Holencik and Justin Smith and Ken Gates at the two tackle spots, Stine is the nose guard and Ben Stodart (SR. 6-1, 185) and Allen Hudish (Sr. 6-0, 180) are the ends.
“On defense, Moshannon Valley will run a 5-2 alignment,” said Hayes. “They have been running that set as long as we have been playing them. Coach Camberg has his stamp on that defense and their offense. They have some very solid kids, who believe in it and play it extremely well. They have the advantage of good size up front and hit and flow to the ball rather than do a lot of stunting. Occasionally, they will send a linebacker, but not often. They have a four-deep secondary and do a couple of things with them, depending on who they are playing. They will rotate some and move up into a 50 with a monster at times.”
Bellwood-Antis has rushed for 1,580 yards and 23 TDs, an average of 225.7 yards per game. Passing has added 832 yards and eight TDs or 118.8 per game for an average of 344.5 yards of offense and 34.4 points per game.
Junior tailback Josh Kleinfelter with three 200-yard games has rushed 170 times for 1,182 yards and 14 TDs. Jon Davila has rushed for 152 yards, despite being injured for part or all of several games, and Devon Clapper has 120 yards on 18 carries. With a pair of 200 yards games last year, Kleinfelter stands at the top of the B-A record book with five 200 plus rushing games, replacing Chris McCartney, who had four.
Senior quarterback Kyle Drost has completed 39 of 679 pass attempts for 765 yards with seven TDs and five interceptions.
Wide out Dan Kovac has 16 catches for 382 yards and seven TDs. Only six Blue Devils -Jason Lamertina, 581 in 1988; Mike DelGrosso, 520 in 1987; Troy Beaver, 481 in 2001; Steve Miller, 454 in 1964; Dan Tubbs, 430 in 1997; and Jim Decker (425 in 1965; have ever recorded more receiving yardage in one season. With seven TD catches this year and two in 2004, Kovac becomes the top B-A receiver in career TD passes with nine. The old mark of eight was held by Steve Miller, who holds the season mark with eight in 1984, and Jim Decker (1964-65).
Devon Clapper has 10 catches for 131 yards and Troy Brunner has eight grabs for 97.
“We know they are not going to change too much on either offense or defense,” said Hayes. They will run the football off tackle and feature the quarterback keeper. They are far more comfortable running than passing, but because of the circumstances, we will probably see more passing than their other opponents. They are very dangerous of special teams. We are working extremely hard to make sure we are solid in that area. Scores from that count just as much and we found out for ourselves last week what special teams can do.”
