Devils look for nine in a row

Win on Senior Night over NBC would send B-A into the playoffs on the right foot

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Ali Wagner

Ethan McGee is among a handful of B-A seniors having big seasons.

Joe Padula, Staff Writer

With the ICC North already clinched, B-A will still need a big Senior Night victory Friday night to clinch the second seed in the District 6-AA playoffs and home field advantage up to the district championship game.

The 6-3 Northern Bedford Panthers will look to spoil things for B-A.

This may be the biggest game of the year thus far.

— Jarrett Taneyhill

Senior quarterback Jarrett Taneyhill understands the importance of this game, and he said the team has some revenge in mind after losing to the Panthers last season 41-20.

“Northern Bedford came here last year and beat us. Because of that we’ve been very motivated this week,” Taneyhill said. “On top of that it is Senior Night and the last game before playoffs. A win this week is important to keep the two-seed in the playoffs. With all of that being said, this may be the biggest game of the year thus far.”

Besides its Week 1 loss to Tyrone, B-A has been great throughout the regular season and has won eight games in a row, outscoring opponents 302-69 during their streak.

Taneyhill is a huge reason to why the team is averaging nearly 40 points a game over those 8 weeks.

He has broken almost every school passing record there is to break at B-A, including passing yards in a season, which he eclipsed last week,  and in a career. He now has 1,642 passing yards in 2016 with 21 touchdowns.

Taneyhill also holds the record for passing touchdowns in a season and career.

However, Taneyhill needs just 10 more completions to break the record for completions in a season as he currently sits at 92 on the season.

Senior tailback Duke Brunner is also doing his part in helping the offense prosper, balancing the passing attack and then some. Brunner has gone over 100 rushing yards in 4 out of the past 5 games and has scored 10 touchdowns in that span, including last week’s 123 yards and four touchdowns in  win over Southern Huntingdon.

Although breaking school records may be the most impressive part of the streak, the 8.6 points per game the defense is allowing should not be overlooked.

In their past five games the Devils’ defense has given up just 41 points and hasn’t allowed an opposing team to score more than eight points, with the exception of Mo valley, which scored 13 points.

If the defense can continue to hold teams below double figures, B-A and its high flying offense should have no problem extending this streak beyond Friday and well into the playoffs.