With Bellwood-Antis switching from the Single-Wing offensive formation, to the Split-T favored by new Blue Devils head coach Andy Daskovich, B-A made one score stand up for a 7-0 triumph that evened the team’s record at 1-1 on Sept. 9, 1955.
The Blue Devils had just completed two perfect 10-0 seasons in 1953 and 1954 for coach Woody Pechtel, who had left to coach in the eastern part of PA.
In the second of four straight season opening games at home, Bellwood-Antis struggled against a stubborn and surprisingly strong Moshannon Valley High School. This was the first season for the Mo Valley jointure. The former Moshannon Joint High School had merged with the Houtzdale-Woodward-Brisbin High School (H-W-B) to form the Moshannon Valley district.
Moshannon Joint had lost 33-0 to the Blue Devils in 1954, but then had turned around and won their last eight games. Mo Valley had 12 returning lettermen from Moshannon Joint and six more from H-W-B, which never played Bellwood-Antis in football.
The charges of coach Daskovich struck early when B-A quarterback Barry Corey flipped a short pass to senior end Max Kneidinger, who completed a 45-yard pass play for the only TD of the contest. Lynn Gault ran for the extra point, and the Moshannon Valley offense spent the rest of the game attempting to catch up.
The Moshannon “Green Raiders”, as they were called in that first season, filled the air with footballs, throwing 21 passes before the game was over, but the B-A defense allowed them only four catches.
Moshannon marched the ball to the BA-9 in the second quarter, and kept the Blue Devils on their toes the rest of the game, but couldn’t get the ball into the B-A end zone.
On Sept. 9, 1977, Bellwood-Antis thwarted two big scoring drives with goal-line stands on the way to defeating Northern Cambria 14-8 for head coach Jim Gardner at Bellwood Memorial Stadium.
In their first series of the game, the Blue Devils marched 51 yards in 12 plays to get on the scoreboard. Jim Morder rolled right on a bootleg to scamper for the final 16 yards and the touchdown, although the Colts blocked Jim Burkey’s PAT attempt.
Northern Cambria, coached by former Tyrone head coach Steve Magulick, came right back with a 61-yard gallop for the tying score.
Early in the third quarter, Northern Cambria recovered a B-A fumble at the Blue Devils-36 and marched to the Bellwood-Antis-1. The B-A defense held there, taking the ball on downs at their own three-yard line.
The Blue Devils took the ball all the way for a score, Morder covering the final 87 yards for the TD and skirting right end for the two-point conversion that broke the Colts back.
Another B-A fumble, at the Blue Devils-32, gave Northern Cambria another shot with time running out in the fourth quarter. Once again the Blue Devil defense arose to the occasion, forcing a fumble at the BA-8 that was recovered by Burkey. Rather than take a chance that close to their own end zone, Bellwood-Antis took an intentional safety to add two points to the Colts total. Leading 14-8, B-A kicked out of trouble and the game ended 29 seconds later.
In a battle of opposites, Bellwood-Antis held on for a 29-20 victory against Bishop Guilfoyle on Sept. 16, 1983 for B-A coach John Hayes.
While Bellwood-Antis running backs, sparked by Bob Gill, with 137 yards on 24 carries, and Don Stiffler, with 117 yards on 16 carries, were blasting the Marauder defense on the ground, BG was putting on an air show and netting some impressive yardage of their own. Bishop Guilfoyle filled the air with 42 passes, completing 16, for 218 yards.
Stiffler gave the Blue Devils an early lead capping a 49-yard march by slamming in from two yards for the score, after a fumble recovery near midfield gave the opportunity. Key play was a 14-yard pass from quarterback Gill to Jamie Eisenhart, one of just two of seven the Blue Devils completed. Steve Miller booted the PAT.
Two plays later, BG fumbled again and Bellwood-Antis was back in business. On a third-and-five play, Gill rolled right, cut back over the middle and raced 23 yards for a TD.
BG scored to get on the board, but the Blue Devils came right back to maintain a two-TD margin. Stiffler raced 27 yards for the score and Miller booted his third extra point for a 21-7 halftime advantage.
The Marauders put a second TD on the board, and again Bellwood-Antis reciprocated. With Gill moving to tailback, because of an injury to Stiffler, B-A increased their lead to 29-14. The Blue Devils drove 60 yards with Gill picking up two first downs along the way and adding a one-yard TD. Gill’s replacement at quarterback, Paul Caracciolo, then passed to Mark Baney for the two-point conversion.
Bishop Guilfoyle passed their way down the field in an effort to get back into the game. A Marauder TD closed the score to 29-20, but the B-A defense made sure that was all BG would get, stopping the last threat with an interception with less than a minute to play.
Stiffler would gain 960 yards for B-A in 1983, despite playing only five full games and parts of two others, due to injuries that plagued Don throughout his B-A career.
This was the first game covered by Daily Herald Sports Editor Bob Miller, who was a stringer for the paper at the time.
