It's hard to argue that any school in the area has had more of a shakeup over the past year than Bellwood-Antis.
Legendary football coach John Hayes' passing last Saturday is the latest loss to the community's strong tradition in high school sports.
The changes started last year when the school decided to leave the Inter-County Conference to join the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference in all sports.
Soon after, longtime cross country and girls track and field coach Julie Roseborough stepped down after 57 years coaching B-A girls track.
The Bellwood-Antis girls basketball team, which won PIAA titles in 2018 and 2019 under coach Jim Swaney, suffered an upset loss to Bishop McCort in the first round of the District 6 Class 2A playoffs in February.
In May, Swaney announced his retirement.
The start of football season heightened concerns about the transition to the LHAC, something Hayes did not support, when the Blue Devils started 0-5 and were forced to play their rivalry game against Tyrone in the fifth week of the season instead of in the opener.
But as bleak as things may look, there's plenty of reason to believe Bellwood-Antis has the right people in place to start building a new strong sports tradition.
Hayes' successor, Nick Lovrich, bleeds blue and gold. He's coached the girls basketball team in the past and is currently the football coach and boys track and field coach.
Following B-A's 34-0 loss to Tyrone in the "Backyard Brawl," I had people ask me if I thought Bellwood might see its football season completely fall apart with kids who had no experience losing leaving the team.
Instead, Lovrich rallied the troops, went on the road and picked up Bellwood's first LHAC win, 20-7, over Philipsburg-Osceola. The fact he got his team mentally prepared for a game at P-O after a completely deflating loss to their rival speaks volumes.
In addition to Lovrich, new girls basketball coach Kyley Longo-McGarvey and boys basketball coach Tyler Mertiff, who will be entering his second year, seem dedicated to playing the long game at Bellwood-Antis and could lead those programs through at least the next decade if not more.
Bellwood-Antis might not beat Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic on Friday, the B-A girls basketball team might not win another state championship any time soon and the boys might struggle in their first go-around in the LHAC this winter.
But the family-type atmosphere and pride Hayes helped instill at Bellwood-Antis has the potential to live on through the new leaders in place, and with some patience, I'm confident the wins will eventually come.
Michael Boytim can be reached at mboytim@altoonamirror.com or 814-946-7521. Follow him on X @BoytimMichael.