Bellwood-Antis and Bishop Carroll have been there before. Bellwood-Antis (10-1), the number two seed and Bishop Carroll (9-2) will meet Saturday night at Mansion Park for the District VI-A championship.
For Bishop Carroll, this will be the seventh straight district game. With five wins in their previous six games, the three-time defending champion Huskies are very familiar with the pressure and the prestige. On their way to the final, Carroll opened the season with a 27-0 loss to Forest Hills, then put together a four game win-streak, beating Cambria Heights 46-6, Richland 40-14, Class-AA championship finalist Bishop McCort on a field goal in the final second 17-14 and Westmont-Hilltop 21-7.
Johnstown stopped the win streak with a 35-0 decision, but Bishop Carroll regrouped to win the past five in a row. Wins have come over high-scoring Somerset 49-43 in overtime, Central 49-22, and Penn Cambria 28-13, to close out the regular season, then United 21-6, and top seed Blairsville for the second time in the semifinals in three years, 35-28, in overtime.
The two schools have met before just once, in the district finals in 1999. The Huskies, under then first-year coach Craig Sponsky swept through 11 games to get to the 1999 finals undefeated and jumped out to a 16-0 lead after the first quarter of the championship tilt, on the way to a 30-20 decision. Bellwood-Antis closed the margin to 23-20 with Travis Martin completing six of 14 passes for 184 yards. The B-A duo of Matt Garner and Dave Miller, who both rushed for over 1,170 yards in their junior seasons, were held to just 105 yards between them however, as B-A finished 11-1.
The Blue Devils have appeared in five of the last eight district championship games and in nine title games overall since the inception of district playoffs in 1985
In 2004, Bishop Carroll, still led by Sponsky, is his sixth year at the helm of the Huskies, emphasize running, averaging 293 yards per game on the ground and another 43.6 yards passing.
“Bishop Carroll is an option football team,” said Bellwood-Antis coach John Hayes, who at 196-70-2 needs four more wins to reach the coveted 200-win mark. “They do it out of a lot of formations. Their running back, quarterback tandem are their major offensive threats. The will line up in a Pro-I look, their basic formation is somewhat of a broken Wishbone. They will scatter it around to look like a lot of other things. This will be a real challenge for us to get ready for. They will run plays that start out looking like a pass play, then the quarterback, who is an excellent scrambler will turn it into a run. They try to create lanes and take advantage of their best skills. When they pass, it is off play action much like we do.”
Bishop Carroll has rushed for 3,222 yards and passed for 480.
Junior Paul Forcellini (5-10, 184) has rushed 185 times for 1,608 yards and has scored 19 rushing touchdowns and 22 overall for 134 points. Senior quarterback Joel Takacs (6-0, 168) has also accounted for over 1,000 total yards, rushing for 680 yards and six scores on 117 carries and completing 27 of 80 passes for 433 yards. Takacs has thrown four TD passes and been intercepted seven times. Junior running back Luke Jensen (5-9, 160) has rushed 95 times for 561 yards and six TDs.
Forcellini leads the Huskies receiving corps with 11 catches for 253 yards and two TDs. Tight end Jeff Minnemyer (6-7, 234) has seven catches for 93 yards an d one TD. Takacs has thrown for more then 54 yards in a game only twice with a game, with a season best of 76 yards against Richland.
Senior place-kicker Gary Sanderson (5-8, 143) has booted 29 of 33 PATs and a 26-yard field goal for 32 points.
While the Bishop Carroll offense has put up 27.8 points per game, the Huskies defense has given up an average of 19.2 points. BC has yielded an average of 162.5 yards rushing per game and 91 yards a game through the air.
“Bishop Carroll pretty much uses a basic 5-2 on defense,” reports Hayes. “They have good size and strength up front and run a Cover-2 in the secondary with two deep safeties. They are more of a hit-and-react team. They will blitz some, but not like Laurel Valley and Juniata Valley the faced the last two weeks, who stunt hard on every play.”
Bellwood-Antis has won 10 straight games after dropping the season opener to Tyrone, the 12th time the Blue Devils have won 10 straight in a season. B-A averages 210 yards rushing and 68 passing per game, while the Blue Devil defense gives up 126.5 yards on the ground and another 78 through the air. The Blue Devils average 25.7 points per game, while giving up 9.8 per contest. In their 10-game win streak, B-A has outscored the opposition 260-68.
Josh Kleinfelter continued his super sophomore season with 155 yards and one score against Juniata Valley and now totals 1,418 yards rushing on 195 carries. Travis Ehredt has rushed for 647 yards on 130 carries, and has rushed for more than 100 yards in both of the Blue Devils playoff games. The duo leads the team in scoring with Kleinfelter scoring 12 TDs, 11 rushing and one two-point conversion for 74 points and Ehredt has 12 TDs for 72 points. Evan Celmo has booted 31 PATs and two filed goals (32 yards, 23 yards) for a total of 37 points.
Derrick Hoffer has 17 catches for 221 yards and now needs 36 yards to pass Troy Beaver (2000-01) for fifth on the all-time B-A receiving yardage chart. Ehredt has 10 catches for 69 yards, Kleinfelter seven for 91 and one TD, Dan Kovac has grabbed five for 175 yards and one score and Troy Brunner has caught four for 55 yards.
Defense has been the key for Bellwood-Antis in 2004. The Blue Devils haven’t allowed a second half score in their last seven games and have given up just 68 points in their 10-game win streak. In their two playoff wins, the Blue Devils have allowed only a total of 91 net yards rushing.
When B-A has the ball, junior Kyle Drost or sophomore Evan Hughes will be the quarterback, senior Travis Ehredt will be at fullback, Senior Derrick Hoffer will be the slotback, sophomore Josh Kleinfelter will be at tailback, junior Troy Brunner will be at tight end, senior Chris Edmiston or junior Dan Kovac at wide out, the tackles will be junior Adam Martin and senior Dustin Hoffer, guards will be senior Dwayne Cherry and senior Brandon Cherry and the center will be junior Tony DelGrosso.
On defense, Brunner and sophomore Jonathan Davila will be the ends, sophomore Tyler Narehood will be the noseguard and Martin and Brandon Cherry will be the tackles, Kovac, DelGrosso and Dwayne Cherry will be the linebackers, Kleinfelter and Derrick Hoffer will be at cornerback and Edmiston is the safety.
“We are trying to focus on what we think will work, get familiar with what they do on offense and defense,” said coach Hayes. “One nice thing about making the playoffs, other than the obvious reward, is that we get to practice and execution. That should be getting better. We don’t change a lot from one week to the next, we have a system and we work within it.”
