Sooner or later, the Bishop McDevitt defense had to post a shutout. Had to. The Crusaders are too good to go through an entire season without a full-game zero, one that wasn't going to be botched by those darn second-teamers. But to get the first one of this amazing season against Central Dauphin? Boy, if one believed in conspiracies... McDevitt's 42-0 romp in the rain at CD's Landis Field last night coulda been a contender but instead was just a pretender. In the end, it was little more than the weekly reaffirmation that McDevitt (8-0 overall, 7-0 in Mid-Penn Commonwealth) is among the best teams in our fair state. In fact, last night's victory had an utterly routine look to it, shocking considering the depth of the McDevitt-CD rivalry. And rout that it was, it could have been far worse had
it not been for three touchdown passes called back for penalties."It wasn't great to see those touchdowns called back," said McDevitt quarterback Jeremy Ricker, who struggled at times in a downpour. "I'm a high-strung person, and things like that bother me. But I've learned to just pick it up and be a leader." Ricker and the offense had little to worry about, of course. That McDevitt defense, especially linebackers Pat Berry Jr., Keith Davis and Leon Black, had the O's back. The Rams netted just 89 yards, their lowest total of the season and part of a disturbing trend. In its last two games, CD has gained 199 yards combined. Last night, the Crusaders pulverized the Rams up front, forcing a whopping 20 negative-yardage plays.We always think we're going to play like that," said Berry, who recovered two fumbles, including one he returned 15 yards for a score, McDevitt's first fumble return for a TD this year. Several times, CD had plays set up well but McDevitt's speed was overwhelming. "We work hard at chasing people down," said Davis, who had a sack and two other tackles for loss.
CD entered the game a bit wounded, to be sure (eight starters injured to various degrees), but the Rams (5-3, 3-3 Commonwealth) really had no chance against McDevitt. CD's average starting field position in the first half was its own 13, and it had just one snap of 33 in McDevitt territory. "When you give a team field position like that, you're not going to win the football game," said CD head coach Paul Plott, who acknowledged his defense did well to keep McDevitt's lead at 21-0 at the half. McDevitt bolted to a 14-0 first-quarter lead when the Crusaders put together scoring drives of 68 and 73 yards. Ricker's 32-yard timing pattern to Aaron Berry to the CD 4 set up the first of sophomore tailback Mike Jones' two scoring runs for a 7-0 lead. Late in the half, Ricker was in charge, completing four of five passes for 67 yards, including a 20-yard screen up the middle to sophomore Julian Harrell, who ran right past some befuddled CD tacklers. Despite several terrific chances (including the scores that were called back), McDevitt was waterlogged in the second period until Jones zipped in from the 35 at the 2:22 mark. McDevitt inevitably pulled away in the second half, first on Pat Berry's fumble return, then on Ricker's 19-yard bootleg and Dave Seiple's 11-yard rumble up the middle. "We had way too many penalties; that's the only thing I'm really disappointed about," said McDevitt head coach Jeff Weachter, who officially had no comment about several calls before commenting plenty off the record. "Otherwise, I think we played well, especially our offensive line," Weachter said. Prodded about his team's defensive play, Weachter could only grin. "I think we've gotten used it now, haven't we?" he said. 