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BELLWOOD -- For much of Friday night's Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference game at John R. Hayes Field at Memorial Stadium, Bellwood-Antis and Forest Hills made the contest feel like a playoff game.
It took until late in the third quarter for the game to turn for good and it was thanks to a pair of turnovers, a fumble followed by an interception.
That key swing gave the Blue Devils momentum for good as they head into the District 6 playoffs riding a three-game winning streak with a 45-27 triumph over the Rangers on senior night.
Sequence of the game: Late in the third quarter, the Blue Devil defense came up with a critical fumble recovery which helped set up an Alex McCartney 3-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Jackson Dorminy, on the next drive, intercepted a Ranger pass which was turned into a Chase Plummer 53-yard sprint to the house, giving Bellwood control.
Players of the game: Plummer (14 rushes for 157 yards, three touchdowns) and McCartney (27 rushes, 156 yards, two touchdowns) combined for 41 rushes, 313 yards and five scores.
Unsung heroes: B-A's O-line.
Most vital statistics: B-A racked up 266 yards in the second half on a combined 31 total carries.
B-A coach Nick Lovrich: "Our O-line did an excellent job. This is linemen football weather. The grounds a little .. it's cold, this is the weather they like. They were excited about tonight's game. We're really happy. Chase would be the first guy to compliment the line. They had the holes there for him and he finished it off.''
Forest Hills coach Justin Myers: "We just didn't make plays when they presented themselves. We needed guys to step up and make plays, and tonight we missed out on a lot of plays. We can score points, we scored 20 points in the second half, but we gave up 36 points. You can't do that against any team. Give them credit, they played well, they ran the ball hard against us, they did a lot of good things, but we just didn't make plays. They were better tonight.''
Plummer on the offensive line: "They just executed. They get to the second level, and that's all we needed.''
Notable: The Blue Devils scored 17 points off of turnovers, including another fumble which came on the opening kickoff return in the first quarter. ... Bellwood-Antis didn't attempt a single pass during the second half. ... Penalties did give the Blue Devils some issues as they were hit with 10 for 107 yards while the Rangers were called for six infractions for 59 yards.
Records: Forest Hills (6-4), Bellwood-Antis (6-4)
Next week: Forest Hills (Class 3A) and B-A (Class 2A) will advance to districts next week. B-A is tentatively slated to play at River Valley in the first round of action.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Forest Hills 7 0 13 7 - 20
Bellwood-Antis 9 0 15 21 - 45
First Quarter
BA--Smearman 21 FG, 7:25.
BA--McCartney 3 run (kick failed), 3:10.
FH--Richardson 6 run (Singer kick), :22.
Third Quarter
FH--Vitez 39 pass from Richardson (Singer kick), 11:43.
BA--Plummer 42 run (Shawley pass from Partner), 8:41.
FH--McGough 12 pass from Richardson (Singer kick), 6:21.
BA--McCartney 15 run (Smearman kick), :35.
Fourth Quarter
BA--McCartney 3 run (Smearman kick), 9:41.
BA--Plummer 53 run (Smearman kick), 7:13.
BA--Plummer 19 run (Smearman kick), 5:01.
FH--E. Raptosh 14 run (Singer kick), 1:52.
TEAM STATISTICS FH BA
First downs 15 18
Total yards 341 399
Rushes-yards 23-127 18-364
Yards passing 214 35
Pass (comp.-att.-int.) 17-34-1 2-6-0
Punts-avg. 1-44 4-33.3
Fumbles-lost 2-2 2-1
Penalties-yards 6-59 10-107
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Forest Hills, Richardson 17-94, Raptosh 1-16, Pramuk 1-1, Vitez 1-(-1), Carroll 1-(-5), E. Raptosh 2-22. Bellwood-Antis, Plummer 14-157, McCartney 27-156, Partner 5-36, Col. Gibbons 1-3, Crist 2-12.
PASSING--Forest Hills, Richardson 13-24-1-156, Myers 4-10-0-58. Bellwood-Antis, Partner 2-6-0-35.
RECEIVING--Forest Hills, Vitez 2-47, Pramuk 4-66, Custer 4-26, McGough 3-30, Myers 1-2, E. Raptosh 1-14, Richardson 2-29. Bellwood-Antis, Waite 1-33, Col. Gibbons 1-2.