Ligonier Valley headed back to D6 title game

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, November 10, 2018 | 10:36 PM

JOHNSTOWN — Ligonier Valley’s ground game was held in check by Bellwood-Antis in the PIAA District 6 Class 2A semifinals Saturday.

But that was OK because Ligonier Valley, behind the 314 yards passing of senior John Caldwell, went to the airways and rolled to a 34-7 victory against Bellwood-Antis to punch its third consecutive trip to the championship, which will be played either Friday or Saturday at Mansion Park Stadium in Altoona.

That’s where Ligonier Valley (12-0) will butt heads against Richland (12-0) for the title in a battle of Rams. That’s the nickname of both teams.

It was apparent from the start the Bellwood-Antis defense was not going to allow Ligonier Valley junior Kyrie Miller run wild. But the back end of the Blue Devils’ defense could not handle Caldwell and receivers Sam Sheeder and Aaron Tutino.

Caldwell completed 17 of 27 passes and connected on two touchdowns: 47 yards to Sheeder to open the scoring and 21 yards to tight end Cage Dowden in the third quarter after Bellwood-Antis quarterback Shawn Wolfe raced 55 yards to cut the Ligonier Valley lead to 21-7.

“When we lined up, John and I knew we were going to hit it,” Sheeder said of the game’s first touchdown. “John makes things happen, and he’s not afraid.”

Sheeder had nine catches for 155 yards and Tutino four for 107.

It wasn’t that Bellwood-Antis (10-2) totally shut down the running game. It just didn’t allow many big runs. Miller finished with 71 yards and two scores on 25 carries.

Tutino had a 52-yard run, and Caldwell added a new wrinkle to the offense by rushing for 39 yards on six carries. The Rams outrushed the Blue Devils, 185-84, and outgained them 499-112.

“We left quite a few scores on the field,” Ligonier Valley coach Roger Beitel said. “We never punted and only scored 34 points. We need to be more effective in the red zone. We did make some great plays, however, we need to be more efficient.”

But what pleased Beitel most was the defense, which recorded 10 sacks — three by Christian Jablonski and two each by Mike Petrof and Wylie Spiker.

“Take away the 55-yard run, (and) what did they have?” Beitel said. “It wasn’t our best game, but we’re going back to Mansion Park to defend our District 6 title. We’ll clean things up and get it fixed.”

Sheeder scored on a 9-yard run, and Miller added a 2-yard dash to push the lead to 21-0 at halftime. Peter Stoll missed a 25-yard field-goal attempt in the first quarter.

“We saw this game as a road-block to where we wanted to be,” Sheeder said. “Next week, we’re really excited. We were really amped up (more) than we have been all year. We know what time it is, and we’re ready to keep going. They loaded the box, and we didn’t block well.”

Bellwood-Antis coach Nick Lovrich said Ligonier Valley has been one of the top dogs in the district for the past five seasons, and his team had trouble with its quickness.

“They have the full package,” Lovrich said. “They were beating us up front on defense, and we could control them. They slowed our offense down.

“We lost to a really good team. We never gave up, and I was proud of our effort.”

Paul Schofield is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Paul at pschofield@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Schofield_Trib.

Tags: Ligonier Valley