By Kenny Varner

ALTOONA – They meet again!!!

Juniata was looking to have a drive for five as it went for its fifth title in-a-row. In what has been a District 6 Class AAAA championship constant, the veteran Juniata football team went head-to-head with the upstart Bellefonte team that came into the game sporting a 7-4 record.

The Indians held the one seed and an automatic bid into the championship game with a regular season record of 7-3 and a bye in the opening week of the playoffs.

Strong quarterback play and stellar defense brought these two teams together once again.

Both teams battled strong throughout but it would be Juniata that came out victorious 20-6 at Mansion Park in Altoona.

“This group of kids they work hard and really deserve this. Bellefonte’s a much improved football team. Their kids played their guts out,” said Juniata coach Kurt Condo. “It was a shame someone had to lose tonight. I am happy for our guys.”

For Juniata that is their fifth consecutive District 6 Class AAAA title.

The Indians running game finished with 252 yards on the ground. Lane Peiper led the way with a game-high 99 yards on the ground while teammate Ayden Dowling was close behind with a 97-yard effort. Dowling highlighted his night with two long runs of over 30 yards in the victory.

Bellefonte quarterback Liam Halterman was very busy Saturday night rushing for 62 yards on the ground and went 11-17 for 104 yards through the air.

“We had opportunities. I just told these guys we didn’t take advantage of opportunities. Somebody gives you the ball and you get the ball in the scoring zone you have to put points on the board,” said Tony Confer. “Unfortunately, that was the story of our night. We just couldn’t take advantage of those opportunities. They even gave us one late when they faked a punt on us. It was still a ball game at that point. When you fail to put points on the board when you have those opportunities you’re not going to win football games.”

At the intermission, the Raiders found themselves trailing 7-0 as they set up to receive the ball to start the second half.

The ball was fumbled on the kick and landed right into the hands of Juniata’s Isaac Ramirez, putting his team on the Red Raiders 18.

It took one play as running back Lane Peiper blazed his way from the 18-yard run. With an Andel Lopez kick at 11:49, the Indians added to its lead to make it a 14-0.

However, Bellefonte weren’t done as they would take their next possession and find the end zone.

Backed up on its own 11, and marched down  the field mixing their passing game with a strong rushing  game to go on a 13-play drive.

Liam Halterman took the chance called his own number rushing on a 4-yard TD run. The kick failed, cutting it to a 14-6 contest with 7:08 left in the third.

“I absolutely love this team. To get seven wins out of this team this year which nobody thought we’d get seven wins this season. It is a testament to their hard work. It’s a testament to my coaches and the hard work and long hours they put in,” said Confer. “More importantly, these kids worked hard in the off season. They were tired of losing. It showed by having seven wins this year. It’s not what we wanted but to get to this point and have a legitimate opportunity to win a District Championship shows we’re back to where Bellefonte should be and we’re going to keep plugging away.”

Juniata continued to grind things out with its running game.

As the third quarter wound down, the Indians upped their lead to 20-6.  Ehrenzeller finished off the drive as he muscled his way in from 2-yards out, at 0:59.

In the first, the game got off to a shaky start as both teams combined for five turnovers.

“At the beginning both teams struggled and we couldn’t get any momentum going. There were a lot of turnovers. It was very uncomfortable from our point,” said Juniata coach Kurt Condo. “To go into halftime just leading 7-0, I was thankful. To come back out and get that turnover right away helped us gain a little momentum. It got us settled in but I still thought,  overall I still uneasy about the game. Fortunately our defense played really, really well.”

But once settled in, the defenses played a strong role in keeping the first half a scoreless one. After scoreless first quarter, Juniata struck first when Peiper took it in for a 1-yard run. With Andel Lopez kick the Indians led 7-0 with 9:49 showing in the first.

With the win, the Indians improve to 8-3 and a road visit next week to play in the PIAA opener versus Shamokin.

Juniata  , Bellefonte

BEL 0 0  6  0 –   6

JUN 0 7 13 0 – 20

First Quarter

None

Second Quarter

JUN – Lane Peiper 1-yard run (Andel Lopez kick), 9:49.

Third Quarter

JUN – Lane Peiper 18-yard run (Lopez kick), 11:49.

BEL – Liam Halterman 4-yard run (kick failed), 7:08.

JUN – Wyatt Ehrenzeller 2-yards run (kick Failed) 0:59.

Fourth Quarter

None

TEAM STATISTICS   BEL      JUN     

First downs                  11         14

Total Yards                222       305 Rushes-yards.          38-118 36-252

Yards passing          104         53

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)11-17 -0 3-8-1

Fumbles-lost              3-3     2-2

Penalties-yards      6-40    7-70

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: BEL – Liam Halterman 16-62, Aden Howell 5-10,Ka’ Van Smith -Kirk 6-24, Ashten Howell  6-18, Mikah  Delos-Reyes 1-0, Isaac Gall 1-4. JUN – Lane Peiper 15-99, Javier Lopez 7-33, Ayden Dowling 8-97, Jasper Shepps 1-6, Wyatt Ehrenzeller 5-14.

PASSING: BEL – Liam Halterman 11-17 104. JUN – Wyatt Ehrenzeller 3-8-53.

RECEIVING : BEL – Arden Howell 1-4, Isaac Gall 3-16, Jaeden Gabrovsek 4-49, Nathan Benner 2-15, Colton Ammerman 1-20.  JUN – Jasper Shepps 1-16, Connor Boreman 1-16, Josh Nace 1-21.