Bellwood-Antis must navigate strange waters this weekend. The District VI-A champion Blue Devils (11-1) play District III-A titleist Camp Hill (11-1) at Mansion Park on Friday night.
Bellwood-Antis has played in nine district championship games since the inception of the playoffs in 1985, but advance to the PIAA round for just the third time.
In 1988, B-A won their first 13 games, including a 13-12 triumph over United in the District VI-AA championship to earn a spot against Wilmington in the PIAA first round. Wilmington shut out the Blue Devils 21-0 to stop the best win mark in the history of the B-A program. At that time, it was the Western semifinal in the first season to include state playoffs.
Then in 1997, Bellwood-Antis lost three games, all in the final minute of play. Losses to Tyrone (27-20) and Penns Valley (29-28) came in the regular season. After hammering West Branch 35-6 in the district final, Bellwood-Antis was edged by eventual state champ Sharpsville in a battle in which both teams had Blue Devils as mascots. Sharpsville booted a field goal in the final 30 seconds to take a 17-15 win.
Camp Hill coach Frank Kirdler (10 years 73-31-0 overall) and his assistants have a roster of 31 which includes nine seniors, 14 juniors and eight sophomores. There are ten 200-pounders on the team topped by off/def lineman Jim Fickes (6-1, 260), Chris Gale (6-3, 235) and a pair of 225-pounders, Jordan Geisler (5-9, 225) and Jake Fackler (6-1, 225).
The Lions, whose school colors are navy blue and white, are members of the Mid-Penn League in the Capital Division.
Camp Hill opened the season by blasting Waynesboro 45-6, Eastern York 43-15, Biglerville 49-14 and Boiling Spring 48-0, to fly by the first four opponents. Milton Hershey was edged 21-19 before Camp Hill went on another binge again against Scotland 42-6, James Buchanan 45-17 and Steelton-Highspire 42-6, before running into their one speed bump of the year thus far, a 10-0 loss to Trinity in the final game of the regular season.
In the District III-A playoffs, Camp Hill outscored Susquenita 49-22, doubled up Halifax 26-13 and shut out Reading Holy Name 21-0 in the district final.
“Camp Hill runs a very wide-open offense,” explained Bellwood-Antis coach John Hayes. “They are the furthermost from anything we have seen in a long time. They are very well-balanced passing and running. It has been a struggle this week, just getting our kids to try to emulate what they do, so we can practice for them. Basically they line up in a Double-Double-with two wide outs to each side and a single back in the backfield. About 90 percent of the time, the quarterback is back in the shotgun. It looks like a pass-pass-pass set, but they have a very efficient running game off of it. It reminds you a bit of a West coast offense, but it’s not.”
Alex Csevala (5-11, 190) a senior running back, is the lions leading scorer with 19 touchdowns for 114 points. Csevala has rushed 171 times for 1,459 yards and 15 TDs. Senior quarterback Andrew Withington (6-2, 195) has rushed for 392 yards and seven TDs on 63 carries, in addition to completing 122 of 238 passes for 2,104 yards. Withington has thrown 25 TD passes and been intercepted 15 times. Junior running back Michael Davis (5-10, 180) is averaging 12.1 yards per carry on 20 carries for 241 yards and five TDs.
Senior wide receiver Nick Powden (5-10, 165) leads a talented receiving corps for Camp Hill with 50 catches for 959 yards and nine TDs. In just the last four games, Withington’s junior brother Michael Withington (6-0, 165) has caught 19 passes for 233 yards and four TDs. Senior Nick Pearson (6-2, 195) has 18 grabs for 252 yards and six scores, Oscevala has 13 for 296 and four TDs and Davis has 12 catches for 172 yards and two TDs.
The Lions have a turnover ratio of plus six. Camp Hill has been penalized 57 times for 407 yards. They have punted 25 times for an average of 37.8 yards per kick.
Camp Hill has rushed for 2,462 yards, an average of just over 205 yards per contest and passed 254 times for 2,348 yards, an average of 195.7 yards per game.
Opponents have rushed 350 times for 1,530 yards, averaging 127.5 per game and completed 102 of 249 pass attempts for 1,285 yards, an average of 107 yards per contest. Camp Hill has allowed just 20 points in the first and third quarters all year and only 17 in the second quarters. Sixty-three points have come in the fourth quarter, when reserves are playing most of the time.
“Camp Hill runs a very basic 5-2 on defense, with a cover two in the secondary,” said Hayes. “They stunt only infrequently. They use a hit and flow to the ball style of defense that is similar to what Bishop Carroll did last week. We came out of the district final game with nothing more than bumps and bruises and will go pretty much with the same starting lineup as we have used the last part of the season.”
Camp Hill is ranked number five among state Class-A schools by the latest Patriot-news poll and number seven in the PA Football News poll.
Bellwood-Antis is ranked number six in the Patriot-news poll and No. eight by the PA Football News.
Bellwood-Antis proved they are a complete football team to win their third district title against Bishop Carroll. The Huskies bottled up the Blue Devil running attack, except for one 93-yard drive that culminated in Evan Celmo’s 25-yard field goal to ice the victory with two and a half minutes to play. Bishop Carroll ran at will outside against a B-A defense that hadn’t allowed that to happen since the season opener.
The B-A offense did what they had to, with help from junior quarterback Kyle Drost, who passed for 117 yards and two scores and a defense that stretched but never really broke. Perhaps the most important ingredient of all, was the Blue Devils special teams. In addition to Celmo’s field goal, special teams set up a pair of touchdowns. First, sophomore Devon Clapper returned a punt 60 yards to the Bishop Carroll-five. Then classmate Josh Kleinfelter, who has contributed all year with his running from scrimmage ran a kickoff back 38 yards and then alertly fell on the football in the end zone for a score after it was fumbled at the Carroll-3.
Kleinfelter continued his fine sophomore season with 1,495 yards on 214 carries. Senior fullback Travis Ehredt has rushed for 676 yards on 140 carries.
Drost has completed 19 of 47 passes in his five starts, for 315 yards. Drost has been intercepted four times and thrown two TD passes.
Derrick Hoffer has 17 catches for 231 yards. Dan Kovac leads the team in receiving yardage with 241 yards on just seven catches. Ehredt has 11 grabs for 86 yards and Kleinfelter has eight catches for 125 yards.
The Bellwood-Antis offense has rushed for 2,418 yards, an average of 235 yards per game and passed for 865 yards, averaging 72 yards per contest.
On defense, B-A has allowed 1,619 yards rushing (135 yards/game) and 874 yards passing (72.8/game).
