The Blue Devils brought the Backyard Brawl trophy back to Bellwood-Antis Friday night with a 28-21 win over Tyrone at Memorial Stadium. It was a back and forth battle led by explosive drives on offense and big plays on defense.
“Any time you win a Tyrone-Bellwood game – especially this one. This was one of those classics – you feel great about it,” he said. “We’re very happy.”
The rivalry game kicked off with Tyrone opting to receive. On the second play of Tyrone’s drive, a pass to Gayge Miller was bobbled and intercepted by Colin Gibbons. Bellwood-Antis worked their way down to Tyrone’s 2-yard line before fumbling and turning the ball over.
Tyrone ultimately started the scoring after putting together a 98-yard drive capitalized by Seth Hoover rushing to the endzone. The PAT was good by senior Dante Novak and Tyrone took an early 7-0 lead. The Blue Devils offense went to work the ensuing drive.
To open the second quarter, Holden Schreier was able to find Cayden Pellegrine up the middle for a 37-yard gain. This created strong field position for sophomore Brayden Partner to find a hole from 2 yards out and get the Blue Devils on the board. BA went for two and converted on a pass to Pellegrine for an 8-7 Blue Devil advantage.
Tyrone quickly returned the favor on three plays. Ashton Walk, in a tight window, was able to find Novak in the endzone to bring the total to 14-8 going into the half.
“We didn’t make any specific adjustments.. we knew what we had to do going into the second half,” stated Pellegrine.
The Blue Devils opened the third quarter with the ball. Bellwood-Antis ran a series of successful plays to give Collin Gibbons an opportunity to rush 7-yards for his fifth touchdown of the season. This gave the Blue Devils a 16-14 lead.
Bellwood-Antis carried this momentum with them on the defensive side of the ball. After facing pressure in the pocket, Walk intending for Miller was intercepted by Curtis Shedlock. The Blue Devils set up shop nearing their 40. The Blue Devils offense was able to put together another strong drive. Partner was able to find space to rush for his second touchdown of the game. This extended the gap to 22-14 and the B-A crowd came alive.
“The fans and student section did a great job bringing the energy and we fed off of that in the second half to finish our drives,” exclaimed Partner.
To start the fourth quarter, Schreier continued the offense with a long completion to Ethan Shawley who broke free and added to the lead. Walk started the comeback effort with a series of long passes down into BA’s territory. Tyrone went 74 yards on 7 plays. Walk was able to hit Miller from 4 yards out. Following the PAT the Golden Eagles closed the game to 28-21.
The Blue Devils defense locked down on the Golden Eagles final drive. After a short pass to Miller to put Tyrone in the red zone, Tyrone couldn’t get the spike off before time expired finalizing a 28-21 victory.
Bellwood-Antis looks to continue their run Friday the 27th against Philipsburg-Osceola. BA is now 4-1 for the first time since 2021. PO is 2-3 on the season while being outscored 136-98 in their first five matchups.
For a slide show from the Backyard Brawl, click here.
