The Blue Devils fell short Friday night during a defensive battle with Cambria Heights. B-A traveled to Cresson for the District 6 2A semifinal. Both teams put together a series of crucial stops on defense but struggled to find momentum on offense. The game was finalized with a 15-8 score in favor of Cambria Heights.
The Blue Devils ended their season with an 8-4 record bouncing back strong from their previous 2-8 campaign. The Highlanders now match up against Richland in the District 6 2A championship.
“This season was a turnaround from last year for sure… I’m proud of how everyone stepped up and worked to get to where we finished this year. It was a full team effort for a great season,” QB Holden Schreier stated.
The first quarter opened up with B-A opting to receive the kickoff. The Highlander’s defense quickly turned the ball over on downs. The Blue Devils responded with a stop of their own forcing a punt downfield.
Garrett Jasper’s punt landed on B-A’s 1-yard line which ultimately started the scoring. After the Highlander’s defense allowed only a gain of 4 yards, the Blue Devils looked to punt the ball away. A botched snap resulted in the ball rolling out of the endzone for a safety.
On the ensuing drive, QB Isaac Weiland connected with Trey Trybus for a 31-yard completion. This brought the ball downfield where Stephen Nelen found running room on the ground for a 10-yard touchdown. Following a missed PAT, the game went into the half with an 8-0 Highlander lead.
The third quarter started with Cambria Heights receiving. Weiland led a drive downfield all the way down to B-A’s 1. Marshall Eckenrode punched it in to provide a 15-0 advantage.
The Blue Devils responded with a series of runs of their own. Then with 2:13 left in the quarter, Schreier hooked up with Ethan Shawley for a 5-yard touchdown. After a successful two point attempt from Schreier to Cayden Pellegrine, B-A trailed 15-8.
The game headed to the fourth quarter, and Bellwood-Antis’s defense looked to step up. Jeffrey Waite almost immediately after the kickoff forced a fumble to turn the ball over. B-A was unable to pick up a first down and punted the ball away.
On the following possession, Christian Jennings also forced a fumble. Once again, B-A struggled to gain rhythm and had to punt downfield. Moments later, Pellegrine continued the trend and forced another fumble within Cambria Heights 35-yard line. The Blue Devils were unable to convert a first down and handed the ball back over.
The Highlanders ran the clock down to around 2:00 before setting up in victory formation and kneeling the ball to set the final at 15-8.
“Our seniors did an awesome job this year. We faced a lot of adversity with injuries, and they held us together. They made plays when they needed to and stepped up as leaders to help our team have all the success we had,” Coach Lovrich commented.
The Blue Devils have a bright future ahead of them with many of their starters returning on both sides of the ball. B-A will also regain sophomores Alex McCartney, Chase Plummer, and Bryson Hescox all of whom are recovering from injury.
“We have many returning starters, and I know that we’re going to work twice as hard during the offseason. We’ve been talking about this upcoming season since we started playing youth. Seeing how we did this year with the amount of injuries we had gave us confidence. We see ourselves as state championship contenders next year,” McCartney stated.
