The Bellwood-Antis football team has something to be proud of after a stellar performance this season. The team finished up their year in the semifinals with a final record of 8-4. This level of success made it their best performance since 2021. No one thought a season like this was even in the cards for B-A, after going 2-8 last year. The last thing anyone expected was for them to finish 8-4 with a playoff win.
B-A persevered through many injuries this season, and showed that their guys are willing and able to step up in the place of their teammates. The devils lost three of their starting running backs throughout the season. This caused them to mix things up, and people like Colin Gibbons and Cayden Pellegrine filled these roles phenomenally. Along with that, they lost a key lineman and slot receiver. Again, they were replaced with either people from other positions, or someone off the bench.
Bellwood-Antis had a big year against some tough teams. They won some big games this year, some of the most notable being Tyrone and River Valley. The Golden Eagles are always a difficult matchup, so winning the Backyard Brawl was definitely a morale booster for the Devils. The Panthers ended their season with a record of 8-3. Playing them in the first round of playoffs made this one of the most critical games of the entire year.
“It was really big for the team that guys were able to step up”, said head coach Nick Lovrich. “It showed resilience because we found ways to bounce back from disappointment after injuries. Everyone got better this year and I think we overcame a lot of adversity.”
Multiple players accomplished many different feats throughout the season that were crucial to them winning so many games.
Senior quarterback Holden Schreier broke the school record for passing yards in a game throwing for 354 yards against Bishop McCort. Schreier’s arm wasn’t expected to be a necessity going into this year, B-A planned on using their star running backs Alex McCartney and Chase Plummer. After they both got injured, Holden realized he needed to step up in the air. B-A threw much more this year than they ever thought they would, but it turned out benefiting them.
Another senior who had themselves a year was Cayden Pellegrine. He was the Blue Devils’ leading scorer with 12 touchdowns, accruing to 72 points over the season. 9 of these touchdowns were rushing, where he also led the team. On the defensive side, the senior averaged 7.9 tackles per game and had three fumble recoveries. He once again led the team in all these statistics. Along with leading the team in many areas, Cayden also passed the ball to convert for 2-points against River Valley.
Despite losing these seniors, the Blue Devils are hopeful that they will come back even stronger next year. The junior class plans on being at the height of their high school football careers. Brayden Partner has 10 games of experience under his belt after this year, so he’ll be a huge part of B-A’s offense next year. While they will lead the way, everyone else on the team is only getting older. Younger guys will continue to fill the needed slots and hopefully even do better than this year.
