Ever since Mike Smith took over as Juniata Valley High School football coach in 2004, it seems Bellwood-Antis has always stood in the way of the Green Hornets and their ultimate goals.

From 2004 through 2007, Valley's season ended with playoff losses at the hands of the Blue Devils. In 2006, it came in the District 6 finals.

The roles will be reversed in a sense on Friday night in Alexandria. The Hornets, coming on and trying to hold on to one of the final playoffs berths in 6-A, are the only team standing between the Blue Devils and a perfect record in the North Division of the Inter-County Conference. Valley is also one of two teams left with a chance to derail Bellwood's aims for an undefeated regular season.

"It's important for us to stay the course and build on the things we've been doing well lately,'' said Smith, whose Hornets are 4-3 after a 1-2 start. "We've got to keep getting better.

"Bellwood's always a big game. They've had our number over the years. It's a good challenge for us. I hope we're ready.''

It's a tall order for the Hornets. Bellwood's closest game all year has been decided by 14 points.

While Nate Plummer's passing and the Blue Devils' typical running prowess - this year centered around Zach McCaulley - have garnered most of the attention, B-A coach John Hayes seems most pleased with the development of his defense.

"We've always kind of believed [defense] was the most important part of team success,'' Hayes said. "That often contributes to [good] field position.''

When Glendale scored three touchdowns on the Devils' defense last week, it broke a three-game string of Bellwood shutouts and a five-game streak of games in which the Devils held their opponents to single digits. One of those shutouts came against a Mo Valley team averaging more than 35 points at the time.

"We thought [coming into the season] that the kids we had really fit what we wanted to do. They plugged in well. It gives us a lot of flexibility,'' Hayes said. "Their speed and athletic ability allows us to do a lot of things. Then you combine that with some good, strong kids up front.''

Linebacker Tyler Beech and defensive end Grant Martin are leading Bellwood with 61 and 51 tackles, respectively, but five other Devils have made at least 30 stops, and 12 different B-A defenders have at least one sack.

"It makes it tough to do anything,'' Smith said.

Valley's defense hasn't been a slouch either. The Hornets have held four of their last six foes to seven points or fewer and three of the last four to less than 160 yards.

"I think our biggest strides have been on defense. We made some adjustments and moved some people around,'' Smith said. "The first week, Tussey put 40 points up on us. We still scored 20. We've been working really hard to do some new schemes.''

Smith's greatest praise has gone to his secondary, which has already picked off eight more passes than it did all of last year, when Valley missed the playoffs at 3-6.

The Hornets enter this week tied for 11th place in the 6-A playoff point race with Glendale and holds the tiebreaker on the Vikings by virtue of a head-to-head win two games ago. Bellwood is currently second in the rankings, behind Bishop McCort and just ahead of Portage.

"They're definitely very improved,'' Hayes, whose team is 4-0 in the ICC North, said of the Hornets. "Sometimes it just takes awhile to get in a flow.''