November 5- The Bishop McDevitt Crusaders qualified for the District 3 playoffs for the first time since 1997 tonight, blasting Chambersburg 49-12 at Trojan Stadium. After a sluggish first half that was marred by fumbles and uninspired play, the Crusaders scored 28 unanswered points in the second half to improve the season's record to 7-2 (6-2 in the Mid Penn Commonwealth Division). Once again, it was the inspired play of Junior tailback LeSean McCoy that keyed the McDevitt point explosion. McCoy ran for 282 yards and 2 touchdowns on 25 carries, and now has 1,685 rushing yards on the season. Wide receiver Aaron Berry scored on two touchdown passes and totaled 78 yards on the night. But the most memorable performance of the game, by far, was the play of quarterback Vince Comasco. Filling in for Jeremy Ricker, who, along with tackle Nate Dade, was ineligible for the game, Comasco stepped into the quarterback spot and coolly led McDevitt to victory in the Crusader's most important game of the year. While Comasco's statistics were nice (4-9, 83 yds., 2 TD's passing; 3-17, 1 TD rushing), it was his calm demeanor and good decisions that calmed the jittery McDevitt crowd. Despite struggling with the ever-present quarterback/center fumbled snap in the first half, Comasco, with a limited week of practice, led McDevitt on six scoring drives, including a season-long 99 yarder. With the win, the Crusaders qualify for the AAAA playoffs for the first time in school history, and will meet a 9-1 Hempfield team next Friday.
McDevitt received the opening kickoff and moved quickly for the opening score. After Mike Goldston's 24 yard kickoff return to the McDevitt 34, McCoy and Larondo Tucker combined for 11 yards and the initial first down. Comasco then connected on his first pass attempt of the evening, a 5 yard out to Aaron Berry. A fumbled snap and a procedure penalty pushed the Crusaders back into their own territory before Comasco found Berry again, 12 yards down the right sideline. The shifty Junior made a Trojan defensive back miss, and then turned on the jets to complete the 54 yard scoring play. Mike Comasco produced the first of his 7 successful PAT's, and McDevitt had a 7-0 lead with 9:09 left in the opening quarter. The McDevitt defense forced a quick 3-and-out and, when McCoy returned the ensuing punt 24 yards to the Chambersburg 34, the Crusaders were threatening again. Shady wriggled for 20 yards to the 14, but 2 short runs and an incomplete pass stalled the drive. Mike Comasco attempted a 33 yard field goal, but the ball sailed wide left and the Trojans had dodged a bullet. Two plays later Chambersburg knotted the score at 7-7 when Tyler Perry stepped through a couple of missed tackles and sprinted 69 yards for a touchdown. The tie would only last 12 seconds, however. Goldston gathered in the kickoff at his own 8 and ran straight upfield. He made a quick move to his left at the 25, and then sprinted through a hole in the Trojan coverage. By the time he had crossed midfield the nearest defender was 10 yards to the rear and McDevitt had regained the lead for good, 14-7. Chambersburg advanced the ball to its own 43 before punting, but an illegal block penalty pinned the Crusaders back at the 8. After a 5 yard procedure penalty, Comasco fumbled a snap for a 2 yard loss. When the next snap was bobbled, too, McCoy scooped it up but was nailed in the end zone for a safety. Mike Comasco's free kick traveled to midfield, and then Eric McGovern's tackle of Perry resulted in a 5 yard loss and killed the Trojan's momentum. They punted to McDevitt as the quarter ended. The two teams traded punts again before the Crusaders took over at the McDevitt 19. McCoy, following the blocks of Tucker and guard Ryan Finney, blasted for 19 yards. He followed that effort with a dazzling 37 yard run to the Trojan 29. Again, the Crusaders failed to capitalize on the great field position and Chambersburg took over on downs. After Sebastian Sullivan and Lawrence Edward tackled Perry for a loss back to the 25, Trojan Quarterback Clay Cummings hit Perry with a short pass and the elusive runner broke free at the 40. It looked like the play would result in a touchdown and a Chambersburg lead before Jimmy Owen, in an impressive individual effort, raced to catch Perry at the McDevitt 2 yard line. A motion penalty pushed the Trojans back to the 7 before Edward tackled Cummings on consecutive plays, limiting the advance to the 3 yard line. On the next play Tucker and Finney combined to drop Perry for a 2 yard loss and Chambersburg had to settle for a 21 yard field goal from Travis Schoenberger, narrowing the McDevitt lead to 14-12. After another exchange of punts, McDevitt took possession at its own 16 with 1:24 left in the half. McCoy ripped off a 23 yard gain, then followed with a 6 yard run to the Crusader 44. After a time out, McCoy angled around left end, blew past a linebacker and dashed to the end zone. The 56 yard touchdown run gave the Crusaders a 21-12 lead heading into halftime and provided some much-needed confidence that would carry into the second half.Any questions about the eventual outcome of the game were answered in the opening moments of the second half. Chambersburg fumbled the kickoff and Keith Davis quickly recovered for McDevitt at the Trojan 8 yard line. On the next play, McCoy followed Jason Kates' kickout block and strolled around left end to widen the Crusader lead to 28-12 with only 12 seconds gone in the third quarter. The Trojans were then thwarted when Sullivan, who also filled in admirably for Dade at offensive tackle, broke in from his defensive end position and dropped Perry for an 8 yard loss. Chambersburg punted to midfield and Owen returned to the home team's 46. Two McCoy carries resulted in 14 yards and a first down, and then Comasco completed a 5 yard pass to Goldston. After Tucker lost a yard, 2 more Shady runs netted 11 yards and moved the sticks again. Now at the Trojan 17, Comasco dropped back and lofted a beauty into the left corner of the end zone, where Berry made the grab for his second score of the game at the 6:45 mark of the third quarter. Chambersburg managed to string together a couple of first downs before the McDevitt secondary forced consecutive incompletions, so the Trojans punted again, with the ball rolling dead at the McDevitt 1. What followed was one of the most enjoyable drives of the year for McDevitt fans. It took 9 plays, covered 99 yards and didn't end until the fourth quarter. McCoy, as usual, started things off with an 18 yard run. Following an incompletion, the sensational tailback added a 22 yard jaunt, then headed to the sideline for some rest. Running out of a 1 back set. Tucker rammed ahead for 9 yards, then followed with a 4 yard run to midfield. After a holding penalty negated Comasco's nice gain on a keeper, McCoy returned for an encore. He carried for 9 yards, and then ended his night with a 26 yard scamper on the first play of the 4th quarter. John Butler carried for a 4 yard gain, and then Comasco faded back for a pass attempt. Seeing Owen covered on the play, Comasco bolted right up the middle of the field, lowered his head at the 5, fought through 2 tackles and sprawled into the end zone to complete the 19 yard touchdown run. When the Trojans somehow failed to cover the kickoff and Matt Vargo pounced on the ball at the Chambersburg 28, Head Coach Jeff Weachter emptied his bench. Gerard Oliver carried for 2 yards and then Mike Fetchko, on his first varsity carry, drove for 6 yards to the 20. Another first-timer, sophomore Dave Onarato, got the first down on a tough 12 yard run, and then Oliver carried for 8 before finishing the scoring drive with a 2 yard run that made the score 49-12. McDevitt defensive reserves put on a good show, keeping the Trojan varsity from scoring and nearly coming away with a couple of interceptions before halting Chambersburg on downs at the Crusader 29. Tad Romozi put the finishing touches on the big victory by gaining 15 yards on 3 carries, and McDevitt's quest for the 2004 playoffs was complete.
The first round playoff game will be played at Hempfield on Friday, November 12th. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 PM.
QUOTES
Head Coach Jeff Weachter
I'm excited. We all look forward to being in the playoffs and I think our kids will rise to the occasion. We had a great week of practice and it almost looked like we were flat at first, but I really think that the kids were so fired up before the game and then we had to stand there in the end zone for what seemed like a half hour (for Senior Night). At first the line wasn't really coming off the ball so we made an adjustment here and there and had a little talk with the line. They really improved in the second half. We knew that the way that they were playing defense that we couldn't get outside, but the middle was wide open. Jimmy Owen has done a great job at safety the last two weeks. On that tackle, well, that's what we call "White Lightning". He really saved us there. By the time I got into the locker room at halftime Pat Berry was already chewing on the defense because Chambersburg didn't really give us anything unexpected; it was a lot of missed tackles. But the defense did a great job in the second half. On Shady's touchdown run right before the half, we actually made a little adjustment right before half. Their defensive tackles were just diving at our offensive tackle's legs. So we called a timeout, gave them a passing formation with 3 wides, and we widened our splits over tackles that gave us a big gap. That gave us some breathing room at halftime. Vince Comasco did a great job. Once we got the snap thing corrected with him it was OK. He did some checks in the running game, he threw the ball well and I'm happy for him. We've always said that we felt that Vince was the best backup quarterback in the league and he showed it tonight. I don't care who we play; I'm just happy that we're in. We're going to bring the kids in over the weekend to watch the film instead of Monday, so we can go full practice Monday.
Assistant Coach Corey Jett
This just means the world to me, the rest of the coaching staff as well as the team, to finally get to the playoffs after all these years. We knew we had playoff-caliber teams in the past and things just didn't work out our way, but now it has and we're just so glad to be going. As far as guys stepping up tonight, we had a great game out of Sebastian Sullivan at tackle; we had another great game from Vince Comasco, a kid who played his heart out tonight. He's a great leader and I know if he ever got the time to develop as a high school quarterback he would be a great one.
Assistant Coach Sean Lee
It's great! It's great for the kids and great for the school. We've had a couple of near misses in the past so these kids definitely deserve this. It was the back sneaking out into the flat that gave us a little trouble in the first half. We had a couple of missed assignments but we made some adjustments in the second half and we contained them pretty well.
G/DT Jason Kates
It just feels great. All of the hard work in the off-season pays off now. Now we get to continue on to the playoffs and try to go for the state title. In the second half we realized that the playoffs could slip away and we had to come out and do something about it. We came out lackadaisical but we finished strong.
WR/S/KR Jimmy Owen
On that tackle in the first half, oh, man, I just busted it down there to make the tackle. Other than that I don't even know what to say; I'm so happy we made the playoffs! The team is pretty happy. We worked for it all year and we're finally there but the regular season is behind us now. All of the teams left are winless and they all have no losses. So we just have to come to play.
WR Brandon Brown
We practice the situations where I'll come into the game all the time so I know I have to come up with some big plays sometimes when they call on me. I might not come in there and make all the great catches all the time like Aaron (Berry) does, he's a great player. But when they call on me I try to step it up and help bring the team together. Vince played great tonight. I played with him last year on JV's and I knew that if he ever had to come in at the varsity level and step in that he could be the man. He filled those shoes real well tonight. My blocking, well, it's getting better than last year. All the receivers are working on that and it's one part of my game that I'm really trying to improve.
QB Vince Comasco
We practiced pretty good this week and I thought that we prepared well and I was ready for the game. We've been having trouble with the snaps all year so, well, we'll try and get it worked out this week. I love having receivers like the guys we have and having Shady is pretty good, too! On the touchdown run, it was supposed to be a slant to Jimmy (Owen), but the 'backer was sitting right where Jimmy was. So I saw an opening up the middle and I just took off and ran. It feels pretty good having everyone look at you and having to lead like that. I like having people look up to me to be a leader in situations like that. I think the guys respect me. I think we just put it all together and played pretty well tonight.