October 18-  The Bishop McDevitt Crusader’s 2003 playoff hopes ended this morning at the hands of their archrivals, the Harrisburg Cougars. Harrisburg jumped out to a 26 point lead and withstood a furious 4^th quarter rally by the Crusaders to post a 33-28 victory at McDevitt Field. The disappointing loss left McDevitt with a record of 5-3 (5-2 in the Mid Penn Commonwealth Division) and ended their 4 game winning streak. The Crusader offense sputtered in the early going, and the defense was guilty of shoddy tackling and mental errors. The mistakes, combined with effective play by the Cougars, was too much to overcome for Coach Jeff Weachter’s squad.

McDevitt opened their first series with one of their few successful plays of the first half, a 23 yard pass from quarterback Jeremy Ricker to Wide Receiver Ryan Williams. When the drive sputtered, however, Ricker punted to the Cougar 10. The McDevitt defense also started well, when Tackle Quincy Rain dropped Harrisburg Running Back Mikell Simpson for a 4 yard loss following an incompletion. The Cougar’s third down play, though, was a preview of what was in store for the Crusaders on this crisp fall morning. Simpson took a short swing pass from quarterback Brian Smoot, broke 2 tackles and scooted down the left sideline past the shocked McDevitt crowd for a 96 yard touchdown. After a McDevitt 3-and-out, the Cougars moved 65 yards on 5 plays to stretch their lead to 13-0 at the 4:34 mark, capping the drive with a 28 yard touchdown pass from Smoot to Fullback Julius Sweet. Another ineffective McDevitt series followed with another Ricker punt, this time to the Cougar 44. A combination of penalties and hustling plays by fearless McDevitt Linebacker Doug Ritter pushed Harrisburg back to their own 30, forcing a punt. The Crusaders were guilty of roughing the punter, however, and the Cougars moved to the McDevitt 29 as the quarter ended.

Three plays into the second quarter, Sweet broke 3 tackles enroute to a 15 yard scoring run. Trailing 20-0, McDevitt suddenly came to life. After sensational Sophomore Tailback LeSean McCoy returned the kickoff 30 yards to the Crusader 40, Ricker found Fullback Cedric Bowling in the flat for a 14 yard gain. A motion penalty and a 1 yard McCoy gain moved the ball to midfield. From there, Ricker hit Junior Wide Receiver Jimmy Owen over the middle at the Cougar 25. Owen changed direction, evaded a tackler and sprinted to paydirt to complete the 50 yard play. Crusader hopes surged 2 plays later when Rain forced, then recovered a fumble at the Harrisburg 11 yard line. The scoring chance was wasted when, after 2 penalties, Ricker was intercepted at the goal line by Camacha Green. The teams then traded punts and the half ended with Harrisburg leading, 20-7.

The second half started with McDevitt Tackle Uriah Aviles ending a Cougar drive with a sack at the Harrisburg 27. On the ensuing punt, Williams let the ball bounce over his head and watched it roll to the McDevitt 11. The referees ruled that Williams had touched the ball, and the Cougars regained possession. The McDevitt defense stiffened, however, and Chris Odoom missed a 28 yard field goal attempt. The rest of the quarter was a punting contest (McDevitt 2, Harrisburg 1) until the Cougars launched an 8 play drive from midfield. It ended 2 plays into the 4^th quarter on an 8 yard Simpson run to widen the Cougar lead to 26-7. When the next McDevitt possession ended with a Ricker interception at the Harrisburg 23, the home team stands began to empty.  The exodus increased after Simpson slipped off left tackle and sprinted past a discouraged secondary for an 85 yard score to give the Cougars a 33-14 lead with 7:58 left to play.

Then the tide began to turn. From his own 43, Ricker floated a swing pass to McCoy in the left flat. Enjoying his first real running room of the game, McCoy showed more moves than the Cougar band in wiggling to a 57 yard touchdown. After McDevitt’s Ritter recovered the following onside kick, Ricker suffered a 20 yard sack and the Crusaders were forced to punt. Camacho fielded the boot at his own 20, but was soon grabbed by the relentless Ritter. The 2 players staggered across the 20 until Ritter managed to rip the ball loose. Eric Zellers alertly pounced on the fumble and momentum had definitely changed. McCoy bulled his way for 17 yards to the 3, then Ricker led Bowling perfectly in the corner of the end zone for his 3^rd scoring toss of the game. With the score now 33-21, Weachter elected to kick deep, and Jeremy Smith’s blast went for a touchback. Harrisburg seemed to stop the McDevitt comeback when the rugged Sweet dashed 64 yards to the McDevitt 16, stopped by a touchdown-saving tackle by Smith. The Crusader defense rose up, though, stuffing Simpson for a 2 yard loss on 4^th down to regain possession at their own 10 with 3:20 remaining. On the next play, McCoy showed why he is destined to be a legend in Central Pennsylvania. Taking a quick handoff, he darted up the middle and cut past 2 linebackers, headed for the sideline. Breaking a tackle at the 30, the shifty back suddenly cut inside, then out, picking up a block from Mike Goldston. McCoy broke free at midfield, then outran a desperate Harrisburg safety to cap an amazing 90 yard touchdown run as the remaining McDevitt crowd went mad. The score was now 33-28 and there was still 3:05 left to play. Harrisburg returned the kickoff to the 25, but could do nothing in 3 playsagainst the aroused McDevitt “D”. After great confusion, the Crusaders finally were granted a timeout by the befuddled referees with 2:12 left to play.  Simpson punted to the McDevitt 29, and the game’s final series began.

The ending was anticlimactic, though. After 2 incompletions, McCoy had his final carry of the game, a 7 yarder. Facing 4^th and 3, Ricker threw to Owen on a quick out pattern. Owen was hit immediately as he caught the ball and fell close to a first down. The measurement was taken twice as fans strained to see the chains before the field judge signaled that McDevitt had come up an inch short of continuing their drive. Harrisburg took a knee 3 times and the McDevitt comeback was over. The Crusader’s next game is Friday, October 24^th. The opponent is Cedar Cliff and the site is the newly refurbished West Shore Stadium, as McDevitt will be the first visiting team to play on the new artificial surface. Game time is 7:30 PM

QUOTES

Head Coach Jeff Weachter

We just made way too many mistakes. We had guys in position for tackles and we missed them. The roughing-the-punter killed us. We went in at halftime and made a few adjustments. They threw a different defense at us that we hadn’t seen them run before. You know, running half the defense on, half the punt team on killed us, when they got that first down and then scored. We had dropped balls, we just made mistakes. I’m proud of our kids; our kids don’t quit. I’m very proud of them. Harrisburg has some good athletes, they have speed. Sweet ran hard but, there again, we missed tackles, and when you miss tackles against people like that, they’re going to go. Harrisburg tried to put the game into the hands of our young quarterback. He made some mistakes but he did a great job. We’ll be back.

Assistant Coach Dave Weachter

I think our kids were a little bit too pumped up. Before the game they were coming out all hyped up. We tried to tell them to calm it down a little bit. We didn’t really make a whole lot of adjustments at half; our kids decided that, hey, you know what, it’s a game and they pretty much put it upon themselves to play a better second half. It was a matter of inches on a lot of calls. I told the kids in the huddle after the game that this team has heart. We were down 33-14 with 5 minutes to go and they showed a lot of heart. Honestly, I don’t think we’re going to have much trouble getting them going again.

TB LeSean McCoy

It’s hard to talk about this loss, but we fought back and played hard. We wanted to win but we didn’t win so…. In the second half I was thinking, I’m not going to let them stop me. They wanted to stop me, but Coach Weachter made some good calls and we were able to have some success running the ball. I am going to stay humble. I’m always talking to my brother and he tells me to be a good back but to stay humble and don’t listen to people telling me too much and let my head get blown up.

LB Doug Ritter

We just gave up too much in the beginning. It was too much to come back from but we tried our hardest. They didn’t do anything to surprise us, it was just too many mistakes. On our last defensive stand, we knew we could get the ball back and we did. On the punt return I didn’t realize he fumbled, I thought he broke away and was gone when I heard the crowd but I guess I stripped it.

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