Blue Devils’ season comes to an early end

Mustangs run all over B-A defense

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Tierra Mahute

The B-A defense tries to stop the Mustangs.

Christina Kowalski, Sports Writer

Coming off of two straight blowout performances, the tables turned on the Bellwood-Antis Blue Devils as they lost 67-23 to Portage in the first round of playoffs Saturday in Portage.

The Mustangs ran the score up on a struggling Blue Devil defense, scoring all ten of their touchdowns on the ground.

Though Bellwood-Antis had an opportunity to score first, Portage had the first touchdown of the game, scoring on a 5-yard run by Braedon St. Clair that put the Mustangs ahead 6-0 with just over four minutes left in the first quarter.  The Mustangs then added their second touchdown on a 72-yard run by Ben Herman with just 52 seconds left in the quarter.

The Mustangs then put up three touchdowns in the second quarter, the first scored by Luke  Dividock. But the Blue Devils were able to answer with a touchdown of their own that made the score 18-7.  However, Portage pulled away just over two minutes later when Cory Bobolsky scored on a 13-yard run that was followed by a 27-yard touchdown run and two point conversion by St. Clair.

The five first-half touchdowns by Portage left B-A trailing 32-7 at the half.

“I though we had a good week of practice, but when it came time to play we couldn’t execute,” said senior Zachary Taylor. “They came to play and we didn’t.”

The third quarter was much like the second with the Blue Devils only scoring one touchdown to the Mustang’s three.

Portage struck first when Bobolsky ran four yards to score his second touchdown of the night, but Bellwood answered quickly with a 40-yard touchdown pass from Jarrett Taneyhill to Ethan McGee that made the score 38-15.  That, however, wild be the end of the Blue Devils’ scoring until midway through the fourth quarter.

To finish out the third quarter Ben Herman and Dividock each scored their second touchdowns, which put the Blue Devils down 52-15.

In the fourth quarter Portage again outscored Bellwood with its two touchdowns to Bellwood’s one.

“It was a disappointing loss and I’m disappointed in how we played. It was just a bad game all around,” said senior Jacob McCaulley.

Bellwood’s only fourth quarter touchdown came on a 1-yard run by Devin Burr that was followed by a two point conversion pass from Burch to Taneyhill.

The final Blue Devils touchdown locked Bellwood in with their 23 points as they went on to lose 67-23 in the first round of District 6 playoffs.

Bellwood-Antis, which started the season off 0-2, went on to win seven of their next eight games finishing out the regular season 7-3.