September 2- The Bishop McDevitt Crusaders opened the 2005 football season tonight with a heart-stopping road victory over the State College Little Lions, 28-26 before an overflow crowd (and a statewide television audience) at Memorial Field. The Crusaders, nationally ranked and favored to repeat as District 3 AAAA champions, came out listless and made numerous mental mistakes. Time and again opportunities were wasted and drives thwarted by untimely penalties and broken plays. In the end, though, spectacular running back LeSean McCoy bailed McDevitt out with three second half touchdown runs. McCoy finished with 246 yards on just 21 carries. The Crusader defense held a potent State College attack scoreless in the first half, and then withstood a 26 point second half barrage to seal the victory on the final series. Tackle Jason Kates, defensive ends Matt Dietz and Dave Seiple, and cornerback Aaron Berry consistently came up with big plays.

McDevitt received the opening kickoff and watched the first of 5 kickoffs by the Lions’ Luke Harding sail into the end zone, then promptly committed a procedure penalty. Three plays later Crusader quarterback/punter Jeremy Ricker was booting the ball away. State College returned the favor on its first possession, thus setting the tempo for most of the first half. McDevitt was stymied by a bunched-up defense designed to derail the Shady train, while the Crusader defense swarmed the shotgun attack of State College. With the exception of the occasional short completion to Berry, McDevitt couldn’t move the ball. The first quarter ended in a scoreless tie. The second quarter was more of the same until the Crusaders regained possession with 5 minutes left in the half. After a 2 yard McCoy run, Ricker found wideout Brandon Brown for an 11 yard completion to the McDevitt 38 yard line. On the next play Ricker dropped back and fired the ball deep down the right sideline, targeting Aaron Berry. Berry had State College’s Jeffrey Kellar draped over him but managed to haul in the pigskin and prance into the end zone for the game’s first score. Mike Comasco’s successful PAT made the score 7-0 with 4:49 left in the second quarter. After another exchange of punts State College managed to drive to midfield, but safety Eric McGovern intercepted quarterback Ben Ganter’s desperation heave as the half ended.

The second half began with Kellar taking the kickoff at his own 15 and racing 85 yards to knot the score at 7 as the partisan State College crowd roared in approval. The Crusaders answered quickly. Beginning at its own 20, Ricker targeted Berry for a 28 yard gain, and then followed with another completion to Berry, this time for 9 yards. After being held for no gain, Shady picked up a key first down with a tough 5 yard run. Then, following an incomplete pass, McCoy followed guard Ryan Finney’s block over left guard and burst into the Lion’s secondary untouched, racing 38 yards to pay dirt. Comasco’s kick gave McDevitt a 14-7 lead at the 8:58 mark in the third. State College then launched the most impressive scoring drive of the game, taking 6 minutes to run 11 plays and cover 84 yards. The touchdown was scored on a 10 yard slant from Ganter to tight end Nate Stupar, who excelled on both sides of the ball. With the score tied again at 14-14, McCoy answered for the Crusaders. Starting (again!) at the 20, Shady ran for 2 tough yards inside, and then popped a 14 yarder outside. He then followed a crushing Seiple lead block around left end and swerved 64 yards for the go-ahead score with 1:59 left in the third quarter. The McDevitt defense had a strong showing on the next series, highlighted by Deitz’ and David Dunn’s sack of Ganter that forced a punt as the quarter ended. A sack and a delay penalty doomed the ensuing McDevitt possession, which ended when Ricker shanked an 8 yard punt to the Crusader 31. Rugged Lion running back Justin Masorti keyed an 8 play drive to the McDevitt 3 and State College was poised to score. Berry came up with another key play, however, slicing through to drop Masorti for a 6 yard loss on 3^rd and goal. When Dietz batted away Ganter’s next toss, on 4^th down, it appeared that McDevitt had dodged a bullet. But a controversial pass interference call against Berry gave the Lions new life, and Ganter made good on the second chance by again finding Stupar with a slant pass for the touchdown. On the PAT attempt, though, a bad snap forced a desperate pass that was swatted down by McDevitt linebacker Pat Berry, and the Crusaders had a 21-20 lead. It took one play for McDevitt to score again, courtesy of the amazing Mr. McCoy. It was another stretch play to the left from the Crusader 20, and as Shady circled the end no less than 3 State College defenders had an angle on the 210 lb. senior. But McCoy turned on the jets and high-stepped by the first diving defender at the McDevitt 45, and then avoided Stupar’s desperation tackle attempt at the State College 20. The 80 yard scoring run and following PAT had the Crusaders in front, 28-20, with 5:09 left to play. State College wasn’t finished yet, as Ganter moved the Lions quickly downfield on passes to Stupar and Masorti. From the McDevitt 33, Masorti darted through a gaping hole on the right side and sprinted to the end zone to bring State College within 28-26 with 3:07 left in the game. After deciding to go for the 2 point conversion, Little Lion’s coach Al Wolski had Ganter try to connect with Stupar on the slant. Deitz alertly jumped up and deflected the pass harmlessly away as the McDevitt stands erupted in celebration. But close calls weren’t over yet. The Crusader’s next series began with an incomplete pass, followed by a 5 yard McCoy run with the clock ticking below 2 minutes. Then a missed handoff found Ricker flattened by Stupar for a 10 yard loss and, following Ricker’s fine 40 yard punt to the State College 40, the home team had its last chance for a victory. Masorti rumbled 4 yards with a swing pass on first down, and then Ganter threw incompletions on the next two plays. Facing 4^th and 7, Ganter again looked for Stupar but Mike Comasco, subbing for an injured Teron Strawbridge in McDevitt’s nickel defense, batted the ball away. Ricker took a knee on the next three plays to run the clock out and the Crusaders escaped with a hard-earned league win.

McDevitt’s next game is Saturday, September 10 against league rival Red Land at McDevitt Field. Game time is 10:30 AM.

QUOTES

Head Coach Jeff Weachter

We got up here early and maybe we did a little bit too much. I think we felt the pressure a little bit. We made a lot of dumb mistakes in the first quarter, but I’m proud of the kids the way we came back. We didn’t have a great week of practice. The guys were lackadaisical and we need to pick up the tempo at practice. On the last series State College was changing their defense that we adjusted to at half time. We thought we’d get a quick hitch out to Aaron for about 5 or 6 yards and then we’d have 2 plays to get the first down. But LeSean kind of bumped into Jeremy and that’s why he had to run out. On third down we just messed up our motion. It was supposed to be the same play that Shady ran for a touchdown. That last defensive series was just a great job by Coach Berry and the defensive coaches and the players. We had Mike Comasco in there because we were in our nickel coverage and Teron Strawbridge had a little bit of an injury. Mike hasn’t had a lot of work at corner but he did a great job. LeSean is just phenomenal. In the first half we just weren’t coming off the ball so at halftime we made some formation adjustments and some player adjustments and I got on the line a little bit. I think by throwing the ball at the beginning of the second half, it made them adjust their defense; they went to a 7 man front and a cover 2 to stop Aaron and Brandon and that opened up the running game for us. 

Assistant Coach Jake Minnich

In the first half State College did some things that we weren’t really expecting. We made some adjustments at halftime, picked up their blitzes and stuff, and just took it from there. We’re a little green at some certain spots like right tackle. I think Carlos got a rude awakening tonight. Conestoga Valley wasn’t really that much of a match for us, and Manheim Township was better last week. State College put their best defensive end against him and Carlos struggled a little bit, but he picked it up in the second half with the adjustments we made, since we went over the plays we were going to run.

Assistant Coach Pat Berry

When State College returned the second half kickoff for a touchdown I said to Lamar Banks, “The track meet is on!” Actually, I didn’t think we played a bad defensive game, even in the second half. The first drive of the second half was an 85 yard drive and they just got us off balance and we didn’t tackle very well. After that, I thought we played pretty good defense. They went to the short passing game and they were very patient. Also, they did a good job of getting the ball to their slot receivers and they outsized us there. The Stupar kid and #23 are both pretty good athletes and they did a good job of getting them the ball. Masorti? He was a man out there. I was very impressed with him.

RB LeSean McCoy

We had to make some adjustments at half time. They were really coming at us in the first half. We just weren’t making the plays. In the second half it was different. On that last run, well, with the game on the line and when things got tough, the line stepped up and made some big blocks for me so it was up to me to finish it. State College was good, but with all of this hype we expect that everybody is going to be up for us. We’ll be ready for it.

OG/DT Jason Kates

You know, defense wins championships and that’s the way it was tonight when we stopped them. State College really wanted us; they wanted to win. I was nervous at the end and I was nervous throughout the game. I really didn’t feel that well; I threw up before the game and everything. I’m glad the first game is over and I’m ready to go. We knew that the shovel pass was coming because Coach Berry got us ready for it. Coach Berry is the man.

CB/WR Vince Comasco

In the first half the defense was OK but they just started moving the ball in the second half by mixing it up. On the interference call on Aaron, I was on the other side where they threw the ball and we had it D’d up pretty well, so we were surprised when the called it way over there.

CB/WR Aaron Berry

On the touchdown catch they had pretty good coverage but I knew that I could go up and make a play on the ball. I knew that I could beat him on the streak so the coach called it and I did. On defense, in the second half they started putting people in the slot and going against our linebackers and they may have had a speed advantage there. On the interference call we ran into each other and they called that I threw the guy out of bounds. State College is a great team and we’ll definitely see them in the playoffs.

LB Keith Davis

In the second half State College was amped up and it took us a while to get ready for it. We knew that we had to turn up the defense at the end of the game and we did. We stopped them. I wasn’t nervous at the end; I had trust in our defense all the way.

TE/LB Leon Black

I love the support; I loved this game and the crowd. It’s a little more intensified than I’m used to so I just went out and played with a good head on my shoulders. In the second half their coaches made some changes but we kept our composure and we did what we had to do.  

TE/LB David Seiple

They really came out ready to play and for a second there it looked like they wanted it more than we did, but we got together as a team and pulled it out. They changed at half time and started double teaming and triple teaming at some spots and they ran #9 (Masorti) out on the flare so that was hard to stop. Against our offense they really stacked the line and I don’t think our line was ready for some of the stuff. They’re a good team; I’m waiting to see them again in the playoffs.

DE/FB Matt Deitz

I think we just a little bit sluggish at the start of the second half. I mean, everyone was playing hard and we played pretty good defense the whole game. State College came to play but we figured they would. Nine more games like this; I’m ready to go.

CB/K Mike Comasco

On those last 2 plays I was expecting them to throw it my way but I wasn’t sure. I had just come in and I wasn’t sure if they were going to pick on me or not. On the third down pass he was bobbling it as he was going out of bounds and I hit him so he couldn’t get to it. On 4^th down the guy cut inside me and I just read it and I saw the ball coming so I tried to get my hand in there, and I think I did. My kicking felt good. I missed kicking a football. I’m glad I kicked it as far as I did.

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