Photo for the Mirror by Terry McCaulley Jr.
JV’s Jake Johnson is pursued by Bellwood’s Brandon Cherry.

By Jon Fleck

For the Mirror

BELLWOOD — Friday night is one the Juniata Valley football team and its fans won’t soon forget.

The Hornets went into John R. Hayes Field at Memorial Stadium on senior night and handed Bellwood-Antis a 26-7 loss, the Blue Devils’ first Inter-County Conference setback in six years.

Lineman Jonathan Bouch on the win: “It’s legendary. It’s absolutely legendary. It hasn’t happened in my lifetime. We came out and played smash-mouth football. That’s what we’re all about.”

Plays of the game: After taking a 7-0 lead with a touchdown on the opening possession of the game, Juniata Valley extended that lead to 20-0 with a pair of touchdowns just before halftime.

Quarterback Lambert Palmer hit Jacob Rodkey deep along the visitor’s sideline for a 42-yard gain to the Bellwood 2, and Jake Johnson scored on the next play to put JV up 14-0 with 1:20 left until half.

Valley then recovered a fumble at the Bellwood 42 on the ensuing possession with 17 seconds left, and Palmer hit a wide-open Johnson in stride along the visiting sidelines for a 58-yard touchdown pass for a three-score lead at the break.

Johnson on the play: “The defensive back ended up falling down, but credit to our line for blocking for our quarterback and the quarterback putting the ball right where it needed to be. The line had great push all night. They did an excellent job of getting push 3, 4 yards downfield, and the backs did the rest.”

Players of the game: Palmer completed 10-of-16 passes for 215 yards and a touchdown. Rodkey caught four of those passes for 121 yards and a touchdown. Jayce Rand ran for 93 yards on 20 carries. Johnson had three touchdowns, two on short runs following long pass plays to Rodkey and the one right before halftime.

Unsung heroes: The Hornets’ defense, led by Bryant Allison and Austin Dick, allowed no points. Bellwood’s lone score came on a Cooper Guyer 30-yard fumble return midway through the third quarter.

Dick and Allison made key stops early in the third quarter when Bellwood was driving for a score. Dick tripped up BA quarterback Zach Pellegrine for a 4-yard loss on second-and-goal and both pressured Pellegrine into incompletion pass on third-and-goal before Allison threw Pellegrine for a 10-yard loss on fourth down to end the scoring threat.

JV coach Bill Musser: “Those are two young men that have worked extremely hard. They’ve been leaders all season long. They’re doing their jobs. They’re playing disciplined. They’re doing everything we ask them to do, and it showed up (Friday).”

Most vital statistic: Valley rolled up 401 yards of total offense while limiting Bellwood to 144 yards of total offense.

Musser: “When we have our full complement of players, that’s who we can be. Bellwood is such a quality program. They’re the measuring stick in our area right now. Coach (Jason) Showalter had an awesome defensive scheme set up. Coach (Ryan) Hileman did a great job with the offense. I can’t ask for any more out of my team and my coaches.”

Bellwood coach Nick Lovrich, who suffered his first ICC loss as a head coach: “Juniata Valley played a really good game. We weren’t going to win every game forever. This loss hurts. It hurts all of us. We put a lot of effort and a lot of time into it. Every single player on this team works so hard for Friday night, and it wasn’t our night. We still have games to play. We have Week 10 next week and the playoffs the following week. We need to rebound and learn from this. This is a tight-knit group. I have faith they’ll bounce back.”

Notable: Before Friday, Bellwood’s last ICC loss came against Northern Bedford in 2015. … Bellwood committed three straight penalties on one possession in the second quarter. The Blue Devils were flagged for a false start, illegal shift and illegal motion back-to-back-to-back, turning a third-and-10 play into a third-and-25. They finished the game with 5 penalties for 25 yards.

Records: Juniata Valley (7-1); Bellwood (8-1).

Next week: Juniata Valley hosts Southern Huntingdon. Bellwood plays at Claysburg-Kimmel.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Juniata Valley 7 13 0 6 — 26

Bellwood-Antis 0 0 7 0 — 7

First Quarter

JV–Johnson 1 run (Rodkey kick), 10:59.

Second Quarter

JV–Johnson 2 run (Rodkey kick), 1:20.

JV–Johnson 58 pass from Palmer (kick failed), :07.

Third Quarter

BA–Guyer 30 fumble return (Daughenbaugh kick), 4:55.

Fourth Quarter

JV–Rodkey 6 pass from Palmer (kick failed), 10:12.

TEAM STATISTICS JV BA

First downs 18 9

Total yards 401 144

Rushes-yards 41-186 28-62

Yards passing 215 82

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 10-17-0 8-14-0

Punts-avg. 1-29 3-34.7

Fumbles-lost 3-1 3-1

Penalties-yards 2-20 5-25

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Juniata Valley, Rand 20-93, Palmer 4-20, Johnson 5-14, McMonagle 8-64, Allison 2-2, Beason 1-(-6), TEAM 1-(-1). Bellwood-Antis, Gibbons 15-63, Cherry 2-5, Kost 2-5, Pellegrine 8-(-35), Ridgway 1-24.

PASSING–Juniata Valley, Palmer 10-16-0-215, Johnson 0-1-0-0. Bellwood-Antis, Pellegrine 8-14-0-82.

RECEIVING–Juniata Valley, Rodkey 4-121, Johnson 3-83, McMonagle 1-(-4), Allison 2-15. Bellwood-Antis, Kost 3-23, Keen 3-23, Mallon 1-11, Ridgway 1-25.