BY CORY ISENBERG
BELLWOOD — Bellwood-Antis running back Zack McCaulley rushed for 123 yards on 22 carries, scored three touchdowns and helped the Blue Devils deny Portage a second straight trip to the District 6 Class A championship game on Saturday night with a 28-12 victory.
“I’m very happy right now with the outcome,” said Bellwood coach John Hayes, whose squad will be opposite top-seeded Bishop McCort in next weekend’s title game at Mansion Park in Altoona. “We kind of sparred all night trying to find some things that would work there. Portage is an outstanding football team. They are very quick, and we had to try to find things we could take advantage of.”
Portage’s first series ended with a punt, but on the ensuing catch by Bellwood, the ball was fumbled and the Mustangs’ Scott Nolan recovered at the Devils 39.
Five plays later, quarterback Taylor Swires hooked up with Ryan Scoran for a 26-yard touchdown to put the Mustangs (11-1) up 6-0. The PAT kick was blocked.
Bellwood (12-0) responded with a
13-play drive that consumed nearly seven minutes, capping the series with a 5-yard Nate Plummer pass to Danny Noye. Plummer’s kick, the first of four that he hit, put the Blue Devils ahead 7-6.
It didn’t take long for Portage to answer.
Bellwood’s coverage of the ensuing kickoff had the Mustangs starting from back at the 16. But on the third play of the series, Tommy Burgan took the handoff and rumbled to the outside, then cut back to the inside before zipping down the center, 83 yards for the score. Mike Sinosky came up just short on the conversion run, but Portage led 12-7 after the first.
In the second quarter, misfortune hit the Mustangs, who fumbled the ball at the 8. The ball was recovered by Bellwood’s Grant Martin, and two plays later McCaulley burst into the end zone for the 6-yard score. Plummer’s kick put Bellwood ahead 14-12 at the 2:04 mark of the second quarter, and the Devils never trailed again.
In the second half, it was all Bellwood, as the Blue Devils added two more McCaulley scores on runs of 15 and 9 yards.
The Blue Devils limited Portage to just 65 yards of total offense in the second half.
“We made enough big plays to get on the board and get ahead, and then our kids picked it up pretty well at that point,” Hayes said. “We have some pretty good kids on the edge there, but the big key was the big guys inside. They shut down the trap, which their offense is predicated on, and if they can’t run that it allows you to play a little more wide on the outside.”
Burgan finished with 137 yards on 11 carries while Sinosky was held to 33 yards on 10 carries.
“We played our hearts out,” Portage coach Gary Gouse said.
“We turned the ball over at the wrong time and they took advantage of it. That’s football. We fought hard to the end. I’m proud of these kids. We didn’t face adversity all year, so that was tough for us, too. But we played hard to the bitter end.”
