In a battle of unbeaten small school football powers Bellwood-Antis used a battering ram on offense and a run-stopping defense to earn a big 42-21 victory over Southern Huntingdon at Orbisonia on Friday night.
The battering ram was junior tailback Josh Kleinfelter, who rushed 35 times for 258 yards and five touchdowns. The Blue Devils rushed for a total of 326 yards and senior quarterback Kyle Drost, back after missing last week due to illness, completed all four of his passes for 90 yards.
“Josh got caught from behind too many times,” said a playful and obviously relieved B-A coach John Hayes when asked about Kleinfelter’s good, but long day. “He’s a work horse, probably we are going to have to do something to diversify a little, because he’s playing both ways. We’re going to do some things to try to give him a break once in awhile, but we want to get him the football.” Kleinfelter has now rushed 115 times this season for 866 yards and 14 rushing touchdowns in five games.
The run-stopping B-A defense limited Southern Huntingdon, who had been averaging 230 yards rushing per game, to 63 yards on the ground on 27 rushes. Johnny Neuder scored a pair of TDs for the Rockets, but was held to 65 yards on 17 carries after averaging eight yards per carry and 125 yards per game.
Bellwood-Antis (4-1) put the ball in the end zone the first four times they had the ball in the first half, and after losing the pigskin on a fumble, came back to score on their first two possessions in the second half.
Southern Huntingdon never gave up, but was never able to get close either.
“We didn’t have any gimmicks or anything, we just had a good feel for what they were doing on offense,” explained Bellwood-Antis coach John Hayes. “We lined up our defenses, expecting a couple things. A lot of the times we hit it right, a couple times we missed. The defense really played well and the offense for the most part, except for the turnovers, putting the ball on the ground worked hard and did a good job, as good as we’ve done all year.”
The Rockets (4-1, after winning their first four games for the first time since 1991) won the toss and took the opening kickoff. Southern moved the sticks for one first down, but was forced to punt when B-A linebacker Tony DelGrosso broke through on a third-and-one and threw the ball carrier for a one-yard loss.
Drost connected with Devon Clapper on the opening call of the next series for the Blue Devils for a gain of 20, then two plays later found Kleinfelter open behind the Rocket secondary for a 42-yard pickup to the SH-6. Two plays later Kleinfelter crashed two yards for the score. Evan Celmo’s PAT, his first of six gave Bellwood-Antis a 7-0 lead at the 4:25 mark of the opening quarter.
“We thought we could get Josh matched up with a linebacker on that pass play,” said Hayes. “That’s not a fair match and it worked for us.”
Two tackles by Tyler Narehood and one by Adam Martin and the Blue Devils had the ball again. Kleinfelter dashed 35 yards on the first play and then scored the 10-yard TD two plays later. Drost completed passes of 16 yards for a first down to senior tight end Troy Brunner and to Clapper for a dozen more.
On the final play of the first quarter, Neuder got loose on a draw play for a 27-yard pickup, and than capped a six-play series with a five-yard TD blast. Brazilian foreign exchange student Andre Batista booted the PAT to close the gap to 14-7 with 9:12 to play in the half.
Kleinfelter scored the next three touchdowns to crush the Rockets hope of a win over the Blue Devils, a feat the Rockets haven’t accomplished since 1979, a stretch of 15 straight B-A victories.
Starting from their own 38, B-A drove for a score to match Southern Huntingdon’s tally. Jon Davila started the march by blasting up the middle for seven yards. Then it was Kleinfelter with twin nine-yard gains back-to-back before Brandon Eger picked up a first down. Kleinfelter took it from there, scooting 20 yards and then a play later working inside for a 13-yard TD.
Bellwood-Antis scored once more in the half. Kleinfelter opened the short 55-yard, three-play drive by jaunting 16 yards, Davila ran for seven, and Kleinfelter finished it off with a 32-yard jaunt for the score and a 28-7 lead at the half.
Bellwood-Antis took the second half kick and promptly drove 57 yards for the only score of the third period. Kleinfelter started the series by picking up 12, Clapper added 18 and Kleinfelter made it five scores on the night for the B-A junior with a five-yard run for the TD.
Kleinfelter as he did all night, began the march with an 11 yard rush and Drost scored the eight-yard keeper to finish the 11-play drive on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Following the Drost score, Southern Huntingdon drove 76 yards for the final score of the ballgame. Neuder picked up 19 yards on the first two carries of the drive and Scott Everhart connected with Josh Crull for 34 yards to key the series. Neuder ran seven yards for the TD and Batista added the PAT.
Kleinfelter and Evan Hughes came up with pass interceptions for the Blue Devils, who again were their own worst enemy on offense, losing three fumbles.
“This was a big stepping stone for us,” said Hayes. “We have the toughest part of our schedule over the final five games and tonight was the first one.”
Bellwood-Antis 42 Southern Huntingdon 21
Bellwood-Antis 14 14 7 7 – 42
Southern Huntingdon 0 14 0 7 – 21
First Quarter
BA – Kleinfelter 2 run. (Celmo kick) 4:25.
BA – Kleinfelter 10 run. (Celmo kick) 1:22.
Second Quarter
SH – Neuder 5 run. (Batista kick) 9:12.
BA – Kleinfelter 13 run. (Celmo kick) 5:25.
BA – Kleinfelter 32 run. (Celmo kick) 2:58.
SH – Hoover 1 run. (Batista kick) 0:10.
Third Quarter
BA – Kleinfelter 5 run. (Celmo kick) 7:40
Fourth Quarter
BA – Drost 8 run. (Celmo) 11:53.
SH – Neuder 7 run. (Batista kick) 9:43.
Team
BA SH
First Downs 20 8
Yards Rushing 52-326 27-63
Pass Att.-Comp. 4-4 9-24
Pass Yards 90 179
Total Yards 416 137
Fumbles/Lost 3-3 0-0
Interceptions by 2 0
Penalties/Yards 3-35 2-20
Punts/Avg. 0-0 3-35.7
Rushing
Bellwood-Antis – Kleinfelter 35-258 (5 TD), Davila 6-30, Clapper 5-27, Eger 4-10 Drost 1-1 (1 TD).
S. Huntingdon – Neuder 17-65 (2 TD), Hoover 7-7 (1 TD), Everhart 3 (-1), Mansberger 1- (-8).
Passing
Bellwood-Antis – Drost 4-4, 90 yards, 0 Int., 0 TDs.
S. Huntingdon – Everhart 3-9, 55 yards, 1 Int., 0 TDs, Mansberger 6-14, 124 yards, 1 Int. 0 TDs, Neuder 0-1, 0 yards, 0 Int., 0 TDs.
Receiving
Bellwood-Antis – Clapper 2-32, Kleinfelter 1-42, Brunner 1-16.
S. Huntingdon -Crull 4-97, Yohn 2-61, Wertman 2-16, Hoover 1-7.
