Friday night the Blue Devils hosted the Central Dragons in a big game that was streamed on WJAC. Central came out on top by a score of 41-20. The Blue Devils now fall to a record of 0-4 and travel to Tyrone next week for the Backyard Brawl.
Although nobody wants to lose at a football game, however, Bellwood is the first team to score above 7 points on Central and not get mercy ruled.
“We felt pretty good about it. You always want to win, but we’re looking at our development. One of the things we talked about last week was we wanted to get better one play at a time. You can’t focus on the overall picture,” said Coach Lovrich.
Central came out the gate hot, driving down the field and scoring within the first four minutes. The Dragons got the ball back and scored on a 75-yard touchdown pass to Central’s Jack Dunn.
Central’s QB-WR duo Eli Muthler and Jack Dunn created problems all night for the Blue Devils. Muthler had 318 passing yards and 4 touchdown passes, of which 252 yards and 3 touchdowns were to Dunn.
Bellwood was able to hang in the game after a 4-yard rushing touchdown from Freshman standout Alex McCartney.
The Blue Devils trailed 14-7 with 10 minutes left in the second quarter.
Central didn’t slow down and kept attacking Bellwood through the air. Muthler threw an 8-yard touchdown to Dunn, which made the score 21-7.
Bellwood Senior Chance Schreier came up big for the defense with an interception late in the second quarter.
Bellwood had the ball at the 25 after the interception. The offense was rolling, but a fumbled snap recovered by Central at the 3-yard line killed Bellwood’s momentum going into the locker room.
The Blue Devils received the kick to start the second half and marched down the field. Junior quarterback Holden Schreier threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Senior tight-end Chance Schreier. This touchdown made the score 21-14. Bellwood kicker Josh Dorminy had a good day kicking, converting his first two PAT’s of the season.
This was a big game for Chance Schreier who had a touchdown, an interception, and 5 total tackles.
The Dragons came right back at Bellwood and scored again. Central’s Hunter Smith got his second touchdown of the game on a 5-yard run. Smith totaled 91 rushing yards on 17 carries to go with the two touchdowns.
The scoring didn’t stop as Central’s Muthler threw a 71-yard touchdown pass to Dunn.
The score was now 34-14 in favor of Central.
Central dominated the passing game with 319 yards through the air to Bellwood’s 63. Both teams had similar amounts of first downs and rushing yards, but it’s hard to come out on top against a team that is great at both running and passing.
The fourth quarter was pretty quiet until Central scored their fourth and final touchdown through the air. This pass was caught by Central tight end Jaxon Detterline on a 5-yard pass.
Central now had a 41-14 lead with 3:42 left in the game.
Bellwood didn’t stop though and scored on a 3-yard run by Alex McCartney, which made the score 41-20.
McCartney once again crossed the 100-yard rushing mark with 133 yards on 23 carries and 2 touchdowns.
Bellwood takes on Tyrone in the longstanding Backyard Brawl rivalry this Friday. The Blue Devils will hope to get their first win of the season and it would be a bonus if it came against the Golden Eagles.
