By SAMUEL LEGG
It was survival of the fittest between a pair of two-time defending district champions at Johnstown’s Point Stadium on Friday night.
Top-seeded Bishop McCort had to rally three separate times before finally holding off No. 4 Bellwood-Antis 24-20 in the District 6 Class A semifinals.
“You’ll find adversity in football games when you play very good football teams, and Bellwood gave us every single thing we could handle,” Crimson Crushers coach Ken Salem said. “We were fortunate enough to have enough gas in the tank, enough plays in the playbook to be able to pull out a win against a very good team.
“This was an outstanding game between two tremendous programs. Bellwood had a tremendous amount of fight. Their execution matched their heart.”
Defending Class A champion Bellwood-Antis (10-2) had defending Double-A titleholder Bishop McCort (11-0) on the ropes after taking a 20-17 lead with 9:13 left in the fourth quarter.
Bellwood-Antis’ Jimmy Watters caught a 9-yard touchdown from quarterback Nate Gray (8-of-12 for 150 yards) and Tyler Gies tacked on the extra point.
But the Crimson Crushers responded with Eric Lowry’s 50-yard kickoff return, setting up Bishop McCort at the Blue Devils’ 39.
Two plays later, quarterback Jack Schrey found Dane Domonkos streaking down the right sideline for the game-winning touchdown from the 37 with 8:08 left.
The Blue Devils started the next possession at their 40 and advanced to the Crimson Crushers’ 35. But on fourth-and-4, Bishop McCort held Gray to just 2 yards.
Bishop McCort took over with 4:19 left and marched the ball 44 yards to the Bellwood-Antis 23 before taking a knee two straight plays to run out the clock.
“The game boiled down to a couple big plays for us in the fourth quarter,” Salem said. “The score – Schrey to Domonkos – gave us our legs back after Bellwood had taken the lead, and the big stop at the end of the game was critical. They had converted a big third-down play and had us on our heels again.”
Bishop McCort will face tonight’s semifinal winner between Purchase Line (11-0) and Portage (11-0) on Nov. 22 at Mansion Park in Altoona.
“There’s a lot of great football tradition at Bishop McCort,” Salem said. “We’re excited about the opportunity. We know we’re going to play an undefeated, outstanding team next week.”
Domonkos, who had four catches for 112 yards, opened the scoring with a 42-yard field goal, but the Blue Devils took the lead when Gray passed to Trey Mock for a score. Geis’ PAT made it 7-3.
Isa Wadley scored from the 2, giving the Crimson Crushers a 10-7 halftime lead.
Geis hauled in a Gray pass from the 21 but the Blue Devils failed on the two-point run conversion.
Josh Seidel, who returned to the Crimson Crushers’ lineup after an injury earlier in the season, scored from the 1 for a 17-13 early fourth-quarter lead, setting up the dramatic finish.
“Whenever you’re on the short-end of the stick, it doesn’t matter how well you played,” Blue Devils coach John Hayes said. “It’s just hard to swallow – the defeat – knowing you’re not putting the pads on, you’re not going back out next week to practice.”
