Penns Valley football ends its season with a loss to Bellwood-Antis in the District 6 2A playoffs

Penns Valley quarterback Jackson Romig threw four touchdown passes in the Rams District 6 2A playoff game against Bellwood-Antis Friday, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Blue Devils’ dominant rushing attack.

The offensive line’s strong push up front paved the way for Bellwood to roll up 480 yards of total offense, 333 coming on the ground, in a 49-28 win at John R. Hayes Field at Memorial Stadium.

“Bellwood’s a good football team. Their size up front gave us trouble,” PV coach Martin Tobias said. “We knew coming in that it would be a matchup of our skill guys and our passing attack against their running attack. That’s the way it played out.”

Penns Valley struck quickly when Romig hit an open Zach Braucht in stride along the visiting sideline for a 63-yard touchdown on the first play of the game.

It was just the beginning of a wild first quarter.

Bellwood quickly regrouped, putting together a 9-play, 56-yard scoring drive on its first possession. Connor Gibbons had 40 yards rushing on the drive. The senior back finished for 219 yards and two touchdowns on 33 carries.

“I couldn’t do any of that without the line,” Gibbons said. “They dominated up front. They got a good push, and I was able just able to find the holes.”

The Blue Devils recovered a fumble at the Penns Valley 17 on the ensuing kickoff, allowing Bellwood to grab a 14-7 lead three plays later.

After Bellwood extended its lead to 21-7, Romig struck again, this time hitting Danin Kerstetter in stride behind the defense for a 60-yard touchdown, capping a 35-point first quarter.

Bellwood went to the air for its next two touchdowns. Zach Pellegrine hit Hunter Shawley on a post pattern for a 24-yard score then found him open behind the defense for a 48-yard touchdown that put the Blue Devils up 35-14.

Penns Valley closed out the first half on a high, however, when Romig and Braucht connected again, this time for 44 yards along the visiting sideline. The pass looked like it might be a bit too long, but Braucht continued to accelerate and pulled it in with his fingertips before just before crossing the goal line.

“They got some big plays on us. That’s something we have to work on if we want to continue playing,” BA coach Nick Lovrich said.

The Rams opened the second half with an onside kick they recovered at the Bellwood 42. Six plays later, Romig dropped a pass into Hunter Lyons lap at the front pylon of the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown to make it a one-score game. That was as close Penns Valley would get.

Bellwood finished off the Rams with a Cooper Guyer 14-yard TD run later in the third quarter then Pellegrine hit Sean Mallon for a 31-yard score in the final quarter.

“Our offensive line did an awesome job,” Lovrich said. “They were moving their feet. They were hitting their blocks. Throw in the tight ends, and they did a really good job of controlling the front.”

Bellwood advances to the 2A semifinals and will host Richland next week. Penns Valley’s season ends at 6-5.

“It was a fun year. We had a wonderful group of young men to work with. We as coaches felt privileged to come to practice every day to work with them,” Tobias said. “It was special to see them come together with so many inexperienced players, so much youth to start the season. We only had one returning starter on offense and one on defense. We put together a nice year, a nice season. I hope the kids had as much as we did because it was a blast.”

Bellwood-Antis 49, Penns Valley 28

District 6 Class 2A Quarterfinals

Friday at Bellwood-Antis

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Penns Valley 14 7 7 0 — 28

Bellwood-Antis 21 14 7 7 — 49

First Quarter

PV-Braucht 63 pass from Romig (Watson kick), 11:40.

BA-Gibbons 10 run (Daughenbaugh kick), 6:44.

BA-Guyer 3 run (Daughenbaugh kick), 5:22.

BA-Gibbons 3 run (Daughenbaugh kick), :38.

PV-Kerstetter 60 pass from Romig (Watson kick), :07.

Second Quarter

BA-Shawley 24 pass from Pellegrine (Daughenbaugh kick), 9:06.

BA-Shawley 48 pass from Pellegrine (Daughenbaugh kick), 3:06.

PV-Braucht 44 pass from Romig (Watson kick), :58.

Third Quarter

PV-Lyons 20 pass from Romig (Watson kick), 10:12.

BA-Guyer 14 run (Daughenbaugh kick), 4:03.

Fourth Quarter

BA-Mallon 31 pass from Pellegrine (Daughenbaugh kick), 9:16.

TEAM STATISTICS PV BA

First downs 10 26

Total yards 277 480

Rushes-yards 10-25 59-333

Yards passing 252 147

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 15-24-1 8-12-0

Punts-avg. 4-29.0 2-33.0

Fumbles-lost 3-2 3-0

Penalties-yards 6-50 6-40

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Penns Valley, Ilgen 1-0, Watson 2-6, Brooks 1-3, Romig 6-16. Bellwood-Antis, Gibbons 33-219, Guyer 11-60, Ridgway 1-11, Pellegrine 1-(-5), Kost 6-44, Cherry 1-2, Keen 2-10, TEAM 4-(-8).

PASSING—Penns Valley, Romig 15-23-0-252, Brooks 0-1-1-0. Bellwood-Antis, Pellegrine 8-12-0-147.

RECEIVING—Penns Valley, Braucht 5-141, Ilgen 1-0, Kerstetter 1-60, Watson 3-3, Brooks 3-21, Lyons 1-20, Meyer 1-7. Bellwood-Antis, Keen 1-6, Shawley 3-77, Mallon 3-51, Kost 1-13.

This story was originally published November 6, 2021 at 12:46 AM.