Blue Devils travel to Ridge looking for big win

By: Colin McClellan  |  October 10, 2025  |  Photo: Cameron Gallagher

The Bellwood-Antis football team lost to Bishop Guilfoyle 21-14 in a hard fought game on Homecoming last week. Now they are set to travel to Chestnut Ridge this Friday hoping to keep themselves in the District 6 2A playoff mix.

Both teams stand at 3-4 this season and both are coming off a loss. The game will come down to who can run the ball better, with Chestnut Ridge having 1,140 rushing yards to Bellwood’s 1,237.

The Lions lost to Penn Cambria 28-7 last week. Ridge had 29 carries for 74 yards, recording their lowest rushing this season. They look forward to the running the ball, but tend to make a couple of big passing plays in most of their games. Even so, they have completed just 48 passes for 568 yards this whole season.

In the Devils’ loss to Bishop Guilfoyle, B-A ran for only 68 yards on 27 carries, while the passing game produced just 6 completions for 48 yards.

Blue Devils running back Alex McCartney has been efficient for the offense. leading the team with 783rishing yards and 111.9 yards per game. He has scored 14 of 16 touchdowns for Bellwood this year, leading the Devils throughout the season. Quarterback Bradyn Partner, now beginning to get healthy after a serious ankle injury early on, has 30 completions this season for 365 yards. He believes if they limit a few mistakes each game, they would be a much more successful team.

“This isn’t how we planned to start the season, but if we limit a few mistakes and click as a team to show the talent we have, we will be a great team,” he said.

Chestnut Ridge running back Jayden Imler has ran for 731 yards and has produced 7 touchdowns for the Lions. Quarterback Landyn Pincin has completed 47 passes for 540 yards and 4 touchdowns.

The game will come down to the running game and which running back can break through to get the win.

For Blue Devils coach Nick Lovrich, that has as much to do with stopping the run as blocking for it, and that’s something B-A hasn’t done well, of late.

“The last two weeks we have struggled stopping the run and that is going to take a full team effort to get better at that part of our game,” the coach said. “The focus we need to do that is making sure we use the proper technique when tackling and not just using our arms.”