"A Championship Seson"-by Four Chapman
A Message from Principal, John Brixius
A look back 10 years later by Rob Pugliese
Week 1: Sept. 2- McDevitt 25, Middletown 14. No one could know on the first Saturday of the season what a superior team the Crusaders would become. And, in fact, it took 24 minutes of the season for McDevitt to catch fire. Down 14-7 at halftime, the Crusaders made every big play in the third quarter. McDevitt scored 18 points in the third period to pass its first test. Tommy Mealy's 4-yard run and a failed extra point brought the Crusaders within 14-13. Then, Noah Lambert recovered Terrell Daniel's fumbled kickoff at the Middletown 29. Four plays later, McDevitt had the lead on Jordan Scott's 13-yard touchdown run. Scott turned a clogged option play up field, the darted, wiggled, spun and finally pushed into the end zone to score the go-ahead TD and put McDevitt ahead 19-14.
Week 2: Sept. 9-McDevitt 28, Cumberland Valley 25. This is where the season really got rolling. To accomplish anything big in 1995, the Crusaders knew they had to topple their Mid-Pen nemesis. McDevitt's last triumph over the Eagles was in 1988. It was also a three point victory at McDevitt Field, 27-24. The Crusaders got a quick start and they needed it. They piled up a stunning 21-3 lead early in the third quarter on a TD run by Mealy and two TD passes by Jordan Scott to Raki Nelson and Dave McKenzie. But the CV began an ominous comeback. Scott who finished with 199 yards passing but was intercepted three times, was plucked twice in a three-minute span, once by Jeremy Sauve, and once by Dave Heckard. The latter, returned to the 7, set up his own scoring run that made it 21-18, and CV had the momentum. But after a Heckard fumble, Scott came up big on third-and -16 from the CV 27. He waited for Brian Rohacek to clear on a deep flag and delivered the ball perfectly for the clinching score with 2:49 left.
Week 3: Sept. 15-McDevitt 47, Central Dauphin 0.
Allaying coach Four Chapman's fears of a letdown, the Crusaders went kabolooey all over Landis Field, mugging host Central Dauphin. It was a biltzkreig of McDevitt points in the first half, leading to a 35-0 difference at intermission. McKenzie sailed into the end zone alone on a 23-yard pass from Scott with just 3:50 gone. Just over four minutes later, Scott walked in on an option from the 3 to make it 14-0.
Week 4: Sept. 23 McDevitt 44, Academy Park 0. The Crusaders blazed to a 22-0 halftime lead and equaled their output in the second half in a rout of this Delaware County School. The star was Raki Nelson, who caught an amazing five touchdown passes, three from starter Jordan Scott and two more from sub Scott Updike. Nelson, who would go on to become the midstate receiving leader, caught scoring strikes of 8, 55, 13, 51 and 26 yards. It was a mismatch across the field, though. McDevitt outgained the visitors 349 yards of net offense to 65.
Week 5: Sept. 30-McDevitt 35, Red Land 21. What a shocker this might have been. The Crusaders found themselves down, at home to Mid-Penn I also-ran Red Land 21-14 in the third quarter and had to come from behind with a considerable help of their defense. Patriots' running back Leroy Miller returned the second-half kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown, galloping down the sideline to the end zone to give Red Land its brief lead. But McDevitt then woke up, lead by pocket-wrecking defensive tackles Corey Deibler and Steve Spoljaric. The Crusader defense held the Patriots to six yards total offense over the final two quarters.
Week 6: Oct. 6-McDevitt 14, Chambersburg 3.
The Crusaders stuck for a pair of early touchdowns, then stutter-stepped through a series of near misses the rest of the way before a huge homecoming night crowd of 7,800 at Chambersburg. Just maybe, McDevitt was guilty of peeking ahead to archrival Harrisburg. "The minute the fourth quarter ended, we were thinking about Harrisburg," admitted Deibler, who shared two sacks among his 10 tackles for the night. Scott swept right end from the 6 for the first score and added a 28-yard TD strike to favorite target Nelson in the second period.
Week 7: Oct. 14 McDevitt 12, Harrisburg 7. This one made the apparent the Crusaders had a champion's heart. The unofficial city championship came down to a brilliant 80 yard drive reminiscent of Penn State's span of the field in the waning minutes in '94 at Illinois. Trailing 7-6 with 5:45 remaining, McDevitt travesed a muddy field against a defense that had shut it down all day. Scott hit nelson on fourth-and-8 for 10 yards. On the next play, McKenzie turned a simple out into a massive 32-yard gain to the 5 when he broke Kenny Watson's tackle at the sideline. Three plays later, Scott reversed direction on what appeared to be an option and stepped into the end zone with 1:57 to play... and McDevitt had just 10-players on the field.
Week 8: Oct. 21-McDevitt 27, Steel-High 7. McDevitt's victory over the winless Rollers at blustery "Cottage Hill was essentially a breather. Steel-High played hard but was ill-equipped to compete. The Rollers committed six turnovers, three of which led to McDevitt scores. Ajani Walton's 67-yard gallop on a trap with 1:55 left in the first half made it 19-7 at the half and Steel-High was doomed.
Week 9: Oct. 28-McDevitt 43, Carlisle 0. The Crusaders revved their offense back into overdrive, blitzing Carlisle with three early Nelson TD catches. Scott threw for 224 yards at McDevitt Field in a game that was never in doubt. By the time intermission arrived, the Crusaders already led 29-0 and were well on the way to their finishing totals of 20 fist downs and 417 yards of offense.
Week 10: Nov. 3-McDevitt 33, Cedar Cliff 0. The Crusaders finished the regular season a perfect 10-0 with this easy win at West Shore Stadium. Although the Crusaders had an unbeaten season at 8-0-2 in 1935, this marked the school's first unbeaten untied regular campaign. Mealy slashed for 91 yards and four touchdowns on just 13 carries interspersed with another sold aerial performance Scott. McDevitt's defense shut down virtually every aspect of the Colts' power game. Shoving 10 men within five yards of the line of scrimmage, the Crusaders held Cedar Cliff to 79 ground yards including two quarterback scrambles accounting for 36.
Week 11: Nov. 10-McDevitt 49, Trinity 10. The District 3-AA playoffs started with a bang as McDevitt smothered the Shamrocks with 28 unanswered points in the third quarter at West Shore Stadium. A 3-yard touchdown run by Spencer Waters and a 15-yard TD run by Mealy gave McDevitt a 14-3 halftime lead. Then, Scott cranked up. He finished with 231 yards, including touchdown strikes of 62 yards to Brian Rohacek and nine yards to Chill Nash.
Week 12: Nov. 17-McDevitt 34, Cocalico 7. Still stinging from the pain of their 15-14 loss to Cocalico in the District 3-AA semifinals the year before, McDevitt made sure of revenge at Elco High School. Still, it took some time to pry this one open. McDevitt unleashed a running game that belted out 292 yards on 55 carries. That baffled the Cocalico defense, which set up for McDevitt's strong passing game. The Crusaders went 66 yards on their first series of the second half, capping it with Scott's 22-yard deep flag to Nelson to make it 21-7. Then, they broke the game open in the fourth quarter on two Mealy Td runs.
Week 13: Nov. 24-McDevitt 40, Line Mt. 6. Much civic trash-talking spanned Dauphin and Northumberland counties prior to this one. But the valiant Eagles, champions of the Tri-Valley League and District 4, proved no match for McDevitt after hanging around for a half. Up by just 19-6 in the latter stages of the third quarter, McDevitt detonated to give themselves a ride into the AA East Championship. Ajani Walton's 41-yard run to the Line Mountain 27 set up Nelson's 19yard touchdown pass from Scott that made it 25-6. Then, Jason Pagano recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff at the Line Mountain 19 and Mealy peeled off runs of 18 and 1 yard to make it 33-6.
Week 14: Dec. 1-McDevitt 12, Landsdale Catholic 7. The Crusaders almost lost their chance for a dream trip to the PIAA class AA title game when 19 players failed to show at a mandatory pre-game meal. They were held out of the first quarter by Chapman. But a valiant first-quarter effort by the subs and a memorable fouth-quater TD drive by the reinserted regulars paved the road to Altoona. Down 7-6 late in the fourth quarter, just as they were seven weeks before in the epic battle against Harrisburg, McDevitt began its final drive from its own 40-yard line with 5:11 left on the Hersheypark Stadium clock. Ten straight times, Mealy followed his massive line into the trenches as the seconds and yards whirled by. Finally, tight end Chill Nash zoomed from his right tight end position untouched, circled into the end zone and cradled quarterback Jordan Scott's 8-yard pass for the winning touchdown.
Week 15: Dec. 9 McDevitt 29, Burrell 0. McDevitt made its first PIAA state finals football appearance in school history, and within 13 minutes, had the Class AA title squarely in its sights. Battering the Burrell defensive front with a ground assault, the Crusaders rolled up nine first downs in their first two drives, both of which led to touchdowns. When Tommy Mealy danced in from 13 yards out on the first play of the second quarter and Jordan Scott added a 2-point conversion pass to Raki Nelson, McDevitt led 14-0 and Burrell was clearly reeling. The Crusader defense, led by tackles Steve Spoljaric and Corey Deibler, held the Bucs of District 7 to 33 rushing yards and only 92 yards in total offense over 48 minutes. And Scott, who hit 12 of 20 passes for 216 yards in his prep finale, put his signature on the second half with scoring passes of 48 yards to Nelson and 34 yards to Dave McKenzie.
-Taken from the Patriot News "Bishop McDevitt: The story of 1995"
Mid-Penn Division I First Team
WR-Raki Nelson(player of year)
OL-Corey Deibler
OL-Don Painter
OL-Steve Spoljaric
QB-Jordan Scott
Four Chapman(Coach of the year)
DE-Don Painter
DL-Corey Deibler
DB-Jordan Scott
Mid-Penn Division I 2nd Team
WR-Dave McKenzie
RB-Tommy Mealy
DE-Drew Painter
DL-Steve Spoljaric
LB-Todd Mealy
DB-Chance Carter
Pennsylvinia All-State 1st Team
WR-Raki Nelson(player of the year)
DL-Corey Deibler
DB-Jordan Scott
Four Chapman(coach of the year)
Pennsylvinia All-State 3rd Team
OL-Don Painter