The Bellwood-Antis junior high football team continued to roll at Bellwood Memorial Stadium on Thursday evening.
The Little Blue Devils made Penns Valley their second shutout victim in a row with a strong aggressive defense, while the offense poured in 40-plus points for the second straight week in carving out a 44-0 victory.
“We scored quickly on our first drive, but then ran into some adversity when we lost a fumble,” said Bellwood-Antis coach Charlie Burch.
Taking the opening kickoff, Bellwood-Antis moved right down the field for a quick score. Tim Collier got the TD with a 17-yard run.
The defense turned the fumble into a score however, when with his teammates pressuring the Rams quarterback into a hurried throw, Nate Gray stepped in front of an attempted screen pass and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown. Gray then tossed a two-point conversion pass to Tyler Geis and a 14-0 lead.
The Blue Devils scored three more times in the second quarter to put the game away by the half. Randy Pfahler went 27 yards for a TD and Levi Hollen scored on runs of two and 25 yards. Hollen and Gray added two-point PAT runs after the first and third score to set the Mercy-rule clock in motion for all of the second half, with a 36-0 advantage at the intermission.
Collier added the only score of the second half near the end of the third quarter outreaching a Penns Valley defense in the end zone for a 21-yard TD pass from Gray.
“Our mission was to get the offense clicking,” explained Burch. “Even though we scored big against Tyrone in our opener, a lot of that was from special teams. We got the offense straightened out tonight and even scored on a pass for the second straight week. You have to go way back in the record books to see the last time our junior high did that two games in a row.
“Our defense played aggressively-they love to play defense. We have to remind them that they need to play offense too. We will try to keep everybody’s head on straight and take it one game at a time for the rest of the season.”
The Bellwood-Antis eighth grade also won their second straight game, overcoming a Ram TD on the opening kickoff to come back for a 20-6 win.
Bellwood-Antis (2-0) will host Bald Eagle Area on Thursday, Sept. 22 with the first whistle set for 6 p.m.
