Facing a gauntlet: Bellwood-Antis football getting second straight tough foe in week 2
High school football: Week 2
Trending
It's obviously only been one game into the 2025 high school football season, but Bellwood-Antis and McCort-Carroll are at the top of the District 6 Class 2A playoff rankings.
And if both teams have their way -- those standings will look very similar at the end of the season.
"This is a huge game. At the beginning of the season, I thought this would be one of the biggest games of the year," McCort-Carroll coach Tom Smith said. "We had an awesome football game a year ago at Point Stadium. We lost that game by one point on the last play or two of the game. Bellwood is going to be a tough team to beat. We have to play our 'A' game and have very few mistakes in order to do that, and right now, in 2A, I think they are the team to beat."
A year ago, Bellwood-Antis capped off its turnaround regular season with a 34-33 win over the Crushers and carried that momentum into the playoffs by beating River Valley and falling in a competitive game against Cambria Heights -- the eventual District 6 champion.
McCort-Carroll also made the playoffs and nearly knocked off Heights in the first round.
"We have some history with Bishop McCort," Bellwood-Antis coach Nick Lovrich said. "We played them last year in our Week 10 crossover, and we know they have a lot of kids back from last year with only two seniors from that team. They have some very talented skill kids. They also have a pretty good line too. We're playing a tough game for the second week in a row with good athletes. We'll have to bring our 'A' game, and it should be a classic battle."
So, will McCort or Bellwood bring that "A" game both talked about on Friday at John Hayes Field at Memorial Stadium?
Chase Plummer and Alex McCartney did not play in that game against McCort-Carroll last season, but they certainly caught Smith's eye in the Blue Devils' opening-season win over Clearfield.
"They have gotten some kids healthy," Smith said. "The Plummer boy and (McCartney) are good players that didn't get a lot of playing time last year due to injury. I watched some film on (McCartney), and he's a player. They run the football well."
Senior running back Jon Delia is among the many weapons McCort-Carroll will attempt to use against Bellwood.
"We have to make sure we're able to stop their running game," Lovrich said. "Their quarterback throws the ball really well. We have to take away those explosive big plays. Hopefully we can improve on some mental mistakes we made against Clearfield and control the controllables like penalties. The team that takes better care of the football has a good chance to win the football game."
McCort-Carroll did that for the most part in opening the season with a dominant 39-7 win over Bedford.
"I was happy with the kids' attitude going into the game," Smith said. "I was happy with about 85 percent of the game with their execution on offense and defense. We have a lot of things we need to improve on, but we didn't have a ton of that, which I was excited about. It is said that teams make their biggest improvements from the first week to the second."
Lovrich expects a big crowd and plenty of students at Friday's home opener.
"Our student section even traveled well to Clearfield," Lovrich said. "It's something we always talk about at our school with our kids. We want them to come out and enjoy those moments, because you only get so many. High school sports are great, and it's great when the whole school comes out and cheers for us. We (the football team) tries to do the same thing for the other teams. We're a big happy family."
Especially now that the Blue Devils are back on the winning track after suffering through a 2-8 season two years ago.
McCort-Carroll's appearance in the playoffs last season was a positive sign after several years of struggles. Now expectations are back on the rise.
"That's something we have wanted for a long time," Smith said. "We come from a long-time storied football program. This is the way it's supposed to be here. We're supposed to have high expectations. We haven't had them for a while. This is something that the school and people who have been around the school for a long time are used to, but the kids, maybe not so much at this point. I have been telling them for years that we have to get back to that. But we're taking this one game at a time."