Blue Devils look to continue ICC dominance

B-A heads to West Branch in search of a win

Senior Jarrett Taneyhill is dominating ICC defenses this year.

Joe Padula, Staff Writer
October 7, 2016

The Bellwood-Antis Blue Devils haven’t lost in the Inter-County Conference all season (5-0) and are outscoring ICC foes 38-9 per game.

“I think a big part of our success is the history of our football team. Bellwood has been dominant in the ICC in the past so I think it is tough for our ICC opponents to have confidence,” said quarterback Jarret Taneyhill.

“We know none of our opponents are bad teams, so that forces us work harder to be at the top,” said senior lineman Matt Lardieri.

B-A will look to continue its tear against ICC opponents this week as they travel to Morrisdale to take on the Warriors of West Branch.

“

We all have playoffs in the back of our head, but you just have to focus on one game at a time so an upset doesn’t happen.

— Jarrett Taneyhill

West Branches’ senior Running Back Creighton Coble is who the team runs its offense through. Coble is leading the team in rushing with 547 yards on the ground and is also a capable pass catcher out of the backfield who has tallied seven catches for 77 yards so far this season. Cobles average of 16 touches per game leads the team.

B-A’s early season running woes seem to be but a distant memory because the Blue Devils have been effectively running the ball and then some lately. In their last two contests they are averaging 284.5 yards on the ground.

But the Devils still like to pass. Taneyhill has completed 58 percent of his passes for nearly 1,200 yards and thrown for more than 240 yards three times. Brendan Kowalski leads the team with 476 yards on 14 catches.

The Devils are currently third in the District 6-AA standings, and the players admit it’s time to start preparing for a playoff push.

“We all have playoffs in the back of our head, but you just have to focus on one game at a time so an upset doesn’t happen,” said Taneyhill.

“We still have four regular season games to worry about, so we just need to play hard the rest of the season,” said senior lineman Austin Desch. “Then we can start to worry about playoffs.”