Blue Devils overcome first-quarter scare
B-A goes to 7-0 with win over Warriors
Wertman pumped up.(Ali Wagner)
October 10, 2017
The Bellwood-Antis Blue Devils handed another loss to the West Branch Warriors in Friday’s matchup at Memorial Field, winning 48-14.
This win advances the Blue Devil winning streak to 7 in a row.
However the score doesn’t really show the whole story. Both of the Warriors’ touchdowns came in the first quarter, which put them in the lead 14-7.
The Warrios scored first on a run by quarterback Kyle Myers and ended the period with a short touchdown run from Derek Yingling with one minute to play.
The Blue Devils were put in a new spot, trailing for the first time this season in regulation, but from there it was all B-A. In the second quarter senior running back Eric Morder was the man with the hot hand, scoring two touchdown runs from 11 and 2 yards out.
Senior lineman Chris Wertman was busy battling in the trenches while Morder was picking up yards, and he said there are different blocking strategies for all of the different running backs the Devils employ.
“I feel like when I’m blocking for Eric I have to take my guy down the field a little farther because Eric sometimes takes a little more time to get to the hole compared to speed backs Thor (Schmittle) and Nick (Watters).”
Watters had two touchdown runs in the third quarter on 17 and a 3-yard blasts.
Shmittle had 10 carries for 88-yards.
Junior Shawn Wolfe tacked on two more scores, one being a 18-yard touchdown pass to Alex Frederick in the third and an 11-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
Ian McFarland led the team in receiving yards on 3 catches for 81-yards.
The Blue Devils had nearly four times as many first downs than the Warriors 23-6 respectively. The Blue Devil’s defense was led by Senior Noak Aiken and Junior Derrick Noonan. Aiken had 3 total tackles with 1 going for a loss, while Noonan had a team high 7 solo tackles.
Aiken explained the keys to getting penetration into the backfield.
“The key is preventing the offensive lineman from getting inside of you and beating them off of the ball. Another major key is to take the right angle, wrap-up, and drive your feet,” Aiken said.
The Devils are now 6-0 in the ICC and in position for another league crown. However, they’ve got a major test coming.
B-A’s next game comes this Friday night against a good Mount Union squad in Mount Union. The Trojan’s are 6-1 overall and 6-0 in the ICC. Their only loss of the season came in Week 1 against unbeaten 3A power Huntingdon.
