October 1- Bishop McDevitt football fans have seen many fine rushing performances in the past few years. With tailbacks like Dave Dawson, Jesse Pitt and LeSean McCoy carrying the ball for the Crusaders, a 100 yard rushing effort almost becomes expected. Tonight at Carlisle's Ken Millen Stadium, the Thundering Herd's Tyreese Marshall gave McDevitt a taste of its own medicine, burning the Crusaders for 295 yards and 4 touchdowns in Carlisle's 26-20 victory. Once again, the McDevitt offense was hampered by turnovers, dropped passes and mental mistakes. The Crusaders were held scoreless in the first half and managed its first score with 30 seconds left in the third quarter. A determined 4th quarter comeback fell short, however, resulting in McDevitt's (3-1, 3-1 in Mid Penn Commonwealth play) first loss of the 2004 season. The Crusader's defense, after playing inspiring football in the first 3 games, had little trouble containing Carlisle's (4-1, 3-1) veer or passing attack, but couldn't manage to tackle the 5'8, 173 lb. Marshall all night.
After each team was forced to punt on its initial possession, Carlisle began its second drive on its own 10 yard line. With Junior David Dukes at quarterback, the Herd marched 90 yards in 11 plays, mixing runs and passes in a drive that took up the rest of the first quarter. Marshall fought his way into the end zone from the 4 on the first play of the second quarter and, after Sebastian Sullivan blocked the PAT, Carlisle led 6-0. After a kickoff return to the McDevitt 28, quarterback Jeremy Ricker led the Crusaders on a long drive of its own. Following a motion penalty, Ricker scrambled for 13 yards, and then relied on 2 McCoy first down runs to move into Carlisle territory. A 6 yard pass to tight end Derek Michtich and a 2 yard dive for a first down by fullback Larondo Tucker kept the Crusaders alive, and then McCoy ran for 7 yards to the Carlisle 25. The Herd defense stiffened, though, and McCoy could only manage 1 yard on the next 3 carries, allowing Carlisle to regain possession. One play later, Marshall burst into the clear and sailed 76 yards to give the Herd a 12-0 lead with 5:46 left in the half. McDevitt's next 2 series were ended by interceptions, but both times the Crusader defense forced Carlsle to punt. Regaining the ball at its own 37 with less than a minute remaining, the Crusaders started with an 11 yard McCoy run. On the next play, Ricker was forced to scramble, and then fired a long pass toward the goal line. The perfectly-targeted ball hit Mike Goldston at the 3 yard line, but the Senior wideout couldn't find the handle. On the next play, Ricker found Vince Comasco at the Carlisle 25, but Comasco suffered a similar fate. The half came to a frustrating halt with a Ricker fumble recovered for a 14 yard loss.
The second half didn't start any better for the Crusaders. Keith Davis had a nifty 13 yard kick return to the McDevitt 44, but McCoy lost a fumble on the first play from scrimmage. After defensive end Brian Weisser forced an incomplete pass on third down, Carlisle punted to Goldston at the 18. As the punt came down it looked like it glanced off of Goldston's hands and Carlisle quickly recovered the loose ball, but the officials ruled that the ball had not touched Goldston. The Crusaders drive fizzled after one first down and Ricker was forced to punt to the Carlisle 30. The Herd moved the ball on the ground, gaining 16 yards in 4 plays, and then Marshall broke off another long scoring run, this time a 54 yarder. With the score now 18-0 and 4:54 left in the third quarter, McDevitt's situation looked hopeless. However, Brandon Brown had other ideas. The Junior wide receiver, who is expected to help fill the void left by the injury to talented receiver Aaron Berry, was held to one 3 yard catch in the first half. He came alive on this possession, grabbing passes from Ricker for 17 and 5 yards to key the 10 play, 80 yard scoring drive. With the Crusaders facing a fourth-and-14 at the Carlisle 44, Brown beat his coverage and made a solid grab in the corner of the end zone to put McDevitt on the board with 30 seconds left in the 3rd quarter. Carlisle answered that score early in the final stanza with Marshall's final scoring run, a 60 yard jaunt past a stunned McDevitt secondary. McCoy fielded the ensuing kickoff at the 15, and then bobbled the ball. Recovering quickly, he made 2 quick moves to clear the Carlisle coverage, and then sprinted down the right sideline for an 85 yard kickoff return that narrowed the Herd lead to 26-14. Momentum had switched to the Crusader sideline, and things looked good for McDevitt when Marshall fumbled on the following drive and Eric McGovern recovered for the Crusaders on the Carlisle 44. But Ricker's next pass was picked off, and the Herd quickly moved to the McDevitt 15. A procedure penalty and a clutch 13 yard sack by Tucker averted the Carlisle scoring threat, and the Crusaders were back in business at the McDevitt 32. The scoring drive that followed was the product of some tough McCoy running and the Ricker-to-Brown connection. Ricker started it off with a 5 yard run, and then McCoy had gains of 4 and 18 yards. After an incompletion, 2 more McCoy runs gained 11 yards before Brown grabbed a Ricker dart for an 8 yard gain. Shady blasted for 8 more yards, and then Ricker hit Brown with a 14 yard scoring strike on a slant, making the score 26-20 with 3:48 left in the game. After Carlisle managed one first down, 2 clutch tackles by Jason Kates forced the Herd to punt at the 1:20 mark. McDevitt's chances died on the first play, however, as Ricker suffered his 4th interception of the night. Carlisle ran out the clock and then celebrated a hard-earned win.The Crusaders return to the gridiron on Saturday, October 9th, when the Berwick Bulldogs, currently ranked #1 in Class AAA, visit McDevitt Field. Game time is 1:00 PM.
QUOTES
Head Coach Jeff Weachter
I don't why this happened. We had a good week of practice. We just came out flat and had way too many mistakes. We were moving the ball, and then we had breakdowns in protection, in blocking. Carlisle didn't do anything that we didn't practice for. They did it the way exactly the way we thought they would. We just didn't have it tonight. Our defense has been tackling well all year but we had a lot of missed tackles. We knew Marshall was a good back coming in but they killed us with "Ice", which is what we run all the time. You hate to get beaten by your own best play. But give them credit. They regrouped after a loss, which is what we're going to have to do. They came out and took it to us early on and beat us on both sides of the ball. I thought Brandon Brown did a great job. We thought that he could do some of those things, so we are going to have to get him the ball.
Assistant Coach Lamar Banks
We could have prepared better as a team. We have to be more focused. We have to understand that these big games require a full week of preparation. Hopefully, our team will learn what the Carlisle team learned: you have to start on Monday to prepare after a tough loss. So we'll get back to the drawing board and go from there. Our young defensive linemen are developing very well. We have a Sophomore, Sebastian Sullivan, starting and doing very well for us. We have to rotate these other kids in because they're too good not to play. I'm a former McDevitt Crusader and this is the toughest schedule I've ever seen. From top to bottom there are no slouches. You can see from this Carlisle team that the league is strong. Berwick is a very well-coached team, a very well-disciplined team that doesn't beat themselves. We're going to have to come to play next week.
CB Greg Williams
Marshall was a harder runner than I thought. A couple of times I came up on him after he got by the linebacker but he shook me off and headed up the sideline. Tuck hawked him the one time and I tried on that last one but that didn't work. He's a great player. I'm not happy that Aaron got hurt but I'm grateful for the chance to play. I think I did all right tonight; I have to step up my tackling a little bit, but, overall, I think it went OK. This team will pull it together. Our goal now is to finish the rest of the games undefeated, no doubt.
OG/DT Jason Kates
I'm not worried about the rest of the season. I'm just going to keep trying to beat these double-teams and triple teams. Greg did good filling in for Berry on defense, but we need guys to step up on offense.
Tailback LeSean McCoy
We got so far behind at the beginning that it was too much to overcome at the end. We are going to have to do what Carlisle did. They lost to Cumberland Valley last week and stepped it up and beat us this week. After the kickoff return I thought we were going to win, especially after the defense stopped them. We got close. We still have a good attitude.