The scoreboard wasn’t working on Friday night at Bellwood Memorial Stadium during the Bellwood-Antis/Laurel Valley first round District VI-A playoff game. That however, was about the only thing that didn’t work for the Blue Devils, who demolished Laurel Valley 52-8 to earn a home game for next week’s semifinal round against the winner of the Juniata Valley/Moshannon Valley game that will be played tonight at 7 p.m. at Juniata Valley.
Before the game clock, which had to be kept on the field by the officials and relayed to the media and fans every several minutes, expired, the Blue Devils had rushed 58 times for 519 yards. Although seldom thought of as a passing team, Bellwood-Antis added 117 yards passing to total 635 yards in total offense.
The majority of the rushing acreage belonged to sophomore tailback Josh Kleinfelter, who set a school record with 307 yards on the ground, and senior fullback Travis Ehredt with 102 yards on 19 carries. Each scored twice to lead the attack. Jonathan Davila, Derrick Hoffer and Dan Campbell also scored for the Blue Devils, who improved their record to 9-1 with their ninth straight victory.
“Josh made the runs, he had the yardage” said Bellwood-Antis coach John Hayes. “But Travis Ehredt blocking and the whole line takes great pride in what he is accomplishing, they are accomplishing. It’s really unique to see those kids go out and play so hard and give such great efforts in that cause. I was really pretty pleased with our offense tonight. Hopefully we can get to where we can throw the ball better next week.”
Although the time wasn’t known for much of the time the Rams had the ball, it would be their seventh series of the game, late in the second quarter, before they recorded their initial first down.
On just their second play from scrimmage, junior quarterback Kyle Drost hit classmate Dan Kovac with a pass down the left side and Kovac raced 52 yards to the LV-16. Three plays later, Ehredt went through a hole on the left side blown by his teammates on the line and didn’t stop until he had scored an 11-yard touchdown. Evan Celmo booted the first of seven PATs.
The Bellwood-Antis defense, which has been the heart and soul of the Blue Devil season would limit the Rams to just 57 yards rushing and 76 passing.
When the B-A offense fumbled the ball away to Laurel Valley at the BA-16, the Bellwood-Antis “D” got the ball back at the 20 after Laurel Valley ended up with a minus four yards on four plays.
The Blue Devils took the ball and marched 80 yards the other way for a touchdown of their own. Ehredt rambled for 30 yards on the first play and Kleinfelter dashed 12 yards a play later and then finished the quick five-play drive, taking the ball on a draw play that worked all night, faking several would be tacklers out of several parts of their uniform and dashing 46 yards for the score. This run made Kleinfelter the first Blue Devil to rush for 1,000 yards in a season as a 10th grader.
After the teams exchanged several punts, the Blue Devils began near midfield on another march. Kleinfelter motored 29 yards on the second play of the series and scored the 17-yard TD two plays later.
Drost and Kovac combined again for a 38-yard pass play to get the ball to the LV-21 one series later. Kleinfelter added runs of 10 and 16 yards and Jonathan Davila banged in for the three-yard score. Celmo’s PAT kick gave the Blue Devils a 28-0 advantage.
Laurel Valley put together their one long drive following the fourth B-A score. Jon Saxton got loose and scooted 27 yards and senior quarterback Chris Smithley connected with Saxton for 15 yards and big wide receiver Justin Chop for 16 more for three first downs. The B-A defense stopped the drive a yard short of the Blue Devils’ goal line however.
Bellwood-Antis ran just one play however, when they fumbled and Laurel Valley was there at the BA-9 to take over. Bellwood held for two downs, but was flagged for a five-yard penalty and Smithley found Sexton all alone in the end zone for the TD. Smithley tossed as successful two-point conversion pass to Saxton to slice the B-A lead to 28-8. That was the Rams one visit to the end zone however. The score did manage to break a B-A streak of 12 straight quarters without a score by their opponents.
“Defense is what got us here,” said coach Hayes. “When you get to the playoffs, I don’t care what level it is, high school, college or pro, defense is what is going to take you to a championship. You have to keep to keep the other team from scoring. Tonight, fortunately the offense complimented us, gave us some breathing room.”
In the third quarter, Ehredt opened the second offensive series for Bellwood-Antis by slipping through the line and dashing 22 yards. Not to be outdone, Kleinfelter took the next toss 29 more. When the march stalled at the LV-10, Celmo booted a 27-yard field goal.
A series later, with the ball at the BA-20, after a Ram punt bounced into the end zone, Kleinfelter sprinted 75 yards to the Laurel Valley-5, where he ran out of steam. Ehredt bulled the final three yards for his second TD two plays later.
The Blue Devils added a pair of fourth-quarter scores to set the final score. First Derrick Hoffer ran a reverse 19 yards for a touchdown. Kleinfelter had his number called three times for 39 yards, including an 11-yard gain that put him past 300 yards. Then on the first play of the following B-A series, with the junior varsity in the game, sophomore Danny Campbell exploded around the left side for 68 yards and a touchdown on his first carry of the game.
DEVIL NOTES: Bellwood-Antis set a new team record for total offense with their 636 yards of total offense. The old mark had been 556 yards against Central in 1964…The old individual record was held by Chris McCartney, who rushed for 278 yards against Northern Bedford in 1989….Kleinfelter becomes the 14th Blue Devil to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. Five B-A runners have done it twice….Bellwood-Antis had 10 plays that covered 19 yards or more.
Bellwood-Antis 52 Laurel Valley 8
Laurel Valley 0 8 0 0 – 8
Bellwood-Antis 14 14 10 14 – 52
First Quarter
BA -Ehredt 10 run. (Celmo kick) 7:43.
BA – Kleinfelter 46 run. (Celmo kick) 2:35
Second Quarter
BA – Kleinfelter 17 run. (Celmo kick) 6:23.
BA – Davila 3 run. (Celmo kick)
LV – Saxon 4 run. (Saxon pass from Smithley)
Third Quarter
BA – Celmo 23 field goal. 4:03.
BA – Ehredt 3 run. (Celmo kick) 0:53.
Fourth Quarter
BA – Hoffer 19 run. (Celmo kick) 8:37.
BA – Campbell 68 run. (Celmo kick).
Team
BA LV
First Downs 25 6
Yards Rushing 58-519 24-57
Pass Att.-Comp. 4-9 7-25
Pass Yards 117 76
Total Yards 636 133
Fumbles/Lost 3-2 1-1
Interceptions by 1 1
Penalties/Yards 3-20 3-12
Punts/Avg. 1-31 8-34
Rushing
Laurel Valley – J. Sexton 12-34, Smithley 2-6, Dubics 4-4, Fiochetta 3-4, Shetler 1-4, S. Sexton 1-4, Hageder 1-1.
Bellwood-Antis – Kleinfelter 22-307 (2 TD) Ehredt 19-102 (2 TD), Hoffer 3-37 (1 TD), Campbell 2-63 (1 TD), Elvey 4-15, Davila 1-3Mountain 2-9, Crist 1-10, Hughes 2-6, Drost 4- (-28).
Passing
Laurel Valley – Smithley 7-25, 76 yards, 1 Int., 1 TDs.
Bellwood-Antis – Drost 3-8, 101 yards, 1 Int., 0 TDs, Hughes 1-1, 16 yards, 0 Int., 0 TDs.
Receiving
Laurel Valley – J. Sexton 5-38 (1 TD), Chop 1-16, Dickert 1-22.
Bellwood-Antis – Ehredt 2-27, Kovac 2-90.
