Crusaders Stumble in 12-10 Loss to CD

October 14- Penalties and turnovers hampered Bishop McDevitt’s offense this morning, leading to a 12-10 loss at the hands of the Central Dauphin Rams at McDevitt Field. The Crusaders were flagged 13 times for a total of 124 penalty yards and lost 4 fumbles. Despite the shaky performance the Crusaders managed to take a late 10-9 lead, thanks to a long completion from quarterback Kyle Koncar to end Justin Knox and Mike Comasco’s 32 yard field goal with 2:24 remaining. But a gutty, penalty-fuelled drive by the Rams resulted in a game-winning 31 yard field goal by sophomore kicker Dan Fisher, leaving both teams with 5-2 records. The McDevitt defense, led by the inspired (if undisciplined) play of tackle Chris Henderson, deserved better after consistently thwarting the Rams deep in McDevitt territory. In the end, though, the Crusaders couldn’t overcome the sloppy play that left the McDevitt Homecoming crowd frustrated and disappointed.

On the game’s opening drive the Crusaders displayed the kind of crisp offensive play that had keyed 3 consecutive victories. Mike Jones returned the opening kickoff 15 yards to the McD 26 and 3 carries by Dave Onorato led to the game’s initial first down, at the McD 40. Koncar’s first pass was to Julian Harrell, good for a 4 yard gain, and one play later the sophomore quarterback hooked up with Jones for a 7 yarder into Ram territory. After the game’s first (but certainly not last) penalty of the game, a motion penalty against McDevitt, Onorato plunged for 2, Koncar hit Harrell for a 7 yard gain and Koncar snuck for the first down at the CD 38. On the next play Koncar looked for his favorite target, Harrell, and the physical junior receiver made the catch and advanced to the CD 4 yard line. Onorato then followed fullback Vince Lochetto over the left side of the line for a 4 yard touchdown with 6:27 left in the first quarter. When Comasco tacked on the PAT McDevitt had a 7-0 lead. The Rams began at the CD 36, courtesy of a 1 yard kickoff return and a 15 yard Crusader unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. CD had no success moving the ball and punted to the McD 10, where Evan McGovern, who was a force all day for the Crusaders, was waiting. McGovern fielded the punt, avoided a would-be tackler at the 15 and broke into open space. He cut back at the 35 and was moving in the clear at midfield when he was just barely tripped up at the CD 49. Another motion penalty soon killed McDevitt’s momentum, and the ensuing punt rolled dead at the CD 27. The Rams suffered a 3-and-out series and punted back to the Crusaders at the McD 40, where Thomas Mitchell returned the ball to the McD 47. Despite the good field position McDevitt could only manage one first down before punting back to the Rams as the quarter ended.

Central Dauphin began the second quarter with a 6 play scoring drive that started at the CD 36. Aided by a McDevitt personal foul penalty, the Rams moved quickly for the score, the final play being an 8 yard run by Vince Browning. The extra point snap was flubbed, however, and the Crusaders still had a slim 7-6 lead, with 9:49 left in the half. The rest of the second quarter was a comedy of errors, as McDevitt kept giving CD fabulous field position and the Rams were unable to take advantage. After the Ram score McDevitt moved to midfield on the strong running of Jones and Onorato, but Koncar was sacked and subsequently fumbled at the CD 46. McDevitt’s defense, featuring a strong pass rush and good secondary coverage, forced another CD 3-and-out and the following punt sailed into the McD end zone. One play later CD recovered a muffed McDevitt snap at the McD 22. The Rams advanced to the McD 18 before Onorato dumped Browning for a 2 yard loss on a screen pass. When Fisher came on for a 37 yard field goal attempt Henderson blocked it, and McDevitt regained possession on the McD 24. Incredibly enough, the next play was another fumbled qb-center exchange, and the weary Crusader defense trotted back on the field. They were up to the challenge again, as Matt Vargo sacked Ram quarterback Tim Hook for a 3 yard loss. A roughing-the-passer penalty kept the CD drive alive, but 2 plays later linebacker Dante Ushery forced a fumble that fellow linebacker Pat Berry recovered at the McD 31. After a 15 yard Koncar scramble, the half mercifully ended.

Central Dauphin used an 11 play drive at the start of the second half to take the lead. CD relied on Hook’s accurate passes to advance to the McD 29. From there McGovern looked like he made a good breakup of a Hook pass, but the yellow flags flew again and the Rams moved to the McD 15. Onorato and Matt Dietz promptly sandwiched Hook for a 10 yard sack to halt the drive, but Fisher drove an impressive 42 yard field goal through the swirling wind and CD took the lead, 9-7, at the 7:33 mark of the third quarter. Jones returned the following kickoff 48 yards, to the CD 47, and the Crusaders used 2 strong Onorato runs to advance to the CD 35. But 2 motion penalties on the McDevitt line again hampered the Crusader’s progress, and Comasco punted a squibbler to the CD 23. The Rams managed one first down before punting back to the Crusaders, a shanked punt that went out-of-bounds at the CD 43. After 2 more Onorato runs netted 5 yards Koncar and Harrell combined for a 10 yard pass play as the third quarter ended.

Jones started the final quarter with an 8 yard gain, but a holding penalty erased the advance. Then after a 6 yard completion to Harrell, a motion penalty and an incompletion doomed the Crusader offense again. Comasco punted to the CD 13 and the McDevitt defense kept the Rams pinned deep in CD territory. The subsequent punt was returned by McGovern to the CD 40, but a block-in-back penalty moved the spot back to midfield. One play later the Crusaders fumbled again on an option play and the Rams recovered at the McD 45. Henderson then burst through the CD line and flattened Hook for a 9 yard sack, but the Rams managed to advance to the McD 35 before Hook was dropped for a 2 yard loss on a quarterback draw. Fisher punted to Mitchell at the McD 13 and the Crusaders were 87 yards from pay dirt with 6:52 left to play. Undaunted by its prior ineffectiveness, the offense went to work. Onorato ran for a yard and Koncar passed to Harrell twice for a total of 14 yards to give McDevitt some breathing room, at the McD 28. On the next play Koncar fired a pass deep down the right sideline that Justin Knox gathered in at the 50 yard line. Knox advanced to the CD 23 before being tackled as the suddenly-aroused McDevitt crowd pleaded for a score. Three straight Onorato plunges couldn’t move the sticks, so Comasco came on for the 32 yard field goal attempt. His boot rocketed through the uprights to give the Crusaders a 10-9 lead with 2:49 left. The Rams returned the kickoff to the CD 29, and then Hook passed to Derek Day for a crucial 25 yard gain into McDevitt territory. On the next play Hook threw down the left sideline and overthrew his receiver, but Comasco was flagged for a phantom pass-interference penalty and CD advanced to the McD 31. A pass and a run had CD knocking at the door on the McD 10 before the Crusaders appeared to catch a break. Running from a shotgun formation, Hook watched as the snap sailed over his head and rolled back to the McD 39 before the Rams recovered. The officials ruled that there had been a false start on the play, however, so the ball was returned to the McD 15. With 29 seconds remaining CD ran a safe plunge to move the ball to the center of the field and called time out at 0:07. Fisher waited out a McDevitt time out before kicking the 31 yard game-winner. CD squibbed the kickoff that followed and, after a futile McDevitt attempt to lateral the ball downfield, the game ended.

Next Friday, October 20^th, the Crusaders travel to Altoona to take on the Altoona Mountain Lions at Mansion Park . Game time is 7:00 PM.

QUOTES

 Head Coach Jeff Weachter

It’s very disappointing. We didn’t play well, we didn’t block very well, and we didn’t tackle very well. We’re not going to use injuries as an excuse. We need to play better, to get the offense going. Give CD credit; they did a good job. We just have to regroup and come back next week. The penalties were tough. Losing Vince Sullivan (starting guard, out with a knee injury) hurt us. Sebastian Sullivan did some work at guard and we have a new center-quarterback exchange. We just have to mix and match on the offensive line. At halftime we moved Sully back out to tackle and put John Koury in at guard. Matt Dietz didn’t practice all week and that hurt our continuity. The timing’s just not there. We think we found the problem with the exchanges at half time; we worked on that. We’ll just continue to work. You know, Altoona ’s not our favorite trip but it’s about time we started going out there and winning. They’re going to be tough. They’ve got some good skill kids and Alexander is super fast, but we have to come up with a good game plan to stop him and block and tackle better.   

Assistant Coach Pat Berry

I thought we were doing a good job in the first half. We switched defenses a little bit and really didn’t play well down the stretch. We have to take a look at how we’re finishing games. Nothing they did surprised us; nothing at all. On that last pass interference, if he called it then it’s a penalty. I can’t do anything about it. I don’t think the kids will be down next week. We’ll make sure of that. Altoona has a very good football team. They’re physical and they’re fast. We have to be ready for Altoona .

G John Koury

I didn’t expect to play as much as I did, due to injuries, but I know that if I have to go in that I have to give 110%, all of the time. Central Dauphin has a good team and a strong line but I thought that, as a team, we did all right. This is our biggest rivalry beside the Harrisburg game and it’s a tough one to lose.

LB Matt Vargo

There’s nothing we can do now because CD played a heck of a game. The offense didn’t play very well and the defense did play well but we made a lot of mistakes. We let them drive all the way down the field to our five yard line to kick the game-winning field goal, so you’d have to say that we just played a bad game all around. I don’t think that it will be hard to get up for Altoona . We have great senior leadership and I think that, after a game like this, we’re going to bounce back real well. We have a lot of heart on this team, really. I don’t think that Homecoming was a distraction. We had a pretty good week of practice. Homecoming affects a lot of other kids. I don’t think the team was distracted at all.

QB Kyle Koncar

The first half was really rough for me and I wanted to just come out and show that the first half was a fluke. The pass to Knox was 64 Streak. We usually stutter off of that but they weren’t biting so we just had Justin run the streak. CD pretty much played the same defenses that we worked on all week. We worked out the center exchange during half time. We took some snaps in the locker room; I just had my hands too far up. It’s going to be tough playing up there next week but we have to have a good week of practice because Altoona ’s a pretty good team

WR Justin Knox

The long pass at the end of the game was a simple streak and the backs weren’t that fast so I just went straight down the sideline and caught it. I was pretty confident at the end because our defense had been stopping them the whole game, but that happens sometimes. We beat ourselves with simple mistakes, snap counts and off sides and stuff like that. To correct that we just have to practice harder. I think we’ll come out next week like all the other games, helping each other.

DT Brian Christman

I didn’t realize that I would play as much as I did, but I’ve been going out to practice and working as hard as I can. If they put me in, they put me in; I just have to go out there and try to do my best. We went over a lot of cut block drills to watch out for their cut and the game was just like the drills, except in a game situation. We’re going to get our heads back together, practice 10 times harder, pick it up for next week and we’ll see CD in the playoffs.     

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