Devils take one on the chin
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By Nate Powles
npowles@altoonamirror.com
BELLWOOD -- It was a rough night in all phases of the game for Bellwood-Antis on a chilly Friday night from John R. Hayes Field at Memorial Stadium.
The Blue Devils closed out their regular season with a blowout loss to the Penns Valley Rams, 42-0. Senior quarterback Gaven Ridgway completed only three of his 14 pass attempts and threw three interceptions for Bellwood. On the other hand, Penns Valley junior QB Jackson Romig had a nearly flawless game, throwing for more than 250 yards on 10 completions, including two deep touchdown passes of 51 and 36 yards.
Play of the game: Safety Micah Good jumped in front of a Ridgway pass near the end of the first quarter for an interception and sprinted downfield for a 46-yard touchdown, adding an exclamation point to an overall dominant first quarter for Penns Valley.
Player of the game: When a player has two touchdown receptions and then adds a pick-6 on top of that, it's inevitable he'd be the player of the game. Senior Miles Brooks was all over the field Friday night, tormenting Bellwood-Antis on both offense and defense. He was Romig's favorite target and had pivotal plays at pivotal moments.
Unsung heroes: The defensive line was a lone bright spot for the Blue Devils, limiting Penns Valley to just 48 yards on the ground. The unit plugged up the line of scrimmage and didn't allow a run longer than nine yards.
Most vital statistic: The turnover battle was lopsided in Penns Valley's favor, as the Ram defense forced four turnovers. Two interceptions were returned for scores and the other two gave the Rams the ball in favorable field position.
Bellwood-Antis coach Nick Lovrich: "Penns Valley made some big plays, had a couple big pass receptions and kind of shut us down on offense. They're a good team, and we just have to regroup and get ready for next week, which is playoffs. We did a better job stopping the run than the pass. We can't just be happy with stopping one side of the offense because they're multidimensional. We'll bounce back and hopefully next week is a little different. I think our seniors will take control of the locker room, and they're going to make sure the guys are ready to go."
Penns Valley coach Martin Tobias: "Bellwood's an excellent football team. They are one of the best football programs overall in the state of Pennsylvania. I have a great deal of respect for them and their players. We knew that our players were going to have to come out and execute because Bellwood wasn't going to beat themselves. Last year, we played Bellwood here and the results were the opposite. We didn't have a good night. Our kids have grown up a lot since then and it shows."
Romig: "We came into this game wanting to stop the run, which we did. Offensive line did great. We put points up early and made big plays, gave the ball to our play-makers, and they did their thing. We have to keep the momentum up."
Notable: The Blue Devils were not called for a penalty all game, while the Rams only had three flags, making for a clean game overall
Records: Bellwood-Antis (6-4); Penns Valley (8-2).
Next week: Both teams will advance to the playoffs, with matchups to be finalized Sunday.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Bellwood-Antis 0 0 0 0 -- 0
Penns Valley 28 7 7 0 -- 42
First Quarter
PV--Watson 1 run (Watson kick), 9:34.
PV--Brooks 6 pass from Romig (Watson kick), 8:01.
PV--Brooks 51 pass from Romig (Watson kick), 4:38.
PV--Good 46 INT (Watson kick), 2:18.
Second Quarter
PV--Meyer 36 pass from Romig (Watson kick), 1:17.
Third Quarter
PV--Brooks 29 INT (Watson kick), 10:03.
TEAM STATISTICS B-A PV
First downs 7 12
Total yards 85 304
Rushes-yards 30-75 27-48
Yards passing 10 256
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 3-14-3 10-14-0
Fumbles-lost 2-1 0-0
Penalties-yards 0-0 3-25
Punts-yards 3-81 3-105
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Bellwood-Antis, Ridgway 12-41, Kost 12-31, Swogger 4-3, Kyle 2-0. Penns Valley, Watson 19-48, Romig 5-12, Meyer 1-(-1), Miller 1-(-5), Stover 1-(-6).
PASSING--Bellwood-Antis, Ridgway 3-14-10. Penns Valley, Romig 10-14-256.
RECEIVING--Bellwood-Antis, Pluebell 1-10, Pellegrine 1-2, Kost 1-(-2). Penns Valley, Brooks 6-150, Meyer 2-65, Kerstetter 1-31, Watson 1-10.