November 27- McDevitt pride is back!

By defeating Carlisle tonight, 48-28 at Hersheypark Stadium, the Bishop McDevitt Crusaders won the District 3/6 Class AAAA championship and emerged, once again, as one of the best football programs in the midstate. To the delight of thousands of roaring Crusader fans, the 2004 edition of McDevitt football brought back memories of the glorious teams of the 80's and 90's, while firmly establishing its own legacy. Leading the way, as always, was McDevitt's outstanding Junior tailback LeSean McCoy. To the amazement of the large crowd at hand and a regional television audience, McCoy carried the ball 42 times and tallied 352 rushing yards and all 7 of McDevitt's touchdowns, and added a key 15 yard first-quarter reception. Time and again, Shady slashed, blasted, dashed and sprinted around and past frustrated Thundering Herd defenders. His scoring runs covered 2, 12, 59, 9, 10, 35 and 31 yards. Of course, his cause was aided by McDevitt's massive offensive line of tackles Nate Dade and Tucked Baumbach; guards Jason Kates and Ryan Finney; center R.J. Harden and tight end Derek Michtich. Fullback Larondo Tucker contributed dozens of crunching blocks and some solid inside running, while end Aaron Berry kept Carlisle off-balance with 4 receptions for 54 yards. The other wideouts, Mike Goldston, Jimmy Owen and Brandon Brown, were busy downfield screening the Herd secondary, and tight end Dave Seiple and guard Mike Berry joined in the fun in the very-effective short yardage formation. Running the offensive show was quarterback Jeremy Ricker, who led the virtually mistake-free McDevitt offense to 474 total yards, 20 first downs and a massive edge in time-of-possession.

The 28 points yielded by the McDevitt defense is misleading, as only the opening Carlisle touchdown came without McDevitt comfortably ahead. Linebacker Lawrence Edward made a crucial fumble recovery in the first quarter and assisted on a sack, while safety Eric McGovern's hard tackle forced another key Herd turnover in the 3rd quarter. Tucker, Michtich, Kates, Sebastian Sullivan and David Dunn combined to hold Carlisle to 121 yards rushing, almost 200 yards under average, and Matt Deitz provided a consistent pass rush and added a sack.

Carlisle took the opening kickoff and promptly showed how it was able to post its impressive 11-1 record, mixing runs and passes effectively to move 81 yards in 11 plays. Quarterback Clem Johnson's 20 yard keeper capped the drive and, after a missed PAT, Carlisle had a short-lived 6-0 lead with 7:31 left in the quarter. McDevitt answered with another well-balanced 11 play scoring drive. After Goldston returned the kickoff to the Crusader 37, Ricker hit Berry for a quick 4 yard out, and then McCoy went to work. First it was a 7 yard gallop for a first down, and then a 12 yarder to the 48. A second Ricker-to-Berry hookup netted 8 yards, but a rare 1 yard McCoy loss and a procedure penalty had McDevitt facing a third-and-8. Ricker faded back to pass, but quickly dropped off a screen pass to McCoy, who zig-zagged for 14 yards to keep the drive alive. McDevitt rode the Shady-train from there, as McCoy carried 4 straight times from the 24 to finish the drive, the last carry a 3 yard touchdown run. When the reliable Mike Comasco booted the extra point, the Crusaders had a 7-6 lead at the 2:51 mark. The teams then traded punts before Carlisle regained possession at the Herd 20 with half a minute left in the quarter. It was time for Edward's big play. Johnson sprinted to his left and dropped back as if to pass, but suddenly tried to pitch to Tyreese Marshall, who was ahead of Johnson. Edward, who had rushed Johnson from his outside linebacker spot, got a hand on the pitch and somehow managed to recover the tumbling pigskin before it rolled out of bounds. The stellar individual effort gave the Crusaders the ball at the Carlisle 12. McCoy covered that distance 1 play later, following Tucker's crushing block, giving McDevitt a 14-6 lead to end the quarter. The aroused McDevitt defense forced a 3-and-out, and the Crusaders were back in business at the McDevitt 28. McCoy ran for 8, and then Tucker, running with confidence, gained 3 yards to move the chains. On the next play McCoy made believers out of the few left who doubted his ability. Sliding through a hole provided by Harden and Finney, Shady made a jaw-dropping cut to his left, juked a linebacker, split 2 defensive backs and bolted 59 yards to post McDevitt to a 21-6 lead. Despite a facemask penalty against the Crusaders on the ensuing kickoff, the McDevitt defense held Carlisle to its 4th straight possession without a first down, and the Herd punted to the McDevitt 23. The 14 play, 77 yard scoring drive that followed provided ample evidence of McDevitt's superiority in this game. Employing a 2-tight-end, power "I" formation for most of the drive, the Crusaders hammered away at the outmanned Carlisle defense. Twice in the drive McDevitt converted fourth down attempts as McCoy carried 9 times, all between the tackles. Tucker added 2 carries for 23 yards and Ricker had a 2 yard gain to convert one of the fourth down tries. Using up time and yardage in equal amounts, the impressive power display ended with 1:43 left in the half when McCoy danced 9 yards to paydirt for a 28-7 McDevitt lead. The Herd wasn't ready to concede, however. Johnson targeted Richard Rayborn (Carlisle's most impressive player, by far) for a 62 yard scoring pass to narrow the McDevitt lead to 28-12, Carlisle failing on the 2 point conversion attempt. McDevitt went nowhere on its next possession and Carlisle regained control with 10 seconds left, but Dietz made a classic spin move on his blocker while rushing the passer and sacked Johnson to end the half.

Gerard Oliver got McDevitt started in the second half with a speedy 12 yard kickoff return to the Crusader 42. On the second play, McCoy broke free and appeared headed for another score before Rayborn grabbed Shady's wagging shirt tail and hauled him down after a 46 yard gain. McCoy ended up scoring 3 plays later anyway, on a 10 yard scamper courtesy of Kates' wipeout block, and McDevitt had reestablished its 3 score lead at 35-12. Carlisle's next drive started poorly, as Dunn and Edward combined to sack Johnson for a 4 yard loss and a delay penalty pushed the Herd back to its own 22. But on an incomplete pass play, Kates was charged with a personal foul to keep the drive alive. Carlisle responded with its 3rd touchdown, a 40 yard pass from Johnson to Rayborn and a successful 2 point conversion to cut the McDevitt advantage to 35-20. Carlisle then attempted an onside kick and successfully recovered the ball on the Crusader 48. But the McDevitt defense came up with another big play 2 plays later. Johnson, on a keeper, found room up the middle but was hit from behind by McGovern and fumbled. Vince Comasco managed to gather in the wildly bouncing ball at the 25 and the threat was averted. Ricker promptly passed to Berry for a 28 yard gain, and then it was back to the run. McCoy, Tucker and Dave Onorato advanced the Crusaders to the Carlisle 11. On the next play McCoy looked to be headed for another score but he fumbled at the 1 and Carlisle recovered. The McDevitt defense wasn't about to let the Herd escape this predicament, as first Tucker and then Michtich had big hits on Marshall. On third down Dunn and Sullivan got tremendous pressure on Johnson, who managed to get off a wobbly pass nowhere near a Carlisle receiver. No flag was forthcoming however, so the Herd managed a weak punt to the Carlisle 35. McCoy promptly took advantage of the field position, following Michtich's block around left end for a 35 yard scoring run with 27 seconds left in the third quarter, pushing the lead to 42-20. As the 4th quarter began it became evident that the district title was inevitable, and the large McDevitt crowd grew joyous in celebration. The McDevitt defense once again stopped Carlisle without a first down and the Herd punted to the McDevitt 30. Using 5 different runners, McDevitt proceeded to ground out 70 yards on 13 plays to cap the night's scoring. Ricker, Tucker, Onorato and John Butler all contributed positive yardage, but it was the amazing Mr. McCoy who started and finished the final drive. His 31 yard dash with 4:16 left in the game was his final carry of the night and staked McDevitt to a 48-20 lead. Carlisle did manage to score one more time on a 9 yard pass from Johnson to Gary Stackfield, but Butler nabbed the onside kick that followed and it was time for McDevitt to celebrate its first district championship since 1997, and its first AAAA crown.

McDevitt's next opponent in the PIAA playoffs is a formidable one: Pittsburgh Central Catholic, the 2003 Class AAAA state runner-up. The Vikings sport an impressive 14-0 record against a very tough schedule, and feature a number of Division 1 talents, including standout running back Eugene Jarvis. The game, to be played at Altoona's Mansion Park on Saturday, December 4th, will start at 1:00 PM.

QUOTES

Head Coach Jeff Weachter
This is the greatest feeling. This is why I came to Bishop McDevitt, to win championships. I'm just so proud of this team and this staff. We have taken a lot of criticism, but I really don't listen to that. I have a guy that teaches me the game, Dick Shiner, who played 11 years in the NFL, and when Dick tells me that I did something wrong or to do something different, I listen. But other people, well…. Hey I spent 10 years with this guy and Sonny Jurgensen, who is in the NFL Hall of Fame, tells me that Dick knows more football than anyone he knows. Dick and I talk all the time and Dick comes to about 2 or 3 practices a week, so after 10 years some of it has rubbed off a little bit. The difference this year is the kids. They're just great people. You know we had that team meeting after the CD loss. Nick Horvath asked me if I knew after the meeting that the kids would respond this way but I didn't know. I really didn't. But each week we'd see these kids just work and get better and better. I'm just so very proud of them.

Assistant Coach Pat Berry
Carlisle presented a very tough task for our defense. They have great athletes in the backfield and they throw the ball pretty well, too. The first series I thought that we just didn't tackle well. After that I think the kids understood that we could win this game if we did tackle. They showed the shotgun quite a bit this year but actually we had a scheme where we would blitz when they went shotgun and actually we played pretty good man-to-man defense when they went into that formation. To be honest with you, I tried not to think about the personal issue, coaching my sons, all year. But it's just something special. Mike's a great kid and my son Pat and Matt, all three of them are here with me. It's just an honor to be here!

Assistant Coach Lamar Banks
The offensive line has really stepped it up the last couple of weeks. They've worked really hard in practice, they understand the system better. It's evident in that, for the past couple of weeks LeSean has had great games and we've had great blocking up front. Now I've seen Pittsburgh Central Catholic twice on TV and they're a big, physical aggressive team. And that's just the kind of ball that we want to play. We are ready for that type of game. This championship feels awesome. In my senior year at McDevitt we were shorted. We missed the playoffs, even though we went 9-2 my senior year, so I love this, that I was able to come back and help the kids get something that they deserve.

Assistant Coach Jake Minnich
I thought our line played very well. Carlisle didn't really give us anything we hadn't seen. CD was basically a warm-up for us because CD ran the same stunts as these guys, so that worked out in our favor. The kids were expecting it. They changed a couple of things. They brought both weak side linebackers on the one side so we changed up a little bit there. When I first got to McDevitt this is what I envisioned for us. It was like walking into a Division 2 college and it was awesome. The kids here are great and I couldn't be any happier for them. Carlisle had a real nice season and, of course, they beat us the first time. We were expecting a dog fight and we got it.

FB/LB Larondo Tucker
We didn't plan on me running more tonight; it just goes by the play. It worked well so I just ran the ball more. They are a running team, they average 300 yards a game, so we wanted to get them to pass and that's what they did. On that personal foul, well, I don't know, they said I hit the kid on his helmet or something, said that was illegal. This team of ours stepped up this year. In the past I think some of the teams didn't step it up a level to get to the playoffs. On this team everybody did; every player put in something. We really wanted it.

TE/LB Derek Michtich
It was a total turnaround from the first Carlisle game. We played as a team, we worked as a team, we drove the ball as a team, we did everything as a team. It was just perfect! Coming into this we knew that we had 2 losses and we knew we had a chance for payback against CD and Carlisle and thank God we got payback against both of them. I haven't had time to think about this but I'm sure that I'll think about it plenty in years to come.

S Eric McGovern
The defense played great tonight. The first series they marched, what, 80 yards, something like that? We had missed tackles, missed assignments. But we piled it on after that. That's what we've been doing all year; we picked it up. You know, after we lost to CD we had a team meeting and we decided to pick it up, to not quit because we could still make states. And look where we are now.

WR/DB Aaron Berry
On the long pass play in the 3rd quarter, it was a waggle and Jeremy hit me right on the spot. I thought our pass coverage was pretty good but they had a lot of time to throw the ball. Hopefully next week we'll get to the QB and they won't have as much time th throw. Next week we'll practice hard, play hard and hopefully we'll come out with the victory. That district champion medal is going to feel real good.


C R.J. Harden
It finally paid off after four years of work. I'm wearing this medal everywhere. This never comes off! As far as the first game is concerned, we didn't come ready to play and it showed. This week, we didn't have the practice that we should have had, you know what I mean? But when it came to game time it all just came together. What's the difference between this year's teams and other teams? I guess Nate would say it's the expanded playoff thing. We wouldn't have made the playoffs in the past and we knew that we had to step it up just to make this year. To all the other teams that were putting us down I'd say, how's it feel to get beat by a team that might not have made it here in the first place?

TB LeSean McCoy
This is a great feeling, to win the district. This was so different from the first Carlisle game. I just couldn't cut in that game. I mean, I was afraid to cut, to put pressure on the ankle. Remember that screen pass, where I got like 10 yards in the first game. I was in the open and I got 10 yards! I just felt so much better this time and I could get in the open and use my vision. I'm real happy for my teammates and the coaches and all.

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