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By Michael Boytim
mboytim@altoonamirror.com
Many people questioned the decision of Bellwood-Antis to leave the Inter-County Conference, a league it dominated in many sports including high school football, to enter the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference last season when the Blue Devils finished their first season in the league 2-8.
Tyrone coach John Franco was not one of those doubters.
"I always felt that they were as good as any team in the Mountain League year in and year out and any team in the Laurel Highlands," Franco said. "When I talked to some of the coaches from Bellwood, I told them they would be fine. We played Laurel Highlands teams in the playoffs and the Mountain League teams, and their program is probably better than most. I told them they would do well in this league. I had no doubt."
Bellwood-Antis will be hosting the Golden Eagles in the annual "Backyard Brawl" Friday at John Hayes Field at Memorial Stadium, and the Blue Devils have won three of their first four games.
"It's been much better," B-A coach Nick Lovrich said. "Practices have been a little more crisp. Whenever you have a little momentum going on your side, that makes it a little bit nicer. Our guys went through a lot of things last year and took their lumps. They saw how their offseason work has paid off, and they feel more confidence in themselves."
The LHAC schedule is the same, just flipped on home and away games, this season meaning Bellwood has flipped the script from its 0-4 start a year ago.
"They got experience," Franco said. "You have to get used to playing that competition week in and week out."
The Blue Devils have leaned on an experienced line.
"We're really happy with the line," Lovrich said. "Those kids have worked really hard. They weren't used to struggling, and last year they struggled. This year they have come into their own and are getting better every week. The more they play, the more confidence they get. The strength they gained in the offseason is equating to success on the field."
Tyrone lost its best lineman to an injury in the offseason and has been working to put things together to find what works best since.
"Their line is probably the best that we've seen up to this point," Franco said. "We have been working awfully hard to get to the level where we can compete with them. They are good. We watched them come off the ball well. They have size, strength and experience. They are really good."
The Golden Eagles are coming off an overtime win against Bald Eagle Area, but Franco said his team isn't spending time basking in that victory with its biggest rival up next.
"That was a big win for us, no doubt," Franco said. "But it doesn't matter what happened the previous week. It's Bellwood-Tyrone, and that's enough said. You're always going to be gunned up and excited for that game. It's such a fantastic rivalry. We would love to see it back to open the season. I know both Bellwood and us would love to see it go back, because that was always special, but really any time Bellwood and Tyrone play in any sport, it's always going to be a fun game."
Tyrone senior quarterback Ashton Walk threw four touchdown passes, including the game-tying score to Trent Adams with 15 seconds left last week.
"For the third year in a row, Ashton Walk is still there," Lovrich said. "He's a great quarterback. He makes plays with both his arms and his legs. His receivers run good patterns and get open. He seems to find them and extends plays to make sure those guys can find openings."
SUBHED: Aiming for 5-0
Hollidaysburg will be looking for its first 5-0 start since John Barton's first season coaching in 1999 when it travels to Mifflinburg to play on Friday night.
Mifflinburg's enrollment has been declining recently, and the school dropped from 4A to 3A.
"They are definitely improving every week even though they don't have a big senior class," Hollidaysburg coach Homer DeLattre said. "They remind me of our current seniors, who played some really good football teams, and took a beating in some games, but there are a lot of sophomores who are really talented that are taking their lumps. They are 0-4 but lost two games by one point and scored 34 points on Mount Carmel, and Mount Carmel just beat Southern Columbia, 7-6."
SUBHED: Looking for answers
Altoona is 0-4 and has scored just 20 points this season, and it doesn't get any easier with 4-0 Central Dauphin East coming to Mansion Park on Friday.
"They have good athletes and good speed on the outside," Altoona coach Vince Nedimyer Jr. said. "They are active up front and have a QB that can spin it around pretty good. He does a nice job in the pocket for them and gets rid of the ball quickly. They are a good team for sure."
Altoona was trailing 21-0 in its game against Central Dauphin last week before a late touchdown drive that Nedimyer is hoping he will see more of as the season continues.
"The drive we had to go down and score in the fourth quarter, those are the kind of drives we're going to have," Nedimyer said. "We need to grind things out and keep preaching the same stuff. We can't turn the ball over, and we can't have penalties. Obviously, a lot of teams would struggle with that at the high school level. We have been focusing on it at practice, so our goal is to limit that."
SUBHED: Measuring stick
In another big area game, Northern Bedford County travels to Berlin Brothersvalley in a big ICC matchup.
The Black Panthers got the better of the Mountaineers last season, but both teams have vastly different rosters this year. Berlin is in District 5 Class 2A (partly due to a co-op with Rockwood), and NBC is in District 5 Class 1A.
"We have played each other several times the last decade or so," Northern Bedford coach Garry Black said. "Now it's something that we'll see each other more often. I look at them like how I looked at Bellwood in the ICC. They are a school that always does their thing, reloads and comes back for more. It's going to be a constant measuring stick for us as a program to see where we're at."
SUBHED: Lights on
Juniata Valley will host West Branch in another ICC game on Friday, but this game -- one of Valley's six "home" games this season -- will be held at Williamsburg's old football field.
The Blue Pirates and Green Hornets joined into a co-op in 2021, and this will be the second time Williamsburg has played host since the co-op.