Special teams play ignites Heights | News, sports, jobs

Cambria Heights #21 Trey Trybus takes a handoff to the house on a 1st and 10 to put the Highlanders up 8-0 in the first half

By Michael Boytim

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PATTON — When teams are evenly matched, sometimes a special team play makes the difference in the outcome.

With neither team budging on defense in Friday’s game between Bellwood-Antis and Cambria Heights in a District 6 Class 2A semifinal at Cambria Heights Stadium, Garrett Jasper’s kick that went out of bounds on the 1 yard line to be monumental.

The Blue Devils snapped the ball out of the back of the end zone after three plays gained just four yards to the safety, and then the Highlanders took advantage of a short field after the kickoff and scored a touchdown to take control of the game to take. an eventual 15-8 victory.

“It’s been all year; I don’t know what else to say that hasn’t been said already,” Cambria Heights coach Jarrod Lewis said. “His punting was fantastic. Special teams is a big part of the game, and I thought especially in the first part of the game, we played a lot of the game on that side of the field. Garrett’s punt was fantastic.”

Cambria Heights will take on Richland, a 35-14 winner over Marion Center in the other semifinal, next weekend at Mansion Park in the District 6 Class 2A championship.

“Last year we won the district title (in Class 1A), and a lot of people commented on us moving to 2A,” Lewis said. “So we’re proud to have proven them wrong and get back to the District 6 championship game.”

Play of the Game: Jasper’s punt was huge, but the end result wasn’t decided until he tackled Bellwood-Antis quarterback Holden Schreier down the sideline on fourth-and-10 from the Heights 34 with 5:19 to play 4 yards short of the first down.

“They made some big plays on defense, and that was the difference,” Bellwood-Antis coach Nick Lovrich said.

Player of the Game: Cambria Heights gets so many contributions from so many players, but even though Trey Trybus led the Highlanders with 104 yards on 16 carries, Luke Mulraney’s 91 yards on 19 carries came on clutch times for several key first downs. Mulraney was not used as often in the running game this year as he was last season, but he also played a fantastic game defensively.

“It’s someone different every week, and that’s what makes us so dangerous,” Lewis said. “I am proud of our boys. I’m proud of how we responded and how we played. To be honest, we showed a lot of character. Our seniors are leading the way, but we have a lot of kids who are very proud. We don’t want to be done.”

Unsung hero: Heights quarterback Isaac Weiland was very accurate and sharp in his passing, going 9-for-12 for 125 yards, which helped open up the Highlanders running game, which gained 244 yards on the night.

“Last year we were very young,” Weiland said. “We have a lot of experience, and this year we have that experience and we are taking advantage of that on the football field.”

Key stat: Bellwood-Antis had just seven first downs, and four of those came on the Blue Devils’ lone scoring drive.

“Our guys gave everything they had. I am proud of the effort they have made all year. They fought all year long in every game we had. I am very proud of the efforts and progress we have made with our boys this year,” said Lovrich. “The seniors have done a fantastic job as leaders, and we will certainly miss them, but it is a bittersweet ending. We wish we were still playing. Cambria Heights is a very good, physical football team and they made plays when they needed to.”

Hang on, right: Heights fumbled five times and lost three to help the Blue Devils stay in the game. Several of the fumbles resulted from BA batting the ball away, something it worked on in practice.

“We are constantly working on turnover stations for these types of situations,” Lovrich said. “If you want to be good at takeaways, you have to practice it, so we practice it.”

Lovrich on going from 2-8 last year to 8-4 this year: “You feel good about that, but our goal was to play for a district championship, and we didn’t achieve that goal. When we look back on the season, we’ll probably feel a little better about it. But right now it hurts. We wanted to play next weekend.”

Weiland: “It feels great. We have to limit our fumbles and turnovers, but we did what we had to do to win.”

Notable: Stephen Nelen and Marshall Eckenrode ran for touchdowns for the Highlanders. Nelen’s run for a first down on third-and-3 from the BA 26 sealed the game. … Bellwood’s Quinn Focht was ejected in the final seconds after picking up a personal foul as Heights took a knee. … Ethan Shawley caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from Schreier to get Bellwood-Antis on the board, and Cayden Pellegrine caught a two-point conversion pass. … The teams’ only other meeting came in a 2019 playoff game, won by Bellwood – also by a score of 15-8.

Data: Bellwood-Antis (8-4); Cambria Heights (12-0).

Next week: Cambria Heights plays Richland next weekend for the District 6 Class 2A championship at Mansion Park.

SCORE BY QUARTER

Bellwood Antis 0 0 8 0 — 8

Cambria Elevations 0 8 7 0 — 15

Second quarter

CH – Safety (click over the gambler’s head), 10:38.

CH – Nelen 10 run (kick failed), 8:15.

Third quarter

CH – Eckenrode 1 run (Abrams kick), 6:41.

BA – Shawley 5 pass from Schreier (Pellegrine pass from Schreier), 2:13.

TEAM STATISTICS BA CH

First downs 7 23

Total number of yards 106 369

Rush yards 27-88 55-244

Yards passing 18 125

Pass (comp.-att.-int.) 4-12-0 9-12-0

Point avg. 6-38.7 2-39

Fumbles-lost 0-0 5-3

Penalties 7-60 7-55

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Bellwood-Antis, Gibbons 10-48, Pellegrine 7-25, Schreier 4-14, Kyle 2-1, Partner 4-0. Cambria Heights, Trybus 16-104, Mulraney 19-91, Eckenrode 6-33, Nelen 10-24, Jasper 1-0, Weiland 1-(-6), TEAM 2-(-2).

PASSING–Bellwood-Antis, Schreier 4-12-0-18. Cambria Heights, Meadow 9-12-0-125.

RECEIVED–Bellwood-Antis, Gibbons 3-13, Shawley 1-5. Cambria Heights, Trybus 3-67, Nelen 3-35, Eckenrode 2-11, Jasper 1-12.