BELLWOOD - Casey Gray's 94-yard touchdown run against Glendale Friday night pretty much summed up Bellwood-Antis' night.
The Vikings hung on to Gray early in the run, he broke free and before long there was no one near him as he cruised into the end zone during the Blue Devils' 41-13 victory at Memorial Stadium.
"That's definitely the longest run I've ever had," Gray said. "I went into the line and thought I was wrapped up, but I got out of it. I took off, and I thought they were right behind me, but I guess they weren't."
Glendale hung with Bellwood through a quarter and a half, stopping a Blue Devil fake punt, but came up short on a drive deep into B-A territory and Gray took over from there.
The junior running back had a touchdown run of 19 yards before his 94-yarder and finished with 155 yards on 12 carries.
Even more impressive was that Gray was right back on the field the next play after sprinting the length of the field.
"We all work pretty hard to get in good condition," Bellwood-Antis coach John Hayes said. "They play back-to-back and go from offense to defense, so we take pride in that, and he's in good shape."
Bellwood-Antis took advantage of a Tanner Snyder interception to open the scoring. Snyder's 35-yard return put B-A in position at the 25-yard line before an eventual touchdown plunge by Tyler Campbell.
Glendale got down to the Blue Devil 16-yard line in an effort to answer but was turned away. A toss to Damon Braniff, who went over 1,000 yards rushing for the second consecutive year in the game, lost 6 yards before Gary Witherow's fourth-down pass went out of the back of the end zone.
"We were driving on them, but we just got in the red zone and couldn't put it in," Glendale coach Matt Irvine said. "We just didn't execute properly."
The Blue Devils scored three touchdowns in the next eight minutes, and the game was just about over.
Witherow finished with 111 yards rushing and 61 passing but threw two costly interceptions. Most of Braniff's 86 rushing yards came in the fourth quarter, but the running back did catch a 26-yard score from Witherow just before halftime.
While the Vikings (5-4) could have helped their playoff chances with a win Friday, Northern Cambria's loss to Ligonier Valley kept Glendale in the hunt entering its regular-season finale at Ferndale next Saturday.
Bellwood-Antis, which got a 41-yard touchdown catch from Ian O'Shea and a 28-yard touchdown run by Haden DeGennaro, improved to 9-0 but will begin a series a tough tests with its regular season finale next week at home against unbeaten Richland.
"We've had some big games, and we've had some where we had our way," Hayes said. "I just told the kids that every game from here on in is a big ballgame. Something special is going to be on the line with each outcome. This is where they have to become focused and keep their feet on the ground."
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Glendale0 6 0 7 - 13
Bellwood-Antis7 20 14 0 - 41
First quarter
BA-Campbell 3 run (Campbell kick), 3:51.
Second quarter
BA-Gray 19 run (kick failed), 8:44.
BA-Gray 94 run (Campbell kick), 6:20.
BA-O'Shea 41 pass from S. Worthing (Campbell kick), 0:53.
G-Braniff 26 pass from Witherow (run failed), 0:12.
Third quarter
BA-S. Worthing 2 run (Campbell kick), 5:21.
BA-DeGennaro 28 run (Campbell kick), 2:13.
Fourth quarter
G-Braniff 3 run (Matchock kick), 1:25.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Glendale-WItherow 10-111, Braniff 23-86, Twigg 4-20, Hommer 2-3, Rojas 1-(-2). Bellwood-Antis-Gray 12-155, Stapleton 3-34, DeGennaro 4-31, Campbell 4-32, T. Snyder 2-10, Lardieri 2-10, Beech 1-4, Mock 2-3, McMillan 2-0, S. Worthing 5-(-11).
PASSING: Glendale-Witherow 6-18-2-61. Bellwood-Antis-S. Worthing 5-8-0-111, O. Worthing 1-1-0-3.
RECEIVING: Glendale-Jersey 2-23, Braniff 2-21, Twigg 1-14, Bantly 1-3. Bellwood-Antis-Campbell 2-19, O'Shea 1-41, DeGennaro 1-38, J. Parson 1-13, O. Worthing 1-3.
INTERCEPTIONS: Glendale-none. Bellwood-Antis-T. Snyder, C. Worthing.
TEAM STATISTICSGBA
First downs1313
Yards rushing40-21837-268
Passing (cmp.-att.-int.)6-18-26-9-0
Yards passing61114
Total yards279382
Fumbles-lost0-00-0
Penalties-yards6-561-5
Punts-avg.6-27.53-37
