October 24- Bishop McDevitt’s superstar Sophomore LeSean McCoy found the new artificial surface at West Shore Stadium to his liking tonight, rushing for 376 yards and 4 touchdowns while leading the Crusaders to a sloppy 34-20 win over Cedar Cliff. It was the first game played on the newly-refurbished field, and the elusive McCoy established a new rushing record there that will be hard to top. His accomplishment was the highlight of a Crusader effort that saw the visitors make numerous mistakes that kept the outmanned Colts within striking distance until the 4^th quarter. McDevitt improved to 6-3 (6-2 in the Mid Penn Commonwealth Division) this year, with only a visit to Lower Dauphin remaining on the schedule. Cedar Cliff dropped to 1-8 (1-6).

McDevitt wasted an early scoring opportunity on the game’s first series. Uriah Aviles pounced on a Mose Lee fumble at the Colt’s 32 on the first play from scrimmage. Sophomore Quarterback Jeremy Ricker, who had another accurate game, immediately hit Mike Goldston for a 15 yard completion, and McCoy followed with an 11 yard scamper to the 6. A fumbled exchange, however, gave the ball back to Cedar Cliff at the 7. When the Crusader defense held, the ensuing punt gave possession back to McDevitt on their own 48. McCoy then broke off a 40 yard beauty, twisting past 2 Colt linebackers before being forced out of bounds at the 12. Following 2 short McCoy runs and an incompletion, Coach Jeff Weachter called upon reliable Placekicker Jeremy Smith. Smith, who has proven to be a pleasant surprise at a traditionally weak position for the Crusaders, promptly split the uprights from 26 yards out to give McDevitt a 3-0 lead with 7:47 left in the first. Cedar Cliff answered with an 8 play, 70 yard scoring drive, highlighted by a 32 yard pass on a fake punt. Lee went the final yard and the Colts led 7-3. Four plays later it was McCoy’s turn again, as he took a quick handoff up the middle, waited for Aviles’ trap block and sprinted 48 yards untouched to score. Leading 10-7, The Crusaders suffered another turnover later in the quarter when Goldston fumbled a Cedar Cliff punt at the McDevitt 29. The Colts moved to the 12 in 5 plays before Crusader Linebacker Doug Ritter drilled Cedar Cliff quarterback Robby Pantalone during a passing attempt. The ball fluttered toward the goal line where Kris Scott intercepted it and returned to the 5. Three McCoy rushing attempts moved the ball to the 23, and then the super Soph lit up the stadium again. Taking a deep handoff and swinging behind Tackle Jamie Thomas, McCoy swerved toward the right sideline and followed a fine downfield block by Smith to complete the 77 yard touchdown run, stretching the McDevitt lead to 17-7 with 8:44 left in the half.

Cedar Cliff was determined to keep the game competitive on their new field, and the 11 play, 79 yard drive that followed was their finest moment of the chilly night. It featured a mix of runs and passes and culminated in a 7 yard David Morra scoring run to narrow the Crusader’s advantage to 17-14. With 2:51 left in the half, the Crusaders moved downfield quickly. On 3^rd down, Ricker hit Gerard Oliver for a slick 22 yard gain. The Sophomore signal caller then ran for 9 yards and, after a 9 yard McCoy gain, passed to Smith for 8. With time dwindling and no timeouts, Ricker passed to McCoy for 8 then handed off to him for 14 more to the 1. With time for 2 more plays, a McCoy run, followed by a Ricker sneak, didn’t do the job and the loosely-played half was over.

McDevitt took the second half kickoff, but stalled at their own 37 and was forced to punt. The Colts moved to the Crusader’s 43 where Pantalone took advantage of a coverage mix-up and targeted a wide-open Mike Klaiber for the Colt’s last score. After missing the PAT, Cedar Cliff led 20-17. Ryan Williams returned the ensuing short kickoff to the 32. Ricker then lofted a bomb to Tight End Mike Mitchell, but the reliable receiver couldn’t hang on. So the Crusaders went back to McCoy, who carried 5 straight times, the final one a 3 yard scoring jaunt that reestablished the McDevitt lead for good, 24-20. The McDevitt defense, finally settled down, rose up to force a Colt punt to the Crusader 46. The drive that followed stretched into the 4^th quarter and took 11 plays, highlighted by a Ricker-to-Smith hookup for 6 and a 7 yard Ritter burst. McCoy carried 7 times on the possession and appeared to tire on his last 2 attempts, as the drive stalled at the 5. Smith was called upon again, and the versatile Senior calmly drilled his second field goal of the night, a 22 yarder, for a 27-20 McDevitt advantage. The next Colt possession featured Ritter and Tackle Quincy Rain sharing a sack that led to another Cedar Cliff punt, this one to the McDevitt 40. A refreshed McCoy ripped off 5 carries for 14 yards, then Mitchell redeemed himself by gathering in 30 yard Ricker toss at the Colt’s 16. One play later, McCoy finished the scoring by strolling 15 yards for his 4^th TD. Cedar Cliff’s last drive was ended by a Williams interception, and the Crusaders had clinched another winning season.

McDevitt’s final game of the 2003 season is next Friday, October 31,against Lower Dauphin. The game, which will be played at Hersheypark Stadium, is scheduled to start at 7:30 PM.

QUOTES

Head Coach Jeff Weachter

We came out flat the first half. We didn’t have a great week of practice and we told them all week that this could be another Lower Dauphin but they don’t believe you. We thought we’d be all right when we came out because we were excited about playing on the new turf. Actually I think we were a little tentative on it. LeSean was a little tentative on a few cuts. Too many mistakes like fumbling 3 times inside the 5 yard line and only coming up with three points hurt us a lot. LeSean is really something special. You know, maybe with the exception of one time, he really hasn’t taken a big hit. I was really happy for Mike Mitchell. Mike has great hands and he’s been catching everything all year. I don’t know what happened on the drop because I think he would have scored on that, but his catch was clutch for us. Jeremy made a nice throw, a nice read. Hey, we were 3^rd and 14 so that was a big play for us. What happened to set up their second score, they came in motion and we wanted to press the outside guy but we didn’t want to press the inside guy. Ryan Williams came up and pressed and they ran a pick route and Ryan got picked off. That’s why we ended up having Ryan about 6 yards off. At halftime we got on them a little bit. Our defense wasn’t playing very well, and they came out and, for the most part, played well defensively the second half. We’re real happy with special teams. Our kickoff coverage team has been weak the last couple of years. This year it’s been great. The Chambersburg game, we didn’t do a real good job so we made a few changes, put Jimmy Owen on and Brian Weiser has been doing a great job. He did a great job last week, too.

DT Jason Kates

Cedar Cliff didn’t really do anything to surprise us. It was a good game, a hard-fought game, we tried our best and we came out victorious. With Lower Dauphin coming up next week, we just want to play our hearts out. That’s our playoff game. They took us out of the playoffs last year, so we want to come back and give them a hard fight.

S Vince Comasco

I ‘m just trying to keep my head up and my feet on the ground when I’m tackling, go after them hard, hit them hard and drive through them. We changed up the coverage a little in the second half and we all just tried to stay with our man. Starting as a sophomore is a great experience; I’m looking forward to next year, also.

S Eric McGovern

Cedar Cliff is a hard team to play. They played with a lot of heart. We made some mistakes but we came through with the win. When I’m tackling I do use my head a lot. I shouldn’t do that; I’m working on that. I think I did a good job today I just have the desire to want to hit somebody. That’s how you’ve got to play football. Lower Dauphin next week is a big game. Payback time is all I can say. Game time, let’s go!

WR Jimmy Owen

On special teams I just want to get down there and kill somebody, you know what I mean? Just do my thing. My job’s to go after the ball, be the first one down there and go get him. I don’t care if I get any catches. Win or lose, it doesn’t matter, it’s a team sport. I got one (touchdown catch) last week and I was proud and everything but it’s a team sport. You’ve got to keep your head up no matter what. We’re going to be ready next week. We’ll make sure of that in practice. It’s payback week, but we have to have a good week of practice.  

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