Devin Whitlock’s record touchdown helps Belle Vernon run through Ringgold

By: Jeremy Sellew
Friday, October 9, 2020 | 11:24 PM

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There’s no doubting Belle Vernon’s Devin Whitlock’s athletic talent. Now, the junior will hold a place in Leopards history as well.

Whitlock scored four first-half touchdowns and found himself in the record books, returning an interception 105 yards on the final play of the half as Belle Vernon Area trounced rival Ringgold, 56-0, on The Beach at James Weir Stadium.

Whitlock scored on runs of 82, 1 and 31 yards, his only three carries of the game, for a total of 114 yards.

“Devin just continues to perform and make things happen when he’s in the game,” Belle Vernon coach Matt Humbert said. “And that interception return, I’m really glad he got to break that record.

“I am going to take credit for that one, though. I did sub him in the game there,” he said with a laugh.

The Leopards got off to a bit of a slow start as Whitlock’s 82-yard run came on their second series of the game.

Jackson Jewell got the start on senior night, and some other players were filling in at key roles.

“That’s the biggest thing we wanted to do coming in is get some kids some time that don’t normally get it,” Humbert said. “We had a few sophomores in the lineup that deserve it because they perform well in JV, Jackson being a senior and getting the start. We had a lot of kids run the ball tonight. We thought this would be a good opportunity to work on some things.

“I wasn’t happy with our execution, though. I thought we could have been a little crisper, but I can live with that because of how many kids got to play different spots.”

Of the eight ball carriers Belle Vernon utilized, only one — Dane Anden — had more than three carries. He had five for 107 yards and a score.

In the second quarter, things went sideways for the Rams (1-4, 0-4).

The Leopards (4-1, 4-1) put up 35 points in the quarter beginning with a Whitlock 1-yard run after he connected on back-to-back pass plays. He hit Ian Maloney, who rumbled 31 yards, then he found Anden, who raced for a 30-yard gain to the 1.

“It’s so frustrating,” Ringgold coach Darwin Manges said. “We didn’t tackle the football. We work on it all week long and we didn’t do it at all tonight.”

After the BVA defense got the ball back to its offense, Anden needed only one carry, a 68-yard jaunt, to make it 21-0 after a Tyler Kovatch extra point.

Kovatch was 8 for 8 on the night.

The Rams were forced to punt deep in their own end on the ensuing drive and the snap to Clayton Rosensteel was high and through his hands. He retrived it in the end zone but was hit and the ball popped right into the waiting arms of BVA’s Ryan Hamer for the fourth BVA touchdown of the game.

After stopping a Rams fake punt at the Ringgold 31, Whitlock needed only one play, the 31-yard touchdown, to make it 28-0.

“We never really had a chance to watch our offense sustain drives,” Humbert said. “It was big play after big play.”

The Rams put together a solid drive in the final minutes of the first half. Maddux Sukel and Landon Oslowski took turns carrying the ball. With a first down at the Belle Vernon 27-yard line and 14 seconds on the clock, Rams quarterback Braydon Fine made a nice play fake and sent a deep pass into the end zone.

Ringgold receiver Tanner Smith had both hands on the ball, but before he could come down with it, Whitlock snatched it out of his hands and took off the other way with blockers.

It turned into a school-record, 105-yard interception return making it 42-0 with all zeroes on the clock. He broke the mark of Dave Bashada, who set the record in 1978 with a 102-yard return.

“That was bad,” Manges said. “That should have been a touchdown. I asked why it wasn’t a touchdown. Our guy looked like he had possession in the end zone, so it should have been a touchdown. Devin’s a great player, phenomenal athlete. He does it to everyone they play. I’m not taking that play away from him. He took the ball right out of our guy’s hands.”

With the clock running to start the second half, the Leopards used a 25-yard run by freshman Quinton Martin to set up Ryan Hamer’s 34-yard touchdown scamper, untouched right through the heart of the Ringgold defense.

“The way we tackled tonight was really disheartening,” Manges said. “There’s really no other way to look at it.”

Belle Vernon finished with 509 yards of total offense, 434 on the ground.

Chase Ruokonen scored the final Leopards’ touchdown in the fourth quarter on a 44-yard run.

Humbert lauded the play of his team’s offensive and defensive lines, even without the injured Anthony Evans.

“They did a great job making the adjustments and noticing Ringgold came out in a different scheme. They kind of went from a 3-4 to a 3-3 stack, so we threw some things at them that they were able to adapt quickly,” Humbert said.

“I was impressed with Ringgold. They were very disciplined and never backed down.”

The Leopards turn their focus to Trinity, who Humbert knows will go all in to upset the Leopards.

“I warned them that they’re going to get their best shot,” Humbert said. “We have to be laser-focused all week. This is our last game as of now, and if we want to guarantee ourselves a playoff spot, we need to be ready. They have a lot of skill players that can do some things and some good linemen. It’s a conference opponent on the road. We need to continue progressing and be ready for them.”

Tags: Belle Vernon, Ringgold