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With Bellwood-Antis moving to the Laurel Highlands Conference at the beginning of next year, the Backyard Brawl game against Tyrone will be moved to Week 5.

Aside from 2020’s COVID season when the Backyard Brawl was played at the end of the year after both teams were eliminated from playoffs, the Backyard Brawl has been played week 1 over 70 times.

The fans in both the Tyrone and Bellwood-Antis communities are not too ecstatic about this change, because they feel as if it ruins the strong Week 1 rivalry tradition between the two schools. 

When asked how he feels about the change, Bellwood-Antis head Coach Nick Lovrich explained that he is “obviously not too thrilled.” He then went on to talk about the rich history and the great build up of the Week 1 game. 

Coach Lovrich stated that even though it’s a shame the game moved back 4 weeks, it “could end up being a better situation” for the coaches and players. This will now give the team 4 weeks of film, instead of only being able to watch scrimmage film.

Sophomore Cayden Pellegrine said that it’s “definitely a change,” but he personally doesn’t think it will affect the excitement surrounding the game. He also explained that it will give the players more knowledge on Tyrone, making it easier for them to know all of their plays.

Tyrone head coach John Franco and B-A officials have said that they will look into trying to get the game moved back to Week 1, to continue the  history of the first Friday night lights of the season. 

B-A Athletic Director Charlie Burch stated, “We will be looking in the future to bring the game back to week 1, but that is no guarantee when you join a new league.