Once beaten Bellwood-Antis travels up the pike to Houtzdale to battle undefeated Moshannon Valley on Friday night in a contest between two small-school powers. Bellwood-Antis goes into the battle hoping to knock the undefeated Black Knights down off the top of the mountain, while Mo Valley hopes to claim even higher over the Blue Devils.
Mo Valley is the fifth-ranked team in District V/VI with 1,050 points, Bellwood-Antis is sixth with 970 points. The winner will get a bundle of points and a better chance to be able to host at least one playoff game. Both should be able to hold onto a playoff spot regardless, but the Class A field is full of tough teams and by agreement at least two schools from District Five must make the eight-team playoffs.
Windber is ranked forth and is a lock, but the second team likely will by Northern Bedford, presently ranked eighth. If Northern drops any lower someone will get kicked out to be replaced by the Panthers.
Moshannon Valley, coached by Howie Camberg, opened the season by edging Southern Huntingdon 7-0, downed Glendale 26-0 and outscored Claysburg-Kimmel 41-32 before receiving a forfeit from Johnstown Votech in week four. The Knights then knocked off Williamsburg 24-12, before squeezing past West Branch 10-2 and knocking previously undefeated Northern Bedford form the ranks of the unbeaten 12-6. Last week, Moshannon Valley clinched the ICC Section III title with a 21-7 win over Juniata Valley.
B-A and Moshannon Valley began playing in 1938 when MV was called Bigler Township with the Blue Devils winning 11 straight games. IFrom 1949-1954, Bigler became Moshannon Joint High School with six more Bellwood-Antis victories in as many games. Finally in 1955, the school became Moshannon Valley High School. Overall, B-A holds a 39-9 series lead, with only Tyrone (66) appearing on the Blue Devils’ schedule more often the combined 48 times for Mo Valley and its predecessors.
In 2001, Bellwood-Antis built up a 34-0 lead before finally beating Moshannon Valley 34-14 to clinch the Blue Devils second straight undefeated regular season and their 25th win in a row overall in regular season play.
Camberg is in his 25th season as head coach of the Knights, who went 5-4 last year. The Knights return 17 lettermen from 2001. There are six starters returning on offense and nine on defense. Tyrone grad and former Golden Eagle running back Murray Fetzer is one of Camberg’s assistants.
“Moshannon Valley is primarily a running team,” explained b-A coach John Hayes. “They run out of multiple I formations-sometimes a Power-I, or Pro-I or an I with a Wing to one side. They are basically a power running team. They have shown a tendency to get into a spread formation and throw the football. They are more diversified between the run and pass than they have been in the past. They have been able to get some big plays. Their quarterback, Kephart played a good bit last year. He is a capable passer who can run the football too. They have some nice receivers, and a big tight end. Todd Passmore runs the reverse at times and is a big-play guy they like to go to.”
Senior Slade Glass (5-9,155) leads the Knights with 591 yards on 145 carries and a team best six touchdowns for 36 points. Moshannon Valley also has four other runners with more than 100 yards. Jack Kephart, a 5-11,200 pound senior quarterback has 188 yards on 49 carries, senior Brad Esposti (6-1,205) has 20 carries for an even 100 yards, senior Todd Passmore has the best average with eight carries for 147 yards, averaging over 18 yards a carry, and junior Larry Hayward has 118 yards on 28 carries.
Kephart has completed 37 of 77 passes for 649 yards, four TDs and just two interceptions. Passmore is the leading receiver with nine catches for 277 yards and three scores. Junior tight end Steve Holenchik has 12 receptions for 188 yards and one TD. Esposti has seven for 117 and Steve Deao has four catches for 27 yards.
Passmore is second in scoring with five TDs for 30 points and is dangerous from anywhere on the field. All of his TDs are from 40 yards away or more, including a 71-yard punt return, 81-yard pass reception and 96-yard run from scrimmage.
Moshannon Valley’s defense has been very stingy allowing just 7.4 points per game.
“The defense has been their strong suit,” admonsihed Hayes. “The run a base 52 defense with two very, very capable linebackers who flow to the ball. They have good size up front-their line will be bigger thanours and the defense is the key to their success.”
Brad Esposti keys the defense from his inside linebacker spot. Esposti calls the defensive signals and is a three-year starter who had already recorded 200 tackles coming into his senior year.
Bellwood-Antis has also been pretty good on defense. B-A got off to a slow start, giving up 36 points in the first two ballgames, edging Tyrone 17-15 and losing to Bishop Guilfoyle 21-0. Since then however in the Blue Devils five steraight wins on the field, they outscored the oppposition 212-35 before getting a forfeit win from Johnstown Votech last week.
Adam Plummer leads the Blue Devils in rushing with 739 yards on 95 carries, followed by Cory Daly with 472 yards on 55 carries and Derrick Miller with 155 yards on 28 carries. Jesse Graham has completed 46 of 92 passes for six TDs and has thrown eight interceptions. Receptions have been shared around with senior tight end Ryan McCartney leading with 11 catches for 167 yards, Daly has nine for 169 and two scores, Dan Houser eight recpetions for 80 yards and one TD, Plummer six grabs for 82 yards and a TD, Damion Miller with five catches for 79 yards and one TD and Ryan Myers has five for 64 with one TD.
“It is always nice to have a good record,” said Hayes, “but it can provide ammunition for the opponent. We kept it pretty low-key last week during the off week. We took it easy, took a couple days off and just worked on fundamentals for a couple days. It wsa nice to get back to where you can focus on individual work. This week, we went over what we hoped to do game-wise, working on better execution, timing, to get as good a recognition factor as we could. Moshannon Valley has a good sound program and a very competent team. We are excited and feel it is a great opportunity for us. This game will have the sound and feel of a playoff game a week early.”
Mark Rogers (broken leg) and John McFalls (shoulder) are the only Blue Devils who won’t be dressed for the game, everybody else used the week off to recover from bumps and bruises, as Hayes phrased it, “to get fresh legs and heal.”
