Bellwood-Antis ended an eight-year famine against backyard rival Tyrone on Sept. 6, 1974 in the season opener for both teams at Gray Field. The 20-0 win represented the first Blue Devil victory in the series since 1965 and was the highest point total for B-A in the series since a 36-7 win in 1954.
Senior signal caller Gary Hribik set the tone for the rest of the game when he returned the opening kickoff 63 yards and then fired a 14-yard TD pass to Pat McGinnis three plays later. Hribik would throw a pair of TD passes and score one himself on a one-yard fourth-quarter plunge.
Tyrone drove to the BA-18 late in the opening quarter, but their offense sputtered there and Bellwood-Antis took over on downs as the first quarter ended.
The Blue Devils had another chance to add to their lead in the second quarter, marching to the Tyrone-9, but lost a chance to score when Hribik was pulled down for a nine-yard loss on a fourth-down quarterback sack by the Eagles.
Tyrone committed four costly miscues, turning the ball over to the Blue Devils twice on fumbles and twice on pass interceptions to help grease the win.
In the third quarter, Rick Butterbaugh boomed a 53-yard punt to put the Golden Eagles in the hole and Miles Endress pounced on a Tyrone fumble at the T-7. Hribik, an ambidextrous quarterback, who could throw the football with either hand with nearly equal skill, missed two straight right-handed throws, then connected with Joe Orolin on a left-handed toss for the TD.
Tyrone threatened three times in the final quarter, but the Blue Devil defense with help from Tyrone errors was able to rise to the occasion. Joe DelGrosso recovered a fumble and Carl Crider and Orolin came up with interceptions to stop the other threats.
Jerry Taylor led the Blue Devils with 59 yards rushing on 15 carries for head coach Mike Hoffer, in the final season of a five-year tenure coaching at his alma mater, where he had been acknowledged First Team All-State in 1950. McGinnis added 42 yards on 14 carries.
Bellwood-Antis hammered Southern Huntingdon 34-7 on Sept. 6, 1986, at the losers’ home field.
Doing what John Hayes-coached teams do best, The Blue Devils lined them up and knocked them down in a perfect example of power football, combining a time-consuming, grind’em up ground game with just the right mixture of a big play offense.
The fans had barely settled back in their seats when Bob Noye rambled 54 yards on the fourth play of the game to set up the first of three scores by Donny “Booker” Moore. Then on the first call of the second quarter, Adam Claar scampered 59 yards for a quick TD strike. In the third stanza, Claar dashed 27 yards and then two plays later, fullback Scott Clapper bulled his way up the middle and rumbled 27 yards for another TD.
B-A quarterback Don Park didn’t have to pass often completing three of five passes, but kept several series alive with key completions, hitting two tosses to Claar for 35 yards and another to Bill Burch for 20 yards.
Moore scored on four, five and one-yard runs while adding 75 yards on 23 carries. Claar rushed for a game-high 101 yards on just four carries.
The B-A defense, led by Noye, Sean Riley, Jim Degennaro, Ken Young and others limited the Rockets to a late score after the Blue Devils had a 34-0 lead and just 27 yards net rushing and 146 yards total offense, while the B-A offense was putting up 34 points and 402 yards total offense.
Bellwood-Antis battled back from a 21-7 deficit on Sept. 6. 1991 to defeat Chestnut Ridge 27-21.
B-A sophomore tailback Comanche Garcia scored from nine yards out to climax a comeback surge that lifted the Blue Devils over the Lions at Fishertown.
Down 7-0 in the first quarter, the Blue Devil defense put a score on the board when defensive end Jeff Grassmyer deflected a pass into the hands of teammate Ricky Noonan, who raced 32 yards for the six-pointer. Dave Endress’ PAT boot knotted the score at 7-7.
Bellwood-Antis wasn’t able to manage another score until Chestnut Ridge was leading 21-7 in the third quarter.
In explaining the first half defense, B-A coach John Hayes explained, “we held them, we held them, we held them and then ‘boom!’ they would complete a pass for a first down and we had to start all over again.” Ridge quarterback Ryan Emerick completed 11 of 22 passes for 221 yards overall and pestered the B-A defense for 176 of those yards in the first half. After the half, B-A adjusted to allow just 45 yards passing over the final two quarters and limited Ridge to a -16 yards rushing.
Bellwood-Antis recovered a fumbled punt at the CR-17 in the third period. Four plays later, Frank Pulcinello bulled into the endzone for a TD and B-A was back in business.
Troy Lardieri got his third big punt return of the night to set up shop at the Lions-29 and after Pulcinello ripped off a 13-yard gain, Karl Montanaro carried three straight times, including the eight-yard TD.
Chestnut Ridge lost five yards on the first two calls on the following series and Grassmyer sacked Emerick for a loss of seven more on third down. The punter tried to run for a first down on fourth and long and Grassmyer played off a block and made the tackle for a three-yard loss to give B-A the ball at the CR-27.
Montanaro powered for 10 yards and a first down and Garcia completed the comeback from nine yards away to give B-A the victory.
