November 13- Since the beginning of the 2004 football season, midstate sports fans have wondered what the Bishop McDevitt offense could accomplish if it could somehow eliminate the turnovers, penalties and mental mistakes that have plagued the team this year.

Tonight, they found out.

The Crusaders exploded for 525 yards of offense in a mercy rule-shortened game, drilling the 9-1 Hempfield Black Knights, 56-21 tonight in Landisville in an opening round District 3/6 Class AAAA playoff game. McDevitt now has an all-time playoff record of 16-4, including an 11-2 mark in district play. After spotting the home team a 14-7 lead, McDevitt piled up 49 unanswered points against a team that hadn't allowed a score on its home field all year. Leading the way for the Crusaders was spectacular Junior tailback LeSean McCoy, who ran for 358 yards and 4 scores on 22 carries and didn't play after the 6 minute mark of the 3rd quarter! Quarterback Jeremy Ricker, returning to action after one week of ineligibility, had a great night, completing 7 of 9 passes for 128 yards and 3 touchdowns, plus a 2 point conversion pass. Tight end Derek Michtich grabbed his first scoring pass of the season and added a 2 point conversion, and speedy ends Aaron Berry and Mike Goldston both had long scoring plays. The offensive line of tackles Nate Dade and Tucker Baumbach; guards Jason Kates and Ryan Finney; and center R.J Harden blasted huge holes in the Hempfield defensive front and provided flawless pass protection for Ricker. McDevitt was flagged for 4 penalties and lost one fumble, a far cry from past performances.

Not to be outdone by the offense, the McDevitt defense was active and aggressive, shutting our Hempfield from the beginning of the 2nd quarter until there were11 seconds left in the game. Black Knight quarterback Mike Callahan was sacked 6 times, and the Crusader defense forced 4 turnovers. Linebackers Larondo Tucker and Lawrence Edward had 2 sacks each, and Edward added a key interception. Defensive end Sebastian Sullivan had a sack and a fumble recovery, while Kates and Mike Berry shut off Hempfield's inside running game. Aaron Berry, Vince Comasco and Eric McGovern ruled the secondary, providing tight coverage and coming up with big hits in run support.

The defense set the tone of the evening on the first play from scrimmage. After the opening kickoff was returned by Hempfield to its own 37 yard line, Edward blew by a blocker and dropped Callahan for a 13 yard sack. 2 plays later the Knights punted to the McDevitt 27. McCoy then took Ricker's handoff and cut behind a Tucker block. He headed upfield at the 40, raced through 2 arm tackles and outran the Hempfield secondary for a 73 yard touchdown with 9:29 remaining in the 1st quarter. Mike Comasco's successful PAT made the score 7-0. Hempfield was again forced to punt on the following series and the Crusaders took over at the McDevitt 28. Ricker completed his first pass of the evening to Berry for 18 yards, and then 3 McCoy carries netted 9 tough yards. The Crusaders were prepared to go for it on 4th-and-1, but a motion penalty killed that idea and led to a 39 yard Ricker punt. Hempfield then came to life, as Callahan completed 3 consecutive passes, the last one a floater to Jordan Kolb that went for a 52 yard touchdown and knotted the score at 7. Ricker completed 3 short passes on the next series but McDevitt couldn't get the first down, so Ricker punted again, this time to the Hempfield 40. Callahan then tried to beat the Crusader secondary deep, but Aaron Berry made the interception near the goal line and returned it to the McDevitt 20. After moving to the 31, McDevitt suffered its only turnover of the game when McCoy and Tucker collided in the backfield and Hempfield recovered the ensuing fumble. Callahan passed the Knights to the McDevitt 17 as the quarter ended, and then gave Hempfield the lead 2 plays later on a 7 yard pass to Zach Funke. From that point on McDevitt totally dominated the game. The Crusaders returned the kickoff to the McDevitt 32, and McCoy gained 19 yards on 2 carries. Ricker then dropped back to pass behind great protection and fired the ball deep down the left sideline. The pass hit Aaron Berry in stride at the Hempfield 30 and Berry strolled into the end zone to tie the game at 14. Hempfield tried to answer on the next series, moving to midfield. Callahan then threw a deep fade to Kolb, but Vince Comasco had good coverage and leaped up, tipping the ball to the trailing Edward, who ran it back to the McDevitt 32. McCoy ran for 10, and then blasted into the Hempfield secondary, made a series of ankle-turning moves and raced for a 58 yard score to allow the Crusaders to regain the lead, 21-14 with 6:58 left in the half. When Tucker sacked Callahan for a 6 yard loss on the next series, the Knights had to punt. The ball only traveled 21 yards, however, giving the Crusaders great field position at the Hempfield 46. Ricker started things off with a 10 yard gain on a quarterback draw, and then 3 McCoy runs gained 29 yards to the Knight 6 yard line. Ricker then faked a handoff and lofted a soft pass to the wide-open Michtich for the touchdown. After Hempfield blocked the extra point attempt, the Crusaders led 27-14. Hempfield threatened to score before the half ended when Callahan hooked up with Jordan Herr for a 49 yard gain to the McDevitt 28. But Sullivan came up big for McDevitt, sacking Callahan for a 12 yard loss. After 2 incompletions, Hempfield ran a fake punt to the McDevitt 17 but fumbled, and David Dunn recovered for the Crusaders. With only 1:17 left before halftime it looked like McDevitt would run out the clock when they lined up in a 2 tight end formation, with Mike Berry in the backfield with Tucker and McCoy. But Shady broke off a 19 yarder and the Crusaders burned a time out. That was followed by McCoy going for 5 yards off left tackle and another time out. The next play saw McCoy follow Tucker around right end, where Berry wiped out the Hempfield cornerback. McCoy turned the corner and won yet another race to paydirt as the large McDevitt crowd roared their approval. Mike Comasco's PAT ended the 27 point 2nd quarter outburst and put the Crusaders in the locker room with a 34-14 lead.

The second half began with a 15 yard McCoy kickoff return to the McDevitt 26. McCoy carried twice for 20 yards and then Tucker gained 4. Shady then carried 2 more times against the tiring Hempfield defense, gaining another 23 yards. After a 4 yard Ricker-to-Berry pass, McCoy ended the 7 play, 74 yard scoring drive with a 23 yard burst up the middle to push the McDevitt advantage to 41-14. On the following Hempfield possession Kates took over, dropping Herr for a 1 yard loss and pressuring Callahan into 2 incompletions. The next Hempfield punt traveled to the Crusader 30, but McCoy returned it to the 45. After an incompletion and a rare McCoy run that lost 3 yards, Ricker targeted the speedy Goldston, racing behind the Hempfield secondary. Goldston hauled in the perfectly thrown spiral at the 15 and streaked for the touchdown at the 6:33 mark in the 3rd quarter. Head coach Jeff Weachter decided to go for the 2 point conversion to invoke the mercy rule (much to the delight of the shivering McDevitt fans), and Michtich easily hauled in Ricker's throwback pass to make the score 49-14. The running clock allowed the Crusaders to substitute freely without fear of a Hempfield comeback. That became evident after Hempfield's first play following the kickoff, when Tucker blasted Callahan for a 16 yard loss and caused a fumble, which Sullivan grabbed at the Hempfield 12. A new set of running backs took the field for the Crusaders. After a holding penalty moved the ball back to the 22, promising Sophomore Dave Onorato carried 3 consecutive times, the last one a 2 yard touchdown run with 2:27 left in the quarter. The rest of the game featured the fine play of the McDevitt reserves, including a sack by Ben McCreary and tough tackles by Dave Seiple, Adam Malatestnic, Keith Davis and Matt Vargo. Terrance Beamer, Lamar Crummel and Teron Strawbridge contributed key coverage in the secondary as players throughout the roster got invaluable playing time in the playoffs. Hempfield tacked on a meaningless touchdown with 11 seconds remaining on a 20 yard pass from Callahan to Kolb to make the final score 56-21.
The Crusaders move on in the District 3/6 Class AAAA playoffs to meet Central Dauphin. The Rams beat McDevitt, 41-28, back on October 28th. The game will be played at Central Dauphin's Landis Field on Friday, November 19th. Game time is 7:30 PM.

QUOTES

Head Coach Jeff Weachter
I thought Jeremy Ricker played well tonight. After the CD game he took a lot of grief from a lot of people, so we had a talk with him. It was a situation where he was putting too much pressure on himself whenever he made a mistake. People don't realize how well he played against Cumberland Valley. We could have thrown in that game but we didn't have to because Jeremy made great checks on the line. He had a great week of practice and he's starting to be the leader that we want him to be. Hempfield's quarterback is the best we've seen this year. In pre-game I told Jeremy, "Let's show everyone how good you can be". And he did. In my 7 years at Bishop McDevitt it was the best week of practice that we've ever had. The kids were very intense, very excited yet very focused. We talked as a staff on Thursday night about loose they were. We looked so sharp at practice on Wednesday night that the kids said to me, "Let's play them tomorrow night, coach!" When we found out that the game was postponed to Saturday, we brought the kids in and gave them Friday off. Then we brought them in at 9:30 this morning to make sure they'd get to bed instead of staying up all night and sleeping all day. We actually had a 1 ½ hour practice, and then sent them home. The coaches went and scouted CD, and then we brought them back. The kids handled it real well. Shady was unreal, and the last 3 weeks we've been real happy with the offensive line. If they continue like that we're going to be pretty tough to stop. You know, Shady's just Shady. I could tell in pre-game that he was due for a night like this because he was ready to go. I'm glad we got the rematch with CD. We'll have to sit down tomorrow morning in the staff meeting and break down the film and come up with a game plan.

Assistant Coach Dave Weachter
It feels great to be part of McDevitt's playoff success. Everything goes to the kids. They had a great week of practice, the best week so far this year. Everybody really stepped it up. As far as Central Dauphin goes, when you lose, you can only hope to get a rematch. They're obviously a very tough team, but we'll work hard and it's great that we got the rematch.

C R.J. Harden
I feel that we have added tremendously to the McDevitt tradition because our line, as well as the rest of the team, played up to their capabilities. If we can continue with this momentum I fell that we'll succeed in earning the myriad of praises that are sure to follow. As far as Hempfield's record coming in, numbers are numbers to me. The game is man-against-man, player-against-player, heart-against-heart. I am amped for the rematch against Central Dauphin. I can't wait.

LB Lawrence Edward
We were really confident coming into this one. The coaches did a real good job telling us the plays that Hempfield was going to run, a real good job. You know, in other games we've had problems putting teams away, but this is the playoffs and, well, we didn't have that problem tonight. When I think of CD I think of one thing: payback.

DE Sebastian Sullivan
On that sack before the half, I knew that I had to make a play. They were threatening to score on us. One more big play by them could have changed the game. I knew that I could beat my guy and I did. I don't think we had too much trouble with their offense. We knew that they liked to throw the ball a lot so our "D" line knew that we had to have a strong pass rush. I think we did a pretty good job throughout the whole game. I can't wait to play CD next week.

G/DT/FB Mike Berry
It feels beautiful to be part of McDevitt's playoff success. You know, coming in here as a Freshman and never getting in the AAAA playoffs and finally getting there is great. Playing fullback in that formation is great. When I came to McDevitt as a Freshman I told Coach Weachter that I was a fullback but it didn't work out that way. But now it finally has so it's fun. On the last drive before the half, we were going to go in happy with a 13 point lead. But then we called 26 Power. I blocked out, Tuck caught the corner and then it's lights out. We needed a blowout game. We needed to show that we could do that. With CD next week, we want payback.

QB Jeremy Ricker
I definitely wanted to show the people that I made a mistake and I wanted to make up for it. Our line blocked great and we got to open up a little bit. The coaches up in the press box called down those long passes and they were wide open. I got excited in the huddle when those calls came in. When Shady runs like that you can see the passing lanes open up. The postponement gave me another day to think about what I had to do, to visualize all the plays in my head, so I think it actually helped. We'll be ready for CD next week.

TB LeSean McCoy
When they postponed the game we had to keep our focus. We had to make sure that we stayed aggressive when we came out. We were up today, for some reason, we were up right from the first play and we really wanted to do it. The line played great, they were real good. If Hempfield played in our league I think they'd be OK. I think they'd be about like State College, someone like that. We're going to be pumped for next week. CD already beat us and they're going to think that they can run all over us but we're not going to let that happen.

WR Mike Goldston
On the touchdown pass, I was wide open. I knew that I was going to be open because, by that time, they weren't playing the pass; they were playing for the run. I was wide open from the get-go. Hempfield is a good team but we were just ready to play today. They gave us a good half but they couldn't hang with us when we play like we did. They were supposed to have fast players but me and Aaron didn't have any problem getting open. I think if we come out to play next week like we did today then we'll have success next week, too.

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