September 20- The Bishop McDevitt Crusaders evened their record at 2-2 (2-1 in the MidPenn Commonwealth Division) with a convincing 40-27 victory over Carlisle this morning at McDevitt Field. After spotting the Thundering Herd an early 6-0 lead, the potent Crusader offense roared back to take a 33-13 halftime lead and cruised from there. Led once again by elusive Sophomore Tailback LeSean McCoy, who totaled a staggering 276 yards and 4 touchdowns in 24 carries, McDevitt featured a balanced attack, especially in the first half. Quarterback Jeremy Ricker continued to show improvement by completing 7 of 14 passes for 124 yards and a score, and Junior Wide Receiver Mike Goldston added 82 yards and a touchdown on 3 catches. On defense, Linebacker Larondo Tucker, who had a solid game on both sides of the ball, returned an interception 23 yards for a touchdown. The Crusader secondary, featuring Kris Scott and Eric McGovern, thwarted the Carlisle passing attack, and McGovern and Defensive End Cedric Bowling both recorded sacks.

The game certainly didn't look like a McDevitt runaway in the opening minutes, however. After a McCoy fumble at the Herd 42 on the game's initial possession, Carlisle drove 58 yards in 15 plays, using up 8:09 of the clock to take a 6-0 lead on Tyreese Marshall's one yard dive. The Crusaders responded immediately. On the second play of the ensuing drive, Ricker hit Goldston on a quick slant from the McDevitt 44. The lightning-quick receiver easily outran two pursuers to pay dirt, and the Crusaders had knotted the score at 6-6 with 1:50 left in the opening quarter. When the McDevitt defense forced a punt on the Herd's next possession, a 15 yard Ryan Williams punt return had the Crusaders taking over at midfield. Seven plays later McDevitt had the lead for good, 12-6, as McCoy skirted right end for an 11 yard tally. On the next series, Carlisle Quarterback David Dukes dropped back to pass from his own 26. Just as he was releasing the ball, Dukes was flattened by giant Sophomore Defensive Tackle Jason Kates. The ball fluttered into the hands of an alert Tucker, who raced untouched into the end zone. Jeremy Smith's PAT made the score 19-6 at the 9:08 mark in the second quarter.

But the Crusaders (and McCoy) weren't done scoring yet. A 20 yard Bowling sack highlighted the next McDevitt defensive stand, forcing another Carlisle punt, this time to the Crusader 43. On the next play, McCoy took a deep pitch, broke a tackle 6 yards past the line of scrimmage, made a lateral move to elude 2 defenders and raced the remaining distance for a dazzling 57 yard scoring run and a 26-6 McDevitt advantage. When the inspired Crusader defense again stalled the Carlisle offense, the Herd responded with a 61 yard punt to the McDevitt 10. After a bruising Tucker run had gained a first down at the 29, McCoy reeled off another masterpiece, darting from sideline to sideline to finish off the 71 yard TD jaunt. With the Crusaders leading 33-7 and only 3:07 left on the clock, Carlisle looked finished. But the Herd promptly drove 76 yards in 4 plays to narrow the margin to 33-13. Gaining possession with only 1:08 left in the half, McDevitt threw another scare into the shell-shocked Carlisle defense. Riding a 44 yard McCoy run to the Carlisle 12, the Crusaders were knocking at the door again, only to be turned away by Ricker's end zone interception that ended the half.

The second half featured ineffective play by both sides. When both sides failed to advance on their initial possessions, Carlisle used up most of the 3rd quarter with a 12 play, 89 yard scoring drive, culminating in a 3 yard Lesman Knight touchdown run. Both teams were again turned away on downs before McDevitt mounted their final scoring drive of the day halfway through the 4th quarter. It was keyed by a crucial 3rd down Ricker-to-Smith completion that went for 15 yards, and featured strong running by McCoy, Tucker and Doug Ritter. McCoy covered the final 10 yards for his 4th touchdown of the morning. All that was left was a last-gasp Carlisle touchdown drive that made the final score 40-27, and the Crusaders celebrated a surprising margin of victory.

McDevitt's next game is against Red Land. Due to construction delays at West Shore Stadium, the game has been moved to Saturday, September 27th, at 10:30 AM, and will be played at Susquehanna Township's Warner Field.

QUOTES

Head Coach Jeff Weachter

I was happy the way we came out, even though they scored, we came out and exploded offensively, and played some good defense. But late in the first half, you know a young team, we let up and we couldn't really get it back the second half. We played a sloppy second half. McCoy did some special things, but there's still some things you can coach him on. He's stopping to cut, and in the second half that caught up with him. Once we get him to cut on the run, well, he's a great back now but he'll be even better. On their first drive, our ends weren't coming down hard enough (which we practiced all week) and our safeties were lining up too far inside and we couldn't get out on the pitch. That was their responsibility, and they were getting there late. So we made sure we moved the safeties out and that stopped the pitch. It was a shame that we gave them that easy score at the end of the half when our tackling got sloppy. I don't know what was in those cereal bars we had because we had a lot of guys puking, even guys who weren't playing, so we played a lot of guys in the second half. Red Land next week at 10:30? Well, Jim Barnicle, our athletic director, did a great job. When they rescheduled he said that the gate is better at 10:30 than at one and their AD bought it so I'll give Jim credit for that.

DE/FB Cedric Bowling

We worked real hard to prepare for this game. We knew it would be a hard one but that's what we have to do, prepare hard every week. Of course everyone was going to be down after Cumberland Valley but we just had to turn it up this week, take one week at a time. Like Red Land next week, we got to prepare, get ready..

LB/FB Larondo Tucker

They didn't do anything to surprise us. The coaches went over everything they do in practice, and we had a good week of practice, so we came out with the victory. I liked running the ball. I could do it a lot more! Against CV, we figured out it was a whole lot of mistakes so we're not going to get down. We have 6 more games left and it's one game at a time.

QB Jeremy Ricker

I just want to say that when we came out, the first quarter we did good, but the second half we didn't do that good. Practice this week was real intense, so I think we brought it up a notch. When we went into the CV game we weren't really focused on them after that win so, well, I just think we were more focused today. On the TD to Goldston, I just threw it out there and hoped that he caught it, and he did. I'm definitely more comfortable every week, I get more experienced. I think we'll be ready for Red Land. We need another hard week of practice and I think we can do it.

TB LeSean McCoy

I wasn't surprised we ran the ball like that today because our "O" line is real good and they were opening holes for me, and Mike Goldston and Jeremy Smith were blocking for me on the outside. After the loss to Cumberland Valley we really focused on this game. We have to learn how to put teams away. If we want to run the table we have to put teams away. On those long runs I look for space, watch the blocking, it all comes together, you know? The whole team blocks, I run and it all comes together. I am getting more comfortable every week but the line, they keep me humble.

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