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Heights preps for 2 in a row

By Michael Boytim

mboytim@altoonamirror.com

Cambria Heights won its first-ever District 6 championship in high school football last season.

The Highlanders moved up in classification from 1A to 2A this season, and there were some doubts as to whether they could repeat against bigger schools.

So far, they have done nothing to show any type of vulnerability.

Heights finished the regular season 10-0, won the Heritage Conference for the second time since joining it in 2021 and outscored opponents 250-0 at home.

The Highlanders open the postseason Friday when they host eighth-seeded McCort-Carroll in the quarterfinals.

“We are one of many teams that play better at home,” Cambria Heights coach Jarrod Lewis said. “I think we like to feed off our crowd and the environment. We are expecting a good crowd. The forecast looks nice for football, and we’re excited about the opportunity to play at home.”

The Highlanders were also the top seed in 2A the last time they won the Heritage Conference and were upset in the first round, so Lewis knows the need for Heights to play its best Friday.

“I think they are getting better each week,” Lewis said. “We always say with the draws you can get in the playoffs, you can end up with a tough draw no matter what seed you are. This is definitely a tough draw for us. I would put (McCort-Carroll) as one of the best teams in 2A this year. Early in the year, they went back and forth on a couple quarterbacks. They settled on (Angelo Gallucci) and he’s a nice athlete. They have some really good receivers, the running back is getting better each week and that offensive and defensive line is big and moves well.”

Cambria Heights has used an array of different players in the backfield this year, and the team mentality has been something everyone has bought into.

“We have a team that has a lot of talent, and they have always bought into the belief that if more people carry the ball, the harder we are to defend,” Lewis said. “We’re a team that focuses on winning. That’s what they care the most about. All these different guys carrying the ball gives us the best chance to win. When they have seen that play out, they know it makes a difference. It has kept us fresh going into the playoffs.”

B-A back

A year after going 2-8 in its first season in the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference, Bellwood-Antis is back in the postseason and will travel to fifth-seeded River Valley for a 2A quarterfinal game on Friday.

“We’re really excited about how things have gone,” Blue Devils coach Nick Lovrich said. “Our guys have really played well as a team, picking up the slack for all the injured guys we have had this year. I’m very proud of how big of fighters they are. They believe in themselves, and it’s nice to see all the hard work they did in the offseason and everything in the summer really pay off for them.”

B-A lost starting running back Alex McCartney in an offseason injury and then one of his backups, Chase Plummer, in the first game for the season.

Despite that, the Blue Devils finished 7-3 and earned the No. 5 seed in the field. Their opponent is River Valley, an Indiana County school formed when Blairsville and Saltsburg merged.

“Watching them on film, they look like a very solid football team,” Lovrich said. “They have a very big line, and their running backs are talented. They run the ball hard. They like to do some of the same things we like to do on offense, some of the old-school running game. Definitely going to be a big challenge for us, but it’s nice to get back into the playoffs.”

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