The once beaten Bellwood-Antis junior varsity football team traveled to Altoona to continue the always interesting rivalry against the Bishop Guilfoyle Marauder jayvees.
On Monday on the gridiron behind Bishop Guilfoyle High School on Pleasant Valley Boulevard, Bellwood-Antis was able to score just a single touchdown for the second straight week. B-A managed no first downs rushing until the game had less than three minutes to go, had two first downs passing and one more as a result of a Marauder penalty.
However, the Blue Devils came back home with a 7-0 victory as a result of an even more stiffling defense and one spot of sunlight-a 76-yard punt return for a touchdown by B-A speedster Aaron Geis near the end of the first quarter.
In a game in which defenses dominated, there were as many series in which the offense moved further backward than forward.
The Blue Devil offense was unable to put together many consistent calls on offense, but was super on the other side of the ball, never letting Bishop Guilfoyle get going. The B-A defense held BG to one pass completion out of seven attempts for just 10 yards. The Marauder quarterback was seeing Blue and Gold in his own backfield every time he got the football. Chris McDaniel, Greg Bartley, Blake Hill and Troy Brunner recorded quarterback sacks and Brunner was credited with a pass knockdown, and Dwayne Cherry had his number called on just about every other tackle as the Bellwood-Antis Jayvees continually harrassed Bshop Guilfoyle. BG ran 38 plays and had a net six yards total offense. That included a minus four yards rushing on 31 carries.
Bishop Guilfoyle got one first down in the first half when quarterback Tom Seasoltz connected on his only completion of the ballgame to Ryan Craig for a 10-yard gain. The Marauders added their second and final first down of the afternoon, when Seasoltz took a quarterback keeper two yards for a first down to the BA-18.
Bishop Guilfoyle benefitted from a muffed punt late in the third quarter to get the ball in B-A territory at the Blue Devil 29.
Following the first down by Seasoltz however, the Blue Devil defense fell on BG hard. First L. J. Seidel grounded running back Ross Gioiosa for a two-yard loss. Then first Bartley sacked Seasoltz for a loss of seven yards, then Hill sacked the BG quarterback for a loss of eight more. Faced with a fourth down and 27, all BG could do was throw an incomplete pass that bounced short and give the ball to Bellwood-Antis. End of threat.
The only score of the game came after the two teams exchanged punts for much of the opening quarter, with neither school able to get much going. Geis fielded the punt near the middle of the field at his own 24, cut to his left, found a gap and outraced everybody down the sideline for a quick score. Troy Brunner booted the extra point for a 7-0 lead with 3:26 left in thye first period.
“Defensively we shut them down,” said Bellwood-Antis coach Randy Miller, “did what we wanted. Of course, their defense pretty much shut us down. We had a few runs and that’s all. The punt return was big. It was the game when you come down to it. Our kids are in good shape, we condition them hard with the varsity. We plan on being there in the fourth quarter.”
Blake Hill led all runners with 55 yards on five carries, most of it on a 38 yard scamper late in the game, when the Blue Devils finally did add two first downs rushing. Mark Rogers added 22 yards on 13 carries on a slippery track. Zach Tomchick completed three of six passes for 40 yards.
BG was led by Aaron Schmitt with 11 yards on seven carries and Gioiosa with six yards on 14 carries.
The Bellwood-Antis junior varsity (3-1, with only one TD scored against the B-A defense) is now at home for the final three games of the season, beginning with a contest against Penns Valley Monday, Oct. 6, at 6 p.m.
