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BELLWOOD -- Thought it was still far too early in the game, Bellwood-Antis faced a decision on how it would respond going forward.
After Huntingdon scored on a big play on its first drive, the Blue Devils knew that panicking was not the answer.
Bellwood responded with a touchdown on its ensuing drive and then got a big, momentum-swinging touchdown 13 seconds before the half to take a lead it wouldn't relinquish.
B-A's defense stood strong by holding the Bearcats in check -- save for a late score -- as the Blue Devils came out on top for the third straight week with a 20-14 victory over Huntingdon on Friday night at John R. Hayes Field at Memorial Stadium.
"That's the one thing we talked about was no big plays for them (Huntingdon) and they had the big play," Bellwood-Antis caoch Nick Lovrich said. "A lot of times teams will get down after that happens, but our guys didn't and they were able to recuperate. That talks a lot about their resiliency."
Sequence of the game: On a fourth-and-8 from the B-A 47, Huntingdon punter Evan Edmiston scrabbled forward for a rugby style punt. However, Ethan Shawley and Quinn Focht of Bellwood were in his way as Shawley blocked the punt and Focht pounced on it to give the Blue Devils the ball at the Huntingdon 41. On first down, quarterback Holden Schreier hit Griffin Kyle across the middle of the field for a 24-yard gain. Three play later, Colin Gibbons found paydirt from five yards out to give Bellwood-Antis a 20-7 lead and the eventual winning points at 6:31 of the third.
Focht: "Ethan Shawley was the one who blocked it, I saw it right in front of me, so I just picked it up. I think it was a big momentum change and we needed that. To capitalize on it made it even better."
Player of the game: In addition to the 5-yard touchdown, Gibbons responded to the Huntingdon early touchdown with a 25-yard burst on the ensuing B-A drive.
The junior churned out 117 yards on 18 carries, while also hauling in two catches for 27 yards. On defense, he recorded a sack as well as many big tackles that stopped Bearcat ball carriers in their tracks.
Unsung heroes: Bradyn Partner ran 15 times for 73 yards, but gained 63 of those in the opening half as the Blue Devils established control with the run game.
On the receiving side, Kyle hauled in four passes for 49 yards, including the big 24-yarder in the third.
Lovrich: "We always talk about the next play mentality where if something bad happens, we can't fix what we just did wrong -- we have to worry about what we're doing on the next play. So, we always had that mentality. We had a lot of guys make plays."
Most vital statistic: Other than the 36-yards given up on the initial Huntingdon touchdown, Bellwood-Antis' defense only allowed 37 more yards the rest of the first half. Meanwhile, other than the 74 yards surrendered on the final Bearcats' touchdown drive, the Blue Devils gave up just 17 yards up to that point in the second half.
Huntingdon coach Tim Lucko: "You start the game off strong, and then that's a testament to them (Bellwood-Antis) that they actually took care of their jobs and us not finishing blocks. There was some things we thought we could took advantage of on the perimeter but we weren't able to do that."
Notable: After B-A was forced to punt on the opening drive of the night, Huntingdon's Landon Erdman hit the quick strike with the 36-yard touchdown run to put his team on the board first. … The Blue Devils put together a big drive to nearly close out the first half as an eight play, 65-yard march ended with Cayden Pellegrine plowing his way across the goal line with 13 ticks remaining to give Bellwood a 14-7 edge at the break after also hauling in the two-point conversion throw from Schreier. … Erdman scored the final points of the night when he caught a 7-yard pass by Mykut and strolled into the endzone with 1:43 left to play. … Eric Mykut, who played QB most of the second half, intercepted Schreier in the second stanza.
Lucko: "Again this week we had issues with getting the punt off. And, again, there's issues tackling. We're in position to make plays and we're stomping our feet. That's on me as the head coach, I have to, at the end of the day, get our kids better prepared to play a football game."
Records: Huntingdon (0-3); Bellwood-Antis (3-0).
Next week: Huntingdon hosts Bishop Guilfoyle next Friday night; Bellwood-Antis travels to Central the same night.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Huntingdon 7 0 0 7 — 14
Bellwood-Antis 6 8 6 0 — 20
First Quarter
H--Erdman 36 run (Snare kick), 9:34.
BA--Gibbons 25 run (run failed), 4:36.
Second Quarter
BA--Pellegrine 1 run (Pellegrine pass from H. Schreier), 0:13.
Third Quarter
BA--Gibbons 5 run (kick failed), 6:31.
Fourth Quarter
H--Erdman 7 pass from Mykut (Snare kick), 1:43.
TEAM STATISTICS H BA
First downs 8 15
Total yards 164 261
Rushes-yards 24-103 45-185
Yards passing 61 76
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 8-14-0 6-10-1
Punts-avg. 4-24.3 4-28.0
Fumbles-lost 3-1 0-0
Penalties-yards 2-7 4-16
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Huntingdon, Erdman 2-50, Edmiston 10-30, Guisler 4-8, Hughes 2-(-1), Lane 1-0, Mykut 5-16. Bellwood-Antis, Gibbons 18-117, Partner 15-73, H. Schreier 5-(-26), Kyle 2-(-3), Pellegrine 3-26, TEAM 2-(-2).
PASSING--Huntingdon, Guisler 2-6-0-(-2), Mykut 6-8-0-63. Bellwood-Antis, H. Schreier 6-10-1-76.
RECEIVING--Huntingdon, Mykut 2-(-2), Edmiston 1-1, Hughes 1-4, Rutter 1-20, Erdman 3-38. Bellwood-Antis, Gibbons 2-27, Kyle 4-49.