Darlington Deals Belleville Their First Loss of Season

The Belleville Wildcats varsity football team traveled to Darlington last Friday night, to play the only other undefeated team in the SWAL Conference. The Redbirds took a 34-7 lead going in to halftime, and while the Wildcats held them scoreless in the second half and stepped up their own offense, the final score was Darlington 34, Belleville 24, resulting in Belleville’s first loss of the season.
The first two quarters saw Darlington scoring again and again, until the Wildcats’ Aidan Keyes found Andrew Ace for a touchdown with 1:42 left in the half. Jake Fahey’s extra point was successful.
In the third quarter, while the Wildcats defense held the Redbirds back out of the endzone, Keyes and DeMarcus Conner teamed up for a score and Fahey’s extra point was good. In the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, the Wildcats got a safety and with less than 4 minutes left in the game Keyes hit DeSmet for 6 and Belleville completed a successful 2-point conversion on a pass from Keyes to Conner.
Aidan Keyes was 18 for 37 for 258 yards and 3 touchdowns at QB for Belleville.
Leading the Wildcats in rushing yards was Landry Yarbough with 31, while DeMarcus Conner had 28 and Logan Derke had 24.
Andrew Ace led Belleville in receiving yards with 95 along with having 1 TD, while DeMarcus Conner had 82 with 1 TD and Kaden DeSmet had 53 yards with 1 TD.
Defensively, Brett Olson had 5 tackles, while Landry Yarbough had 4, Jake Fahey, DeMarcus Conner, Logan Derke, Brady Durni and Nate Meier had 3 apiece and Kaden DeSmet, Andrew Ace and Devin Gratz all had 1 tackle each.
The Wildcats host Parkview/Albany on Friday, October 14th, for Homecoming and the final home game of the regular season. Game time is 7:00 p.m.