Panthers roar past the Blue Devils
NBC uses three takeaways as springboard to victory
Senior Night didn’t go as planned for B-A, which saw its five-game winning streak snapped.
October 26, 2015
There was an odd sense of déjá vu in Memorial Stadium last Friday night.
Bellwood-Antis was missing tackles left and right and getting called for almost every penalty in the book like it was the Backyard Brawl all over again. Northern Bedford defeated Bellwood-Antis 41-20 on Senior Night as the Blue Devils suffered their first ICC Gold Division loss.
The Blue Devils had been dominating their opponents as of late, but Friday nothing seemed to click. Bellwood came out slow and allowed Northern Bedford to pass and run right through their defense.
The problems that Bellwood had dealt with in the first two games in the season came back to haunt them on Friday night. In the first game of the season Bellwood had three turnovers that proved to be costly in the 41-7 loss to Tyrone. Again in the second game of the season Bellwood had three interceptions that caused them to lose 28-13 against Moshannon Valley.
In the Northern Bedford game it was no different. Bellwood had three interceptions and lost one fumble, all of which Northern Bedford was able to capitalize on.
With a little under a minute left in the first quarter Northern Bedford scored their first touchdown making it a 7-0 game when Austin Heck ran the ball into the end zone from the Bellwood-Antis 4-yard line.
The Blue Devils only had the ball for a little over a minute before the Panthers were able to capitalize on their first of many mistakes. Northern Bedford’s Jake Cherry intercepted quarterback Jarrett Taneyhill’s pass and ran it back to the end zone for a pick 6. The point after attempt was no good, but the touchdown still put Northern Bedford up 13-0 early in the second quarter.
The second quarter proved to be a scoring quarter for both teams, but the Blue Devils still couldn’t catch the Panthers. The scoring went back and forth between the two teams with Northern Bedford scoring first.
Northern Bedford scored with 7:33 left in the first half when Josh Dasher caught a 54-yard pass from quarterback Isaac Drenning making it a 20-0 game. When the Blue Devils got the ball back they scored on a 10 yard pass from Taneyhill to Burch to put the Blue Devils on the scoreboard with 7 points following Brandan Kowalski’s kick.
The two then exchanged one touchdown each before the half. Northern Bedford scored on a 2 yard run by Ridge Hershberger and Bellwood-Antis scored on a 32-yard pass from Jarrett Taneyhill to Devin Burr.
The Blue Devils went into the half trailing 27-14.
The scoring slowed down in the second half, but Bellwood still couldn’t catch the Panthers. Northern Bedford scored the lone touchdown in the third quarter on a 39-yard pick 6 by Jake Cherry. It may have only been one touchdown, but it was enough to stop all momentum for the Blue Devils.
Both teams scored in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough for the Blue Devils to win on Senior Night. The Blue Devils lost 41-20 and suffered their first division loss.
