November 26- The Bishop McDevitt Crusaders repeated as District 3/6 Class AAAA champions tonight, beating the State College Little Lions 20-17 at Hersheypark Stadium. The victory moved the Crusader’s all-time playoff record to 21-5, including a sparkling 16-2 mark in district play. It was McDevitt’s 12th consecutive district playoff win. Additionally, Coach Jeff Weachter is now 4-0 in “rematch” games, playing the same opponent twice in the same season. Now 13-0, McDevitt moves on to the Western Finals for the second year in a row, this time facing McKeesport, the District 7 (WPIAL) champion. Tonight’s game was not as close as the score indicated, as McDevitt totally dominated both sides of the line of scrimmage for most of the game. Only an inability to finish long drives in the first half prevented the contest from getting out of hand. The Crusader’s immense offensive line overpowered a State College defense that had fared considerably better in the teams’ first meeting, a 28-26 McDevitt win back on September 2nd. Mixing the pass and run expertly, the Crusaders amassed 239 yards and 16 first downs in the first half, yet only led 10-0, due, in large part, to a rough beginning by placekicker Mike Comasco. The plucky sophomore more than made up for his slow start, however, ending up as the game’s leading scorer (8 points), catching 2 passes for 11 yards and getting an interception that began McDevitt’s first touchdown drive. The dynamic duo of running backs Dave Onorato (20 rushes for 108 yards) and Mike Jones (17 for 73) keyed an effective ball-control attack, and quarterback Jeremy Ricker (14 for 23, 160 yards and 1 TD) spread his completions among 6 different receivers. The McDevitt defense was well prepared for the State College attack, as Defensive Coordinator Pat Berry’s charges limited the Lions to 12 total yards and 2 first downs in the first half. For the game, State College’s high-powered running game could only gain 81 yards, and the Crusader defense forced 3 turnovers to thwart the Lion comeback attempts.

McDevitt took the opening kickoff and promptly charged into State College territory. Ricker started with an 8 yard completion to Brandon Brown (4 catches, 47 yards), and then Onorato ran for 5 yards and a first down at the MCD 44. After a 2 yard Jones run, Ricker targeted Aaron Berry (4 for 39) for 8 more yards and another chain-mover. Then, after a 3 yard Jones scamper and a 7 yard Ricker keeper, the senior QB found Brown again, this time good for a 17 yard gain to the SC 24. Three straight incompletions followed, and Mike Comasco came on for a 41 yard field goal attempt. His kick had the distance but was wide right, and State College began at the SC 20. After an offside penalty against McDevitt, linebacker Keith Davis planted Ben Woodward for a 3 yard loss and, following an incompletion, Vince Comasco spoiled a screen pass by dropping Andrew Kerr for a 2 yard loss. The State College punt that followed rolled out of bounds at the MCD 41 and the Crusaders were on the march again. The drive started with an illegal shift penalty, but Jones slipped through the line for 8 yards before Ricker hit Mike Comasco for a 9 yard gain to the SC 47. On the next play Aaron Berry took a handoff and scooted around right end for a 17 yard gain. A personal foul penalty against the Little Lions tacked on 15 more yards and suddenly McDevitt was threatening on the SC 15. The drive stalled, however, when, after an incomplete pass Ricker was sacked for a 15 yard loss. Ricker and Jones got 14 of those yards back when they combined for a screen pass to the SC 16 and Mike Comasco lined up for a 33 yard field goal attempt. The kick was blocked by State College and recovered at the SC 43. McDevitt jumped off sides on the next two plays as the Lions used a quick shift to fool the Crusaders. Justin Masorti, State College’s rugged fullback, could only manage 2 yards and then Lion QB Ben Ganter threw an incompletion. McDevitt linebacker Leon Black ended the threat on the next play by running down Ganter and sacking him for a 5 yard loss, forcing another Lion punt that Aaron Berry returned 30 yards to the MCD 46 as the first quarter ended. Two Jones carries totaling 10 yards started the second quarter for the Crusaders, moving the ball into State College territory. Ricker then threw a bullet that Aaron Berry gathered in for a 19 yard gain to the SC 25. Onorato followed with a 10 yard ram up the middle. After the two teams traded 5 yard penalties, Ricker found Berry for a 3 yard gain and Onorato struggled for 2. When Ricker’s subsequent pass attempt fell incomplete, Mike Comasco headed out for his third field goal attempt, this time a 27 yarder. The partisan McDevitt crowd groaned as the kick slid off to the right, but the Crusader defense was up for the challenge. After Sebastian Sullivan dropped Masorti for a 1 yard loss on a 3rd-and-2 play, State College was punting again. On the second play of the drive from the MCD 49, Onorato fought for 6 tough yards. The feisty junior kept the drive alive by battling for 11 yards on the third down play that followed. Then, after an incompletion, Ricker hit sophomore Julian Harrell (2 for 41) with a short pass that Harrell turned into a 22 yard gain, to the SC 12. After that, facing a 3rd-and-4 at the SC 6, the Lion defense spoiled a Ricker bootleg run by staying home, resulting in a 2 yard loss. Mike Comasco came on for another field goal attempt and was successful from 25 yards out, and McDevitt finally had some points to show for its offensive explosion, leading 3-0 with 6:37 left in the half. After the kickoff, the Little Lions decided to try to throw against McDevitt. Two completions and a Ganter run moved the ball to the SC 46 before Davis dropped Pierre LeClerc for a 6 yard loss. On the next play Ganter tried a fade pass down the left sideline, but Mike Comasco had perfect coverage and intercepted at the MCD 35. The 9 play, 65 yard scoring drive that followed began with 2 Jones runs that netted 9 yards. The sophomore speedster then converted the third down by fight for 4 yards to the MCD 49. Ricker and Brown then combined for a 16 yard gain to the SC 35, followed by a 15 yard Onorato rumble to the 20. Onorato ran for 7 yards before ripping off a 3 yarder to the SC 10. Jones ran for 1, and then Ricker lofted a tight spiral toward the right corner of the end zone. Aaron Berry was waiting for the pigskin, and his catch and subsequent Comasco conversion pushed the McDevitt lead to 10-0, with only 40 seconds remaining before halftime. Ganter took a knee following the kickoff and the teams retired for the half.

The second half began like the first half ended, with State College struggling to move the ball and McDevitt rampaging over the Little Lion defense. State College was forced into another 3-and-out and punted to Aaron Berry, who returned the ball 13 yards to the MCD 45. McDevitt initially lined up in the “I” formation, but shifted into a “bunch”, with three receivers to the left. Ricker took the quick snap and fired to Harrell, who followed Dave Seiple’s block for a 20 yard gain to the SC 35. Jones wriggled for 9 yards and then Onorato got the first down with a 4 yard effort. On the next play the 212 lb. Onorato moved the pile 11 yards to the SC 10. Jones then followed Tucker Baumbach’s wipeout block and darted over the goal line to post the Crusaders to a 17-0 advantage, with 9:07 left in the third quarter. On the following kickoff, sophomore Evan McGregor stripped State College’s Woodward of the ball and Vince Lochetto fell on the loose pigskin at the SC 15. Now poised for the knockout blow, the Crusaders self-destructed instead. An incomplete pass was followed by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that spotted the ball at the SC 30. Ricker dropped off a screen pass to Onorato that got 13 yards back, and then an interference penalty gave McDevitt a first down at the SC 9. After 2 Onorato runs gained 5 yards to the 4, a bad snap and subsequent Ricker scramble resulted in a jaw-dropping 25 yard loss, to the SC 29. Ricker’s fourth down attempt was incomplete, and the newly-inspired Lions took over. A couple of Ganter scrambles earned a first down and then State High got the big play it had been looking for. Ganter floated a screen pass to Masorti on third down and he rumbled 50 yards before Vince Comasco pushed him out of bounds at the MCD 9. The McDevitt defense appeared to stop the drive, but a third down holding call gave the Lions a first down at the MCD 5. Ganter skipped in on the next play and State College had narrowed the deficit to 17-7 at the 2:32 mark in the third quarter. An aroused Lion defense forced McDevitt’s first punt on the next series and State College regained possession at the SC 22 as the fourth quarter began. After Ganter connected with Nate Stupar for a 16 yard completion, the wiry senior QB ran a keeper for a 44 yard gain to the MCD 17. One play later Ganter again found Stupar, this time near the McDevitt goal line. But Stupar was stripped of the ball by Davis and Brian Weisser recovered at the 1. Jones then ran 3 straight times and was fighting for a first down on the last carry when he fumbled and State College recovered at the MCD 7. The Crusader defense stiffened, however, thanks to a key tackle of Ganter by Davis on third down. Collin Wagner then booted a 24 yard field goal and McDevitt’s lead had shrunk to 17-10, with 7:43 left in the game. It was imperative that the Crusaders get a sustained drive to eat up some clock, and they did just that on the next possession. After Harrell’s 17 yard kickoff return to the MCD 26, Brown made a leaping catch of a high Ricker throw to gain 7 yards. Onorato then blasted 16 yards up the middle to move the ball to midfield. After 2 short Onorato runs a swing pass to Mike Comasco was stopped by the Lions and Ricker dropped back to punt. Punting is one of the Maryland recruit’s little-noticed talents, but Ricker has come through with many key kicks in his McDevitt career. This time he squirted the ball out-of-bounds at the SC 11 yard line, and the Crusaders had a major field position advantage. Ganter passed to Stupar for 7 yards, but David Dunn followed with a huge defensive play, dropping LeClerc for a 2 yard loss to set up a 3rd-and-5 situation at the SC 16. Ganter threw an incompletion and State College Coach Al Wolski decided, with 3:04 left in the game, to forego the punt. Ganter dropped to pass and clearly intended to target Stupar in the middle of the field. But Weisser hit Ganter as he was throwing and Stupar and Eric McGovern, in tight coverage, watched as the ball fell incomplete 10 yards ahead of them. Taking over at the SC 16, Onorato ran 3 safe plays before Mike Comasco came on to ensure the victory with a 27 yard field goal, with 1:40 left in the game. Now leading 20-10, McDevitt sat back in a loose prevent defense as State College, without any time outs, desperately moved the ball down field. Ganter eventually connected with Stupar for a disputed 5 yard touchdown with 1 second remaining on the clock. Jones alertly called for a fair catch on the ensuing kickoff and, after Ricker took a knee, the Crusaders were free to celebrate the 20-17 victory.

Next Week’s Class AAAA Western Final will be played at Altoona’s Mansion Park. The December 3rd game against McKeesport is scheduled to start at 1:00 PM.

QUOTES

Head Coach Jeff Weachter

Back-to-back championships feels great, especially to beat State College when a lot of people were doubting us. We have a lot of pride in our locker room and the kids came out and did a great job tonight. In the first game they stacked everything inside against our Pro “I”. In the second half of that first game we switched formations and that’s when we started popping Shady. But because we didn’t have Shady we thought that we had to spread them, and we went to one back, or two backs and 3 receivers to spread them and get the running game going. The running backs ran hard and the line blocked well. On defense we worked hard because that counter trey is hard to stop, especially out of the shotgun. Coach Berry made the statement that, “We’re going to stop them coming off the bus”. When we got off the bus tonight we all said, “We’re going to stop the counter trey!” With the exception of when the quarterback kept it the one time we shut that down. Our passing game was sharp and we had to mix it up. Their defensive coordinator, who used to be an assistant coach at Penn State, told us after the game that we had them so off balance that they didn’t know what to do. Just like last week we had a chance to put them away but we didn’t. We’ll have to go back to the drawing board and figure something out for this week. We want to go out west and show people what McDevitt football is all about.

Assistant Coach Lamar Banks

It was a tough game, as anticipated. State College is a great team that had a bumpy road at the beginning of the season, but they played well. Our kids came out strong tonight but we didn’t finish some early drives that could have put this game away. But a win is a win; we’ll take it. We just have to improve on some things with better teams coming up. The offensive line has been playing great for the past 6 or 7 weeks. We’re in our zone; we’ve been practicing and playing well, so it didn’t surprise me that the line dominated. McKeesport has gotten this far so they have to be a great team. They will match us talent-for-talent. That’s what you see this time of year, so we’ll have to be ready.

WR/S Vince Comasco

I think we were well prepared defensively. Everyone did their jobs and we shut them out in the first half. In the second half they only moved the ball toward the end of the game. I think all of the talk about State College got us a little fired up. We came out and showed all of the people that doubted us that we’re the champs. Next week will be a tough one but, after last year, we’re looking for a little revenge. We got smashed last year so this year we’re looking to do a little smashing of our own.

OT Tucker Baumbach

We knew that State College had a very good defensive front and that we had to come to play. We did what we know how to do best. We definitely could run any time we wanted to and, honestly, I thought that we should have run the ball a little bit more. Like in the red zone, but I’m not the coach and we won, so….When they scored and we needed to score I wasn’t nervous at all. I knew we’d come back.

OT Carlos Mera

The first time we played them was kind of rough. Everybody was just starting out and we had a lot of missed assignments. The difference between then and now is that we have had 12 or 13 weeks to improve. I think both teams improved and it was a good game. I thought we stayed on our blocks longer and we could run whenever we wanted to, but we still could have done better. Practice this week will be hard. No playing around, just staying focused.

FB/DE Dave Seiple

We worked on some new things this week because we knew that we had to get the running game going. Last time it was LeSean so we knew we had to do some things different and we did. I think we have something to prove to the people in Western Pennsylvania. We lost last year and they think that we’re not that good so we have to come out and execute.

DT David Dunn

It feels good but we can’t stop here. We had it last year and we wanted it but you have to give it you all now that we’re in states. Against State College I thought we got a little sluggish in the second half but we got it together and won. On their drive at the end I said to myself, “Dunn, it’s your time. You’ve got to get in there”. So I just got through there and took him out. I don’t know much about McKeesport yet but I’m sure we’ll come out strong.

WR Brandon Brown

I’m glad that they went to me at the beginning of the game. That showed a lot of confidence in me. I dropped a pass earlier that would have been a sure touchdown. Jeremy got on me about that and told me to pick my head up. So I just picked it up from there. That comeback started to give me flashbacks of the first game but I knew we had it in us to win. I have confidence that we’ll always pull through. I think that we’ll be mentally and physically prepared for the game next week.

DB Evan McGovern

On the kickoff return, I wasn’t really expecting that to happen. I just came down and broke down and got my hand in there and stripped the guy of the ball. I was glad to see that we recovered it for good field position. I played in the Chambersburg game. That’s the only real experience I have this year, so I have to be ready when they call on me, and I’ll be ready next year.

RB/LB Dave Onorato

I just want to say that it’s great to be a McDevitt Crusader and I’m looking forward to the week ahead of us. The holes were there tonight, thanks to the offensive line. I just keep picking my feet up, doing the best that I can. We knew that we had to run tonight and we knew that they were waiting for us. That’s the way it’s going to be next week, too. State College put out a lot of wrinkles in their defense and we did our best to adjust to them. We went in the locker room at the half and fixed up a few things for the second half. I think we have a lot to prove this week. We have to play well against McKeesport to silence our critics.

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