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Bellefonte pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the 2026 PIAA high school football season to date by stunning one of the state's top Class 2A teams, previously unbeaten Richland, 16-13, last Friday night on the Red Raiders' home field at Rogers Stadium.
Rogers Stadium will be the site of a second straight Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference showdown tonight when Bellwood-Antis, one of the top contenders for the District 6 Class 2A championship this season, visits Bellefonte.
Kickoff between the 6-2 Blue Devils and 5-3 Red Raiders is set for 7 p.m. tonight.
Both teams are riding hot hands coming into the game. Bellwood has won three of its last four outings, averaging 35 points in the three victories -- including a 35-6 win over Chestnut Ridge last Friday.
Bellefonte, the defending District 6 Class 4A champion, has won three straight games.
Bellwood-Antis coach Nick Lovrich was impressed but not surprised about Bellefonte's upset victory over Richland last Friday.
"Richland is a really good football team,'' Lovrich said. "I watched the game film of that game and Bellefonte has some playmakers and they played a really good game against Richland.
"Not too many teams are able to get a win against Richland, and (Bellefonte) was able to do that, so they have some talent and they're definitely a very good football team. (But) that's what you're seeing every weekend in the Laurel Highlands.
"You're always going to (play against) a good team.''
Sophomore quarterback Alten Howell, who quarterbacked Bellefonte to the District 6 Class 4A title last November as a freshman, came up huge in the Richland game, hitting junior wideout Kolton Ammerman with a 13-yard touchdown pass with only 13 seconds left in the game to erase a 13-9 deficit and give the Red Raiders a heart-stopping victory.
"He's a gamer,'' Bellefonte coach Tony Confer said of Howell. "He's small, but he's very athletic and very smart. He finds a way to get himself out of bad situations.''
Howell provided a case in point on the game-winning touchdown pass against Richland.
"I don't know how he did it - it was a Houdini play,'' Confer said about Howell's efforts on the decisive touchdown throw. "(The Richland defender) had him dead to rights, and he just ducked and flipped the kid over top of him and threw the ball immediately and our receiver (Ammerman) caught it while standing near the pylon in the front corner of the end zone.
"It was an incredible play.''
Bellefonte also played stout defense and registered a very solid performance on special teams in last Friday's big win.
"The field position that we got all night was really good,'' Confer said. "Our punter Caleb Bartley did a phenomenal job. He pinned them inside the 10-yard line three times on punts, and when you have special teams play like that, it can really flip the field for you.
"It really makes a big impact on the game, especially if you can play good defense and keep the field position in your favor all night, which is what we did,'' Confer added. "Our kids had a good week of practice last week and they believed that if they came out and executed, which they did, that they would have the opportunity for a huge win.''
Confer believes that Bellwood will provide an equally formidable challenge, and a very physical one at that.
(Bellwood is) not real flashy, but they always have big guys up front and they like to run the ball down the field on you,'' Confer said. "Looking at their games in which they've come out on top this year, they've jumped on teams early, so we have to weather that storm early and get some stops on them.''
The Blue Devils have three solid runners -- senior quarterback Bradyn Partner and senior backs Alex McCartney and Chase Plummer -- moving up the field behind their big offensive line.
McCartney, who would have been a four-year starter had he not missed his entire sophomore season two years ago with a knee injury, has rushed for 903 yards on 139 carries and 14 touchdowns this season, while Partner has rushed for 629 yards on 64 carries and four touchdowns, and also completed 29 of 68 passes for 264 yards and a score. Plummer has 258 yards rushing on 44 carries for five touchdowns.
Senior tight end Ethan Shawley has a team-high 15 receptions for 191 yards and a touchdown, while senior wideout Jeffrey Waite has 12 catches for 154 yards and a score.
"Offensively, we've been doing some good things,'' Lovrich said. "We put some good points up last week. If you take out the Bishop Guilfoyle game (a 10-0 Bellwood loss on October 10 at Mansion Park), we've been pretty consistent as far as scoring goes.
"We need to keep working at that consistency, and hopefully be able to move the ball against Bellefonte and put some points on the board.''
Alten Howell has completed 52 of 83 passes for 683 yards and seven touchdowns this season for Bellefonte, while rushing for 399 yards on 87 carries and four scores. His older brother Ashten, a senior slot back, has a team-leading 23 receptions for 205 yards and has also rushed for 257 yards on 42 carries and three touchdowns. Sophomore wideout Parker Jodon has 21 catches for 484 yards and four TDs this season for the Red Raiders.
"It's going to be like every other week -- we have to make sure that we take care of the football and that we tackle well,'' Lovrich said. "We can't have turnovers because (Bellefonte is) pretty opportunistic. Their skill kids make plays and I've seen them break tackles in some games. We have to make sure that we're using the correct form and taking the correct angles when tackling, and running through our tackles.''
Confer expects a hard-fought, hotly-contested game.
"It's going to be a dog fight,'' Confer said. "That's what Bellwood always brings is physicality and a solid running game. We know it's not going to be easy, but our kids are ready for the challenge.
"We know that we have to be able to score some points, and we have to keep their defense off the field as much as possible, and keep our offense on it.''
Where: Rogers Stadium, Bellefonte.
When: 7 p.m. tonight
Records: Bellwood-Antis is 6-2. Bellefonte is 5-3.
Coaches: Nick Lovrich is 67-30 in nine seasons at Bellwood-Antis; Tony Confer is 20-24 in four seasons at Bellefonte.
Last week: Bellwood-Antis defeated Chestnut Ridge, 35-6. Bellefonte defeated Richland, 16-13.
Last season: Bellwood-Antis won, 22-0 on its home field.
Noteworthy: Bellefonte leads the all-time series, 2-1. There has been one tie. The schools first played back in 1911, with Bellefonte posting a 35-0 victory. Bellefonte won the 1913 game, 6-0, and the 1915 game ended in a 6-6 tie. All four games between the two schools to date have been played in Bellwood. This is the first meeting ever in Bellefonte.