Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

Bellwood-Antis traveled to Fishertown for a contest on the gridiron against Chestnut Ridge on Friday night. B-A got off to a slow start before getting it together in the second half for a 28-7 victory that improved the Blue Devils record to 6-1.
Between the rain, which cut down the Blue Devils quickness and the Chestnut Ridge offense, which amounted to be their best defense, the Lions held Bellwood-Antis to a single score and a 7-0 lead at halftime.
Bellwood-Antis drew first blood on a Cory Daly 30-yard run with just over a minute to play in the opening quarter.
Chestnut Ridge used a lot of clock on their first offensive series of the game, going from their own 24 to the BA-26 in 15 plays. Runs of eight, six and one yards by sophomore quarterback Brian Barefoot and five Barefoot pass completions for 36 yards kept the Lions moving down the field and kept the ball away from Bellwood-Antis.
The Blue Devil defense stopped Ridge at the BA-26 however and took over on downs. Cory Daly picked up eight yards over the left side and Adam Plummer scooted for 10. A play later Daly added 15 more for a first down, then nearly 10 more to come up just short of a first down. From there, Daly got to the outside and rambled for the 30-yard TD. Dan Graham’s PAT boot gave the Blue Devils a 7-0 lead.
That was to be the only score of the entire first half. Although the B-A defense held the Lions out of the endzone, the Chestnut Ridge offense behind Barefoot’s leadership ran off a total of 14 runs and six passes in the second quarter, while limiting Bellwood-Antis to five runs and one pass, a total of six plays on offense for the Blue Devils in the quarter. Bellwood-Antis was able to move the ball when they got it, but Chestnut Ridge played keep-away and the weather left the field, particularly in the middle, a quagmire.
“Coming out of the blocks, they did some things, I’m sure they worked on all week,” explained B-A coach John Hayes. “They kind of overloaded on us and caught us a little bit early. They are a real athletic and talented team. They presented some problems, but our defense hung in there and in the second half they really started taking control and we got some good field position. The offense kicked into gear and did what we had hoped to do. But we just played too much defense in the first half.”
The offense was definitely there for Bellwood-Antis in the third quarter.
After holding Chestnut Ridge to a minus eight yards on the Lions first offensive series of the second half, including a quarterback sack by junior linebacker Matt Plummer, the Blue Devils poured over three scores to take a 28-0 lead into the final quarter. Plummer, Ryan McCartney and Eric Brubaker led the Blue Devil defense with constant pressure, particularly in the final two quarters.
B-A moved 63 yards for the first score of the third quarter, actually 73 counting a 10-yard offensive holding penalty. Cory Daly had runs of 10 and 12 and Adam Plummer added jaunts of 21 and 10, before Daly rammed the ball in for the TD on two straight one-yard blasts, the second for the six pointer. Dan Graham’s extra point kick upped the B-A margin to 14-0.
The B-A defense stopped Ridge on a fourth and one for a five-yard loss when Ryan Myers tackled Brian Barefoot before he had a chance to get going.
With the ball at the Lions-39, it took just one call to reach the endzone. Adam Plummer, who rushed 15 times for 115 yards, went around left end for 39 yards and the TD and Graham added the PAT.
Again Bellwood-Antis held Chestnut Ridge on fourth down to get the ball at the Ridge-45. Daly, who led all runners with 133 yards on 15 carries, scooted for a dozen yards and Dan Houser got 13 on his only carry of the night to et up Daly’s third score of the game, a 21-yard run. Dan Graham’s fourth PAT kick of the game and 26th of the season capped the scoring for B-A.
Chestnut Ridge scored their lone touchdown against the B-A junior varsity with a minute and a half left to play in the game.
Barefoot was five of his first six in passing, but then with a wet ball, muddy field and pressure from the B-A defense was only three for his next 12 passes for 11 yards. The talented sophomore added 35 yards rushing on 14 carries. Senior fullback Sam Stufft was the Lions’ leading ballcarrier with 64 yards on 14 carries,
“Give Chestnut Ridge some credit,” said Hayes. “ They have some good athletes and with their talented young kids are only going to get better. They stretched us in the first half, that’s a compliment to them. The weather took away some of our offense and played into their hands in keeping us from scoring more.”
Bellwood-Antis is off next week, receiving a forfeit from Johnstown Votech, then travels to Houtzdale October 25 for a game with undefeated Moshannon Valley. Mo Valley (7-0) knocked Northern Bedford from the ranks of the undefeated on Friday.
Bellwood-Antis 28 Chestnut Ridge 7
Score by quarter
Bellwood-Antis – 7 0 21 0 -28
Chestnut Ridge -0 0 0 7 -7
Scoring summary
first quarter
BA- Daly 30 run (D. Graham kick) 1:02
third quarter
BA- Daly 1 run (D. Graham kick) 6:54
BA- A. Plummer 39 run (D. Graham) 5:04
BA- Daly 21 run (D. Graham kick) 0:11
fourth quarter
CR- Ickes 20 run (Stultz kick) 1:03
Team Statistics
BA CR
First Downs 16 11
Rushes 41 41
Rush yards 293 154
Pass Att. 6 19
Pass Comp. 3 8
Pass Yards 33 47
Interceptions 0 1
Fumbles lost 0 0
Penalty yards 4-45 5-42
Punts/Avg. 3-35.7 6-29
Total Offense 326 201
Individual Statistics
Rushing
Bellwood-Antis: A. Plummer 15-115 (1TD) Daly 15-133 (3 TD), Mar. Rogers 1-2, Der. Miller 4-10, Sneath 1-7, Houser 1-13, Tomchick 3-9.
Chestnut Ridge: Stufft 14-64, B. Barefoot 14-35, Ickes 7-35, Novak 4-11, Halbig 2-9.
Passing
Bellwood-Antis: J. Graham 3-6-0-0-33.
Chestnut Ridge: B. Barefoot 8-18-1-0-47, Ickes 0-1-0-0-0.
Receiving
Bellwood-Antis: R. McCartney 2-25, Der. Miller 1-8
Chestnut Ridge: Ickes 4-30, Novak 2-10, Mock 1-6.

By Rick