October 9-Today's game between the Bishop McDevitt Crusaders and the Berwick Bulldogs was a highly anticipated event. Ever since the schools announced the match-up last winter, Pennsylvania high school football fans have eagerly awaited the meeting of these two powerhouse teams from competing regions at McDevitt Field. Despite all of the game previews in the media, however, no one could have anticipated today's nail-biting finish, featuring fumbled snaps, trick plays, squib kicks, great defensive efforts and, finally, an incredibly clutch kick by a 14-year-old-freshman! The end result was a wild 23-20 win for Bishop McDevitt, sealed by a game-ending 36 yard field goal by the Crusader's Mike Comasco. The win gives McDevitt's (4-1, 3-1 in the Mid Penn Commonwealth Division) playoff hopes a major boost. Under the PIAA's playoff formula being used this year by District 3, a Class AAAA team like McDevitt receives 80 points for defeating a Class AAA opponent like Berwick. Unlike past years, however, the Crusaders also receive 10 additional points for each win Berwick logs during the regular season. It is not unreasonable to expect the Bulldogs to finish with 8 or 9 regular season wins, giving the Crusaders an 80 or 90 point boost.For McDevitt, tailback LeSean McCoy turned in another outstanding performance, rushing for 277 yards and a touchdown while still being bothered by a sore ankle. The offensive line of tackles Nate Dade and Tucker Baumbach, guards Jason Kates, Ryan Finney and Mike Berry, and Center R.J. Harden responded to the challenge by paving the way for 386 yards of total offense. Defensively, linebacker Larondo Tucker was everywhere, recording 2 ½ sacks and an interception, blocking a pass and forcing the fumble that changed McDevitt's fortune. He was joined by safeties Vince Comasco and Eric McGovern, linebacker Derek Michtich and tackle Jason Kates in spearheading the Crusader's effort to thwart the high-powered Berwick offense.
McDevitt took the opening kickoff and reached the end zone in a little more than 3 minutes. After a motion penalty moved the ball to the Crusader 25 yard line, McCoy squirted through the right side of the Berwick defensive line and raced 40 yards to the Bulldog's 35. One play later, the Junior superstar went in motion to the left and gathered in a swing pass from quarterback Jeremy Ricker, and then wiggled past a host of Berwick defenders to the 4. After Ricker sneaked across the goal line 2 plays later, Berwick blocked Mike Comasco's PAT attempt, and McDevitt led 6-0, with 8:54 left in the quarter. On the Bulldog's opening possession, cornerback Matt Vargo and linebacker Lawrence Edward both made tackles for losses, forcing a Berwick punt that Jimmy Owen returned 8 yards to midfield. 5 straight McCoy carries led to a fourth-and-five at the Bulldog 32, but Owen couldn't handle Ricker's accurate bullet. Berwick then moved 36 yards in 8 plays, penetrating to the McDevitt 32. When Bulldog quarterback Christian Force tried to connect on a slant, Vince Comasco jumped the route and tipped the pass into the air, and the ever-alert Tucker made a diving interception at the McDevitt 11. After a 3 yard run, McCoy was at it again, this time following key blocks from wide receivers Owen and Mike Goldston to roll 56 yards to the Berwick 30 as the quarter ended. Tucker dove for 3, and then McCoy blasted inside for 17 more to the 10. When the Berwick defense stiffened at the 4, Mike Comasco came out for a 21 yard field goal attempt, leading to a strange series of plays. First, Berwick was flagged for an illegal substitution, moving the ball to the 2. McDevitt head coach Jeff Weachter then decided to go for the TD, so the offense returned. But McDevitt jumped offside, so the ball moved back to the 7. Now it was Berwick's turn to jump over the line of scrimmage, so the spot moved back to the 4 and the McDevitt offense returned again! Berwick thwarted the threat when McCoy was dropped for a 2 yard loss. The Bulldogs again moved the ball efficiently, mixing passes and runs to return to the McDevitt 32. This time the Crusader secondary came up big, forcing 2 incompletions. Then, after a delay penalty, Tucker and Michtich made a quarterback sandwich out of Force, sacking him for an 8 yard loss and forcing a Berwick punt. Ricker fuelled the next drive with accurate passes, including a 19 yarder to Owen and then a 13 yard connection with Michtich. Four strong McCoy runs moved the ball to the Berwick 25, and the Crusaders were on the verge of adding to the lead as the end of the half neared. But a familiar nemesis, the fumbled center-quarterback exchange, continues to haunt the McDevitt offense. After Berwick recovered the first of these maddening bobbles, the half ended. Despite over 200 yards of offense in the first half, McDevitt's lead was only 6-0.
The Crusaders roared out of the dressing room to start the second half like they started the first. Berwick returned the kickoff to its own 37, and then Tucker sacked Force for a 6 yard loss. One play later, Vince Comasco stepped in front of a Force pass and returned the interception to the Berwick 40. From there, Ricker passed for 9 yards to Owen and McCoy danced for 7 more. McCoy then took a deep handoff, faked an inside move and sprinted around left end to the corner of the end zone. After Mike Comasco's successful PAT, the Crusader had a 13-0 lead at the 9:09 mark of the 3rd quarter. Berwick responded with a 9 play, 70 yard scoring drive, aided by a McDevitt personal foul penalty on the kickoff and tough running by tailback Brant Quick. Force finished the drive with a 15 yard keeper for the score, and the Crusader lead was narrowed to 13-7. Berwick followed that effort with a strong defensive stand, forcing a McDevitt 3-and-out as the Bulldog fans roared in support. Ricker quieted the crowd with a booming 55 yard punt to the Berwick 12. The Bulldog offense stalled after one first down, and Berwick punted to the McDevitt 23. Keeping the ball on the ground to take advantage of the aggressive play of the offensive line, the Crusaders started with a 17 yard McCoy gallop, followed by a 31 yard run in which Shady broke 5 tackles. The quarter ended after a 10 yard McCoy run to the Berwick 27. Two more McCoy runs gained 9 yards, and then Tucker surprised the Berwick defense, blasting up the middle for an 18 yard touchdown run. Now trailing 20-7, Berwick wasn't about to throw in the towel. The Bulldogs started throwing the ball, but tipped passes by Tucker and cornerback Gerard Oliver set up a third-and-10 at the Berwick 43. Force found Quick for 19 yards for the first down, and 5 plays later Quick scored on a 3 yard run to make the score 20-14 with 8:25 left. Berwick coach George Curry ordered a squib kick and McDevitt barely recovered at its own 36. The Crusaders could go nowhere and were forced to punt, but Ricker came through again with a 56 yard punt that went out of bounds at the Berwick 9. The McDevitt 'D" forced 3 incompletions, thanks to a strong pass rush from Kates and others, and Berwick lined up to punt. Force's punt only traveled 10 yards, however, and the Crusaders appeared ready to finish off the Bulldogs, having the ball at the Berwick 19 with 5:43 left in the game. But on the next play, another fumbled snap was recovered by Berwick, and the Bulldogs began to move the ball as the clocked ticked. Using blasts by Quick and the occasional Force keeper, Berwick advanced from its own 18 to the McDevitt 21, where the Bulldogs faced a third-and 5 situation with 1 minute left in the game. Forced faked a handoff and tried to circle left end, but defensive end Brian 
Weisser stuffed the quarterback for a 5 yard loss as the McDevitt faithful exploded with joy. Now facing fourth down, Berwick called time out as fans on both sides of the field wondered what play Curry would call. It turned out to be a beauty. Quick lined up in the left slot and, circling behind the quarterback, took Force's pitch. He ran about 3 yards, and then suddenly turned around and threw back to Force. The quarterback made the catch, broke a tackle and dove into the end zone to tie the game as the stadium erupted. Berwick lined up for the extra point, but kicker Zack Alley pushed the ball wide right and it was the McDevitt fans' turn jump for joy. The joy was short-lived, however. Berwick squibbed the kickoff (like all of the Berwick kickoffs today), but McDevitt failed to cover the ball and the Bulldog's Pete Celona fell on it at the McDevitt 34. Now the crowd was in a total frenzy as Berwick was poised to score with 57 seconds left in the game. Force took the snap and dropped back to pass. Tucker burst through the Berwick line like a cannon shot and flattened the Berwick signal caller, separating Force from the ball. Defensive end David Dunn quickly scooped up the fumble and rumbled 14 yards to the Berwick 42. McDevitt field was now in total bedlam from the startling changes in momentum. On the next play McCoy fought for 8 yards, but was then held for no gain as the Crusaders burned a time out. Facing third down, Ricker fired a pass to Brandon Brown, who turned upfield and raced out of bounds at the Berwick 22 after a 12 yard gain. With one time out left, Weachter sent McCoy up the middle for 3 yards and let the clock run down to 4.4 seconds. Out came the 14-year -old Freshman kicker to attempt the first field goal of his short career. As the crowd tensed in anticipation, the snap from Harden to Vince Comasco was right on the money. Vince quickly spotted the ball in place as the Berwick rush closed in, and Mike Comasco drove through the ball, sending it high and far. The ball split the uprights and easily cleared the crossbar by 5 yards as the McDevitt team spilled onto the field to celebrate the 23-20 win.McDevitt's next game is Friday, October 15 against Altoona. Game time at Altoona's Mansion Park is 7:00 PM. The school has announced that there will be a bus going to the game for students and fans interested in attending. Please contact the school for details.
QUOTES
Head Coach Jeff Weachter
I worried about the Carlisle game this summer when I saw the schedule, because it was a sandwich game. You know that the Harrisburg game is so emotional and the kids were fired up about Berwick. We didn't know until pre-game last week that the kids were flat as can be, because we had a good week of practice. When we got back from Carlisle, there was a closed door meeting for about an hour. I did most of the talking, the assistant coaches did a little of the talking, and the players did no talking. Give the kids credit: they came out and worked their rear ends off this week. And the coaching staff doesn't get their due. Pat Berry and my brother put together packages for Berwick. They have so many formations and personnel packages. What we did was put their numbers on our kids and we did every one of their packages. We had Lamar Banks on the sideline with the script and he was calling in the plays. What Berwick did to other teams, they had ways to get people wide open because you forgot about them because of their motion, their shifts and so many formations. We didn't do that once. So give the coaches credit, and the players, because we had our best week of practice. The key to this whole game was our offensive line. For the first time since the first half of the State College game they came off the football. If you give LeSean the line of scrimmage, then he's going to have days like he did today. If he was healthy, about 3 or 4 of those long runs go for touchdowns. He still doesn't have that burst out of there, but our line did a great job and I'm very proud of them. On the fumbled snaps, well, it almost cost us the football game. What the problem is, one time the ball won't come up, and then the next time the ball will come up but the quarterback pulls out a little too quick, because Shady's so quick taking off. We make them do, every day, 100 extra snaps. We have to keep on working on it, because it's very frustrating. On the 4th down throwback pass, well, we charted every game Berwick's had this year but that's one play he didn't show. When I saw #8 (Quick) line up in the slot I was yelling, "Trick Play! Trick Play!", On a fourth-and ten they're not going to put him on a wing like that and when I saw him turn I thought, "Oh, no the quarterback!" But then Tuck made a great play, Dunn made a great play, and, you know, I'm just happy to get the win. The coaching staff did talk a little about playing a team like Berwick and representing the Harrisburg area. We had the same guy scout them every game, one of my ex-coaches at Lebanon Catholic. He told me after last week that Berwick's fired up, they and their fans are fired up to come down here to kick your rear ends because they want respect in the Harrisburg area. Honestly, we plated a good game but we could have made it easier on ourselves by not coming away empty 3 times deep in their territory in the first half.QB Jeremy Ricker
This week, we got prepared by taking care of the little things in practice, doing things as a team, stretching as a team, and it just carried over into the game today. We had a big loss at Carlisle but now we've come back and beaten Berwick, so we can use this as one stepping stone to the championship.
OG Ryan Finney
We were very anxious to come out here in the first half. And in the second half, we were the same way. I'm just saying that everybody was ready to play today. We didn't think about Berwick being from the Coal Region and all that, not at all; we were just going for the win. If we keep moving the ball then everybody will give us our respect. We keep this up and we can go for states.
G/DT Jason Kates
We just came out here and we were fat! That's what we did. The old fat boys just came off the ball today and sometimes we killed them. I think we were ready this week because last night we went to see "Friday Night Lights" and it got us hyped for this game.
S Vince Comasco
On the interception to start the second half, Berwick kept running the same patterns and I kind of made a good read on it and he just put it right in my hands, so I picked it off and started running with it. We try to treat every game like it's a big deal, so this wasn't that much different. We had a really good week of practice so we came out ready to play. Altoona's going to be a big game also, so we can't have a letdown.
FB/LB Larondo Tucker
We had a real good week of practice. With Carlisle, I think that we took them lightly. This week we had a real good week of practice and the line really fired off. I also think the coaches had us really prepared. The hype didn't affect us at all; we just wanted to win the game. Berwick is a real good team that never quits.
OT Nate Dade
We got tired of hearing a lot of the criticism about how we haven't developed. In my opinion we have the best offensive line and we just had to prove it. We played like champions this week. Personally, I don't really know too much about the Coal Region. I just took Berwick like any other team. They kind of reminded me of our team. They don't ever give up, and they come off the ball low and hard. On the field goal at the end, I was praying.
TB LeSean McCoy
I feel good. I really can't do everything on my ankle but I guess I did OK. Berwick was tough; they don't ever give up. They came hard every play. On that swing pass in the first series, well, everybody likes to stack it in the box. We figured that would get me outside, that little pass, and it did. In order to keep the team up we have to think about the playoffs. If we keep winning then we'll make it to the playoffs. Practice was great this week. The line was really firing off the ball. I think coach Curry said in the paper that I do everything by myself, that I don't get any blocking. I think the line took offense to that, so they decided to come out there and play hard.
K Michael Comasco
I was hoping that we could get into field goal range but I really wanted us to score a touchdown. So if it had to come down to me, well, it had to come down to me. As I was walking on the field I just thought about making it, about keeping my head down. The snap was great, the hold was good. Coach Deuce trusted me, so I kicked it through. Watching it go through was a great feeling; I've never felt anything like it. I got swarmed after the kick! At first I was going to hold everyone up, but then I decided to go down on my back. Berwick was pretty good; they gave us a tough game. I didn't get caught up in any hype for the game. I didn't even know about it.