Juniata continues their historic season with D6 championship over Bellefonte

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: November 7, 2021

By Kenny Varner

ALTOONA – Its been a historic season for Big Red”.

After winning the Liberty Division during the regular season the Juniata football team showed once again that they weren’t done showing that they were a force to be reckoned with on the gridiron.

Saturday night, the Indians went up against Bellefonte for the District 6 title.

After winning the D6 title last season as well, Juniata was looking for a repeat at Altoona’s Mansion Park.

Sporting a intimidating defense, the Indians dominated the Raiders, winning 41-12.

Juniata’s offense had a very prosperous evening as running backs Zachary Haar and Waylon Ehrenzeller finished with 175 yards and 86 yards rushing, respectively.

Teammate Seth Laub grinded out 58 yards on the ground, most of which were rushing right through the middle of the Bellefonte defense.

Quarterback Jacob Condo was back at the helm after coming back from injury.

“Going into the season we knew that we were returning a lot of good guys and a lot of guys that bought into the program, committed to program and worked hard in the off season. We set the bar high early, dealt with our adversity during the season with certain things and the kids never quit. They kept going,” said Juniata coach Kurt Condo said. “We are certainly proud of all of them from the bottom up. Every kid worked hard throughout the season and the deserve this.”

After a scoreless first quarter that had the Raiders drive the ball deep into the Indians part of the field only to come out empty handed by the Juniata defense, both teams could not find the end zone ending things scoreless after a fast moving opening period.

Ironically, Juniata’s defense would be the one to put the first score on the board.

After a Indians’ punt that put Bellefonte back at its three to start, it took only two plays for Juniata to stop the Raiders in its own end for a saftey. Nicholas Way was tackled in the end zone at 11:57.

Getting the ball right after the safety, the Indians didn’t waste anytime as

Harr blazed his was to a 19- yard TD run.

On the extra point attempt, the Raiders jumped off sides so the Indians decided to go for two.

Jacob Condo called his own number for the 2-point conversion and the 10-0 advantage at 10:17.

Again, the Juniata defense was able to stop anything Bellefonte could throw at them, giving them the ball late in the second quarter.

With time running out, Juniata was able to get the ball down field and let their kicker Ben Wagner set up for a field goal.

Wagner was automatic as he sailed it through the uprights on a 30- yard field goal to end the first half.

Coming out of the break, Juniata was locked in and ready to make some noise in the second half.

Getting the ball to start the second half, the Indians went right to work.

Waylon Ehrenzeller capped off a long drive with a 3-yard run.

Wagner’s kick was good and Juniata held a 17-0 advantage with 9:00 left.

Juniata would sneak one more touchdown in for Indians in the third when Harr went out around the Bellefonte end and blazed his way to a 16-yard touchdown run, making it a 27-0 lead with only 0:32 left until the fourth.

In the final stanza, it took just seconds for Juniata to bump up its lead to 34-0 when Harr busted out on a 58-yard TD run with 11:32 still to play.

After a Bellefonte turnover, Waylon Ehrenzeller capped off the Juniata scoring with a 14-yard run, sending the game into Mercy Rule status at 41-0 with still 10:31 left.

Playing for pride, Bellefonte refused to go away empty handed as it scored on a Ty Cronin 21-yard pass reception from Trevor Johnson. The 2-point conversion was unsuccessful at 6:54.

On its last possession of the game, the Raiders scored once again when

Dominic Capperella scored on a 26-yard pass from Trevor Johnson, ending the contest at 41-12.