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By Andy Elder
For the Mirror
WINGATE -- Paced by Collin Gibbons' 94 yards rushing, 59 yards receiving and three touchdowns, Bellwood-Antis clinched a playoff spot Friday night with a 32-18 win over Bald Eagle Area at Alumni Stadium.
Play of the game: On a fourth-and-6 from the Blue Devils' 15-yard line and the Bald Eagles trailing 16-6, Bald Eagle quarterback Carson Nagle completed a pass to Beau Taylor for what appeared to be a first down just inside the Bellwood 10. The referees, however, spotted the ball short of the line to gain and the Eagles turned the ball over on downs. Bellwood then drove 90 yards on 12 plays for a touchdown to go ahead 24-6 to essentially put the game away.
Player of the game: Gibbons was Mr. Offense for Bellwood-Antis, accounting for 24 of Bellwood's 32 points. In addition to leading the team in rushing, he caught all four passes from quarterback Holden Schreier. He cashed in two receiving touchdowns, a rushing touchdown and six more points on two two-point conversion passes and another on a two-point run.
Unsung heroes: Cayden Pellegrine gained 85 yards on 13 tough runs, scored a touchdown on a breakaway 41-yard run and then capped that drive by catching a pass for the two-point conversion.
Most vital statistics: Bellwood gained 250 yards on 49 clock-eating rushes to keep the ball away from Bald Eagle Area's quick-strike offense.
Bellwood-Antis coach Nick Lovrich: "Priority No. 1 was us coming out and playing our best football game of the season so far. I think we played pretty well tonight. The last two games have been rough. We had two losses in a row, so we wanted to right the ship, and getting that W was the most important thing.''
Bald Eagle Area coach Jesse Nagle: "They're very vanilla, but they do it very well. They've got a lot of guys that can hurt you, but it's not like they spread it out to hurt you either. They just take turns and no one really gets tired. They're definitely a good football team.''
Records: Bellwood-Antis 6-3; Bald Eagle Area 4-5.
Next week: Bellwood-Antis is at McCort-Carroll while Bald Eagle Area travels to Somerset.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Bellwood-Antis 0 8 8 14 -- 32
Bald Eagle Area 0 6 0 6 -- 18
Second Quarter
BA--Gibbons 30 pass from Schreier (Schreier pass to Gibbons), 1:18.
BEA--Spackman 5 pass from Nagle (2-point failed), 0:10.
Third Quarter
BA--Pellegrine 41 run (Schreier pass to Pellegrine), 10:18.
Fourth Quarter
BA--Gibbons 3 run (Schreier pass to Gibbons), 9:04.
BEA--Taylor 52 pass from Nagle (2-point failed), 8:39.
BA--Gibbons 32 pass from Schreier (Gibbons run), 2:58.
BEA--Nagle 11 run (2-point failed), 1:32.
TEAM STATISTICS BA BEA
First downs 14 11
Total yards 309 361
Rushes-yards 49-250 22-130
Yards passing 59 231
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 4-9-0 17-27-1
Punts-avg. 3.27.33 2-35.0
Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-yards 3-20 6-50
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Bellwood-Antis, Pellegrine 13-85, Partner 7-26, Schreier 10-34, Gibbons 16-94, Kyle 3-11. Bald Eagle Area, Nagle 7-37, Spackman 1-0, McHenry 13-90, Shirk 1-3.
PASSING--Bellwood-Antis, Schreier 4-9-0-59. Bald Eagle Area, Nagle 16-26-1-204; Spackman 1-1-0-27.
RECEIVING--Bellwood-Antis, Gibbons 4-59. Bald Eagle Area, Shirk 1-27, Noone 4-70, Fisher 4-34, Taylor 5-85, Spackman 3-15.