DEFENSE LEADS ROUT OF RED LAND

Sept. 28-- Led by a suffocating defense, the Bishop McDevitt Crusaders throttled Red Land, 41-7, at sun-drenched McDevitt Field today. The win moved McDevitt's record to 5-0 (4-0 in the Mid Penn's Commonwealth Division), and set up next Friday's much-anticipated matchup with undefeated Central Dauphin, ranked #1 in the state in class AAAA by the Harrisburg Patriot News. Red Land (3-2, 2-2) was expected to give the Crusaders a challenge, but the combination of an aggressive Crusader defense and McDevitt's usual versatile offensive assault made short work of the Patriots, who were missing injured Fullback Michael Cox. McDevitt's defensive faced Red Land 7 times in the first half and forced 6 punts and a fumble. Meanwhile, the Crusaders were amassing an unofficial 520 yards total offense and 20 first downs to go with their 6 scores.

McDevitt's first tally came within the opening 5 minutes of the game. After Defensive Tackle Quincy Garfield dropped Red Land's Robin Summey for a 2 yard loss, the Patriots punted to the McDevitt 34. Tailback Jesse Pitt's first 3 carries netted 32 yards, then Quarterback Marcus Stone drilled his favorite target, Wideout Vince Beamer, for a 10 yard gain. Fullback Mike Dawson added a 6 yard carry, then Pitt scooted through a hole created by Guard C.J. Gruber and danced into the end zone. Kicker Pedro Mora's PAT made it 7-0, McDevitt. After the teams exchanged punts, the Crusaders took over at their own 38. 2 Pitt runs left McDevitt with a 3 and 2, so Pitt again took a deep handoff, veered to his left and followed a crisp Beamer block down the sideline for his second score of the day. The quarter ended with McDevitt up 14-0.

Both teams had a hard time holding onto the football at the start of the second quarter. First, McDevitt's Marc Accorsi fell on a Robbie Agnone fumble at the Red Land 40, and returned it 13 yards to the 27. Two plays later, Stone coughed it up at the 1 yard line, following a 9 yard dash up the middle. When the swarming Crusader defense forced another punt that Safety Thomas Dunn returned to the Patriot 47, McDevitt was poised to strike again. Pitt ran for 3, then 15 yards. From the 29, Stone dropped back, waited behind perfect pass-protection, and found Beamer in stride crossing the goal line. Mora's 3rd successive PAT gave the Crusaders a 21-0 advantage with 6:23 left in the half. Linebackers Josh Martinko and Doug Ritter hounded the Patriots and Quarterback Derek Lechthaler into another 3-and-out, and this time McDevitt started from their own 45. After Pitt gained 15 tough yards on 2 tries, a motion penalty moved the Crusaders back to the Red Land 45. Then, Stone targeted Sophomore Wide Receiver Justin Taylor for a nifty 27 yard gain. Pitt bulled his way for 5 to the 13. From there, Stone ran a quarterback draw, blasted up the middle behind Center Josh Stepanic, veering to his left, then shocked the crowd by launching his 230 pound frame into a 360 degree somersault at the goal line and landing on his back for the touchdown! The half ended as one of Stone's few errant throws was picked off at the Patriot 33. McDevitt had a comfortable 28-0 advantage.

The third quarter found McDevitt Coach Jeff Weachter using even more of his vast array of weapons. After a touchback, Stone fired a bullet to End Mike Gohlston, who scampered for a 32 yard gain. Later, a 3rd down interference penalty kept the drive alive at the Red Land 28. From there, Stone hit Junior Tight End Michael Mitchell over the middle at the 15. Mitchell carried 2 Patriot defenders over the goal line for his first career touchdown and a 35-0 lead. The score put the "mercy rule" into effect, invoking a near-continuous game clock. Red Land was hampered again by McDevitt's ravenous pass rush, this time led by Tackles Jamie Thomas and Uriah Aviles. The Patriot's 8th punt settled at the McDevitt 17, then a phantom holding call moved the ball back to the 7. That was the starting point for Jesse Pitt's final run of the day. Finding yet another gaping hole in the Red Land defense, Pitt exploded into the secondary, made one quick cut, then outran everyone for a 93 yard touchdown. Following Jesse's ill-advised celebratory flip in the endzone (and subsequent 15 yard celebration penalty), Mora's 35 yard PAT attempt was blocked. All that was left in the game was a face-saving Red Land score, set up by a brilliant 62 yard catch-and run by Agnone, and some effective cleanup time by McDevitt reserves on both sides of the ball. The statistics were what you'd expect from a 41-7 final: 353 yards rushing for McDevitt and 167 passing. Stone finished 8 for 11 passing for 158 yards, 2 TD's and 1 interception. He added 50 yards and a score rushing, on 5 carries. Pitt gained 274 yards and 3 touchdowns on 18 carries, and went over the 1,000 yard mark after 5 games. Lesean McCoy had 25 yards on 7 tries. Beamer led a group of 5 different receivers with 3 grabs for 49 yards and a TD. Taylor had 2 for 47, Gholston 2 for 35 and Mitchell 1 for 28 and a score. Senior Chris Nauss added 1 catch for 8 yards. After the game, it was announced that tickets for next Friday's Central Dauphin game, a 7:30 PM start at Landis Field, would be sold next week at the Bishop McDevitt cafeteria during school hours on Monday and Tuesday. A Wednesday evening ticket sale is also scheduled, but there are doubts that there will be any tickets left by then, given the intense interest the contest is generating.

Quotes

Head Coach Jeff Weachter

" The defense really played well. I'm very happy, I thought our secondary really stepped up and played probably their best game of the year. We knew that, with their fullback hurt, they were probably going to throw it on us and I was very pleased with our secondary. On offense, a goal of ours the last couple of weeks, you know, we have more weapons than just Marcus, Vince and Jesse. We still have to get them the ball but we got Justin the ball a little bit and Mike Mitchell made the defense be honest. People are running junk defenses on us, clogging up the middle and double-covering Vince, but we showed today we've got a lot more. I thought we did a nice job, running a lot of formations, but we still have a lot to show yet, that we haven't shown. Any time you can get your starters out, get them a little rest and get your young kids some work, you're happy about it. We'll be ready for next week. One thing I was a little disappointed about, we lost a little focus and we made some mental errors. We could have had 3 more scores up by halftime. It gives us something to work on."

Assistant Coach Willy Taylorr

" It's very important that Marcus has confidence in all his receivers. This way they can't double team Vince. They have to play him one-on-one, basically, because we've got some great receivers on this team. We have a lot of weapons, but if we don't establish other receivers, they're going to double team Vince. I think we did that a little today. I think they (the receivers) could block better. I pride myself on downfield blocking. Vince did a good job on Jesse's run, but, for the most part, we can do better. I was just telling one of the coaches that all I'll be thinking about at work this week will be the CD game. We as coaches have to get the kids prepared. George Chaump has coached at all levels and he's a good coach and I'm sure he'll have some things up his sleeve. We'll just have to be ready."

Tight End Michael Mitchell

" On the touchdown catch, it was just 52 Dump to the Tight End. I ran the seam, saw the ball in the air, went up and got it and ran it in. It's pretty much open all the time because they always think I'm going out to block and I blew right by him. This week we have to work hard, keep our cool and not get a big head and we'll be OK."

OG/DT C. J. Gruber

"Our defense stepped it up, we worked on it real hard this week. Coaches put in a lot of new stuff, new looks. On offense, it's exactly what the coaches told us: they're going to stack it up on the inside to stop Jesse. That's why we ran it a little more outside this week. Next week will be a tough game. We have to work hard. "

QB Marcus Stone

"The defense definitely made it easy for us. When they get the 3-and-out they get the offense on the field as quick as possible to score points. We wanted to let people know we have more than just one receiver so we opened it up. Justin Taylor has great hands, he's going to be an awesome receiver. On the flip at the end of the run, I don't know, I just went up, I wanted to get over the goalline! "

OT/DT Jamie Thomas

"I really tried to get some pressure on the quarterback. We were, as a team, getting some pressure on him, then we slacked off a little bit, so I thought I'd try to pick it up. Defense is a lot more aggressive and different from offense. Sometimes I get a little tired of just blocking guys. I like hitting other people too. This week we have to work really hard in practice. We have to pick up the intensity and be more aggressive to come out victorious in this one. "

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