Bellwood-Antis dominates in regular-season finale
Burch handled the ground while Kowalski reeled in passes
The Blue Devils logged a second-straight shutout Friday against P-O.
November 9, 2015
Bellwood-Antis came out on fire for the second week in a row as they defeated Philipsburg Osceola 42-0.
Last week the Blue Devils shutout the Glendale Vikings 41-0, scoring their first touchdown just two and a half minutes into the game. This week, however, it took the Blue Devils just a minute and nineteen seconds to score their first touchdown.
Philipsburg had nothing to lose and we needed to put them away early.
— Jake Burch
Despite Bellwood-Antis only rushing four more times than Philipsburg, B-A was able to rush for 181 yards while P-O was only able to rush for 77 yards. Philipsburg had a good night passing the ball, tallying 172 passing yards compared to Bellwood-Antis’ 182 yards.
The Blue Devils scored their first touchdown when quarterback Jarrett Taneyhill found a wide open Brendan Kowalski deep in Mountaineer territory. Kowalski easily made it into the end zone giving Bellwood the early 7-0 lead, following the first of Kowalski’s six PAT kicks.
“We knew we had to come out strong. Philipsburg had nothing to lose and we needed to put them away early,” said senior Jake Burch.
Burch then added his first touchdown of night less than two minutes after Kowalski’s. Burch’s four yard touchdown run put the Blue Devils ahead 14-0 early, giving them momentum from the start.
However, the Blue Devils didn’t end their first quarter scoring there, they went on to score a third touchdown with 17 seconds left in the quarter. Brendan Kowalski scored the third touchdown on a 33-yard pass from Jarrett Taneyhill.
After putting up 21 points in the first quarter, it took Burch just 57 seconds to find the end zone for his first second quarter touchdown less than a minute into the quarter. Burch found the end zone for his third touchdown on a 34-yard run. Burch’s two second quarter touchdowns put Bellwood-Antis ahead 35-0, ending the Blue Devil offense for the half.
The Blue Devil defense took over for the remainder of the half, scoring a touchdown of their own. Junior Duke Brunner recovered a Mountaineer fumble and returned it to the end zone, putting the Blue Devils ahead 42-0 at the half.
In the second half neither team was able to score, but the Mountaineers came close twice. Bellwood shut out their opposition for the second week in a row.
Burch also added, “With playoffs it’s important to play everyone tough and treat every team the same. We can’t look past anyone and definitely could not struggle (against Philipsburg) and expect to play well this week.
With Friday’s win the Blue Devils ended the regular season with a 7-3 record, locking in their place in the District 6 Class A playoffs. Bellwood-Antis will be the 5th seed heading into playoffs and will face Portage in the first round.
