The Blue Devils dominated on both sides of the ball Friday night when Bellwood-Antis traveled to Blairsville for the District 6 2A quarterfinal. There, they took on the River Valley Panthers and earned a 43-14 victory.
The B-A offense thrived, and the Panthers struggled to gain rhythm.
B-A moved forward in the playoff picture to now face off against Cambria Heights in the District 6 2A semifinals.
“Faceless opponent… we need to focus on what we are doing and execute that. We’re going to go off of the moment that we’ve built the last three weeks, and we’re going to play drippy,” Cayden Pellegrine exclaimed.
The first quarter opened with the Panthers opting to receive the kickoff. B-A forced a four-and-out and went to work on offense. Holden Schreier led a drive down to R-V’s 5 where Pellegrine bull rushed through to start the scoring. After a failed two-point attempt the score was 6-0 heading into the second quarter.
B-A’s defense continued its success and the Blue Devils soon regained possession. Schreier scrambled out of the pocket and found Ethan Shawley for a 17-yard touchdown. B-A called back to Tim Tebow on the conversion with a pass from Pellegrine to Shawley for two, amounting to a 14-0 lead.
River Valley quickly turned the ball over on downs giving B-A another opportunity. A pair of strong runs placed the ball on R-V’s 20. Schreier then connected with Jeffrey Waite to end the drive, and after a successful two-point attempt B-A had a 22-0 advantage.
“It was a big momentum changer in the game, giving the guys more control of how the game played out,” Waite stated.
On the ensuing drive, the Panthers were able to put together their longest drive of the game. With 13 seconds remaining in the half, the ball was on B-A’s 1, but River Valley fumbled the snap and Pellegrine jumped on the ball to close out the half.
The Bellwood-Antis offense picked up right where it left off in the second half. After a good return on the opening kickoff, B-A had strong field position. Soon after, Pellegrine rushed 27 yards to the endzone with 9:33 left in the quarter.
The Panthers then looked to pass to chip away at the lead, but Griffin Kyle picked off quarterback Max Persichetti and ran the ball back to R-V’s 6-yard line. Two plays later, Kyle took the handoff from 4 yards out for a 36-0 lead.
River Valley was able to put themselves on the scoreboard late in the third quarter when running back Gavin Burkhart broke free down the sidelines for a 56-yard score.
The fourth quarter started with a successful drive down field. Schreier hit Waite from 19-yards out for his second touchdown of the game. River Valley capped off the game with a 57-yard pass from Persichetti to Caden Vresilovic. This finalized the score at 43-14 B-A.
Pellegrine rushed for 106 yards on 18 carries. He was able to find the endzone twice. Waite came up big in the red zone catching two touchdowns for and totaling 45 yards on 3 receptions.
The Blue Devils now advance to the District 6 semifinals where they travel to Patton to take on the No. 1-seeded Cambria Heights Highlanders. The Highlanders recently defeated Bishop McCort to remain undefeated on the season with an 11-0 record. The Highlanders have a notable plus-363 point differential.
For a full photo story to B-A’s game against River Valley, click here.
