MCDEVITT
DOMINATES HEMPFIELD, 34-10, FOR SECOND WIN OF 2006
September 8- Employing a balanced offense and a stifling defense, the Bishop
McDevitt Crusaders overwhelmed the Black Knights of Hempfield 34-10, tonight at
Landisville. The rugged Crusaders defense, led by tackles Sebastian Sullivan
and Chris Henderson, held Hempfield to 3 first downs in the game. The offense
saw quarterbacks Kyle Koncar and Thomas Mitchell leading the way, and runners
Dave Onorato and Mike Jones both topped the 100 yard mark rushing. Jones scored
all 4 McDevitt touchdowns.
Hempfield start its opening drive at the McD
20 and was soon forced to punt, thanks to a blocked pass by Onorato. The
Knights punted to the McD 44 and a Koncar pass to Jones produced a 30 yard gain
on McDevitt’s first play, but a blocking penalty moved the ball back to the 41.
Two Onorato blasts moved the ball to midfield, and then Jones skirted left end
and raced to the end zone for the game’s first score. The first of Mike
Comasco’s 4 successful PAT’s gave McDevitt a 7-0 lead with
8:55
left in the opening quarter. Another Hempfield 3-and-out possession followed
and McDevitt regained possession at its own 39. A Koncar-Harrell pass
completion and 2 more Onorato rumbles moved the ball into Knight territory, but
a fumbled snap turned the ball over to Hempfield. Again Hempfield could only
manage 3 plays before punting to the McD 29. The Crusaders couldn’t move the
ball, so Comasco came on to boot a 31 yarder that Hempfield fumbled and
McDevitt recovered at the HEMP 38. This drive stalled after a couple of
incompletions, so Comasco attempted a 32 yard field goal that missed as the
quarter ended.
McDevitt began the second quarter with a
combined Matt Vargo/
Henderson
sack of Hempfield quarterback Mark Duke for a loss of 5 yards. The Knights were
soon punting again, this time a misfire that landed on the McD 38. Koncar then
danced and squirmed for a very entertaining 29 yard gain before Jones scooted
around right end for the final 9 yards and a 14-0 lead. On the next series
Hempfield running back Jamerson Lewis managed the Knights’ only first down of
the half with a 48 yard scamper, to the McD 20. The Crusader defense stiffened,
however, so Dan Haldeman booted a 32 yard field goal to trim the McDevitt
advantage to 14-3. The Crusaders then ripped off a 7 play, 33 yard drive that
was stymied by a fumbled snap. When Hempfield was stopped yet again and the
ensuing punt snap was downed at the HEMP 12 McDevitt seemed to be in position
for another score. But a facemask penalty allowed another punt, to the HEMP 47.
With Mitchell taking over quarterback duties from Koncar, who suffered a minor
ankle injury, the Crusaders moved to the 24 behind 2 Mitchell completions and
more strong Onorato runs. With little time remaining in the half, Comasco
trotted on the field and calmly drilled a 42 yard field goal as the half ended
with McDevitt up, 17-7.
The
Crusaders were moving again to begin the third quarter. After a Harrell kickoff
return to the McD 21, Jones broke off a 10 yard gain, followed by a 3 yarder.
Then Mitchell hit Harrell with a short pass that the talented junior took 38
yards, to the HEMP 26. Jones followed with an 18 yard scamper and Onorato
struggled for 2. On the next play Mitchell’s pass was tipped and intercepted on
the 2 yard line. McDevitt countered with a pick of its own, as Comasco stepped
in front of a Duke pass at the 15 and stumbled and fumbled his way to the 5.
Jones scored on the next play to push the Crusader lead to 24-3 with
6:23
left in the quarter. On the ensuing kickoff Tyrell Harris had a big hit to
cause a fumble and recovered it at the HEMP 27. After a motion penalty Onorato
fought for 4 yards and Mitchell optioned for 10 more. Then, following a delay
penalty and a 3 yard Mitchell gain, the senior QB dropped a pass off for Jones
in the left flat. Jones followed his blockers patiently until he saw some
running room and then sprinted the final 10 yards for his 4th touchdown
of the night and a 31-3 McDevitt lead. The McDevitt defense kept up the
pressure on the next series when Onorato tipped another Duke pass and Vargo
picked it off at the HEMP 38. Onorato quickly shot up the middle for a 31 yard
gain, to the Hempfield 6. When penalties and an incompletion doomed the
Crusader advance, Comasco reappeared to kick a 30 yard field goal and swell the
Crusader lead to 34-3. As the fourth quarter began a fine return on the
following kickoff set up Hempfield at midfield before a screen pass, narrowly
missed by a streaking Harrell, advanced the Knights deep into McDevitt
territory. Lewis finished the drive and the night’s scoring with a 2 yard
scoring run that established the final score. The teams traded punts before the
McDevitt reserves took center stage to finish the game and secure the Crusader
victory.
Next week McDevitt faces its biggest challenge of the young
season: the neighboring Harrisburg Cougars, ranked as the #2 team in the state
in class AAAA by the Harrisburg
Patriot-News, invades McDevitt Field on Saturday, September 16th.
The Harrisburg-McDevitt game has been one of the midstate’s most competitive
series for the past dozen years, and this year’s game looks to continue the
tradition. Game time is
10:30
AM
QUOTES
Head Coach Jeff Weachter
Our defense really stepped it up. Our defensive coaches, Coach
Berry
and the staff did a great job of preparation. I thought offensively we did some
real nice things. I told Tommy Mealy while we were waiting for the bus that
Mike Jones really had a good week of practice and that he‘s going to have a big
game. And he did and Dave O had a big game and Mitch really stepped in. Kyle
could have gone in the second half but he was limping a little bit so we
thought that we would stick with Mitch. And we didn’t miss a beat with Mitch in
there. Really, they’re almost the same. The offensive line is getting better.
They made some mistakes tonight but I like seeing them getting better each week
because that’s what we need to do. If we can stay healthy and the line keeps
getting better we will be a very good football team by the end of the year. On
the sidelines the last couple of minutes some of the kids were saying, “Hey,
it’s Cougar Week”. We had to remind them to wait until the clock said 0:00.
It’s a big week for us. They’re a great football team. Don’t let that score
against Central Dauphin fool you; I think they might have gotten caught up in
the national hype like we did in our first game last year. They are going to be
a great challenge for us.
Assistant
Coach Pat Berry
We had a good week of practice and the kids executed the game
plan pretty well. We broke down a little bit after that bad kickoff return but,
all in all, we had a good week. I think we just missed a tackle on their one
big play but those things happen. I’m proud of the kids. We’re waiting for the
Cougars; they have a great football team. We just have to rise to the occasion.
Assistant
Coach Jake Minnich
The offensive line is coming around OK. They still need a
little bit of time to jell, because we have a lot of inexperience there and we
make a lot of inexperienced mistakes. Other than that, the longer they play
together the better they will be.
Harrisburg
is a tough assignment. That’s a tough draw, man. But I think we’ll be all
right. They have a good football team but I think we have a pretty good
football team ourselves. They match up, size-wise, pretty well against us and
they are probably more experienced but, you know, we’ll have our work cut out
for us.
C/DT
Sebastian Sullivan
The offensive line is really coming together. You can see from
the first scrimmage when we did badly to now that we’re getting better just in
time for
Harrisburg
. Like always, our defensive philosophy is to give up nothing. If
they get some yardage we have to get it right back. The Cougars? They are a
good team but we’ll give them a good game.
DE Matt
Dietz
We thought that they were going to come out tough and they
did, but we came off the line and the secondary was covering well and we just
took it to ‘em. There will be a lot of focus this week. Everyone knows that
this is the biggest rivalry we have. We get hyped for this game!
OT Brandon
Day
It was great to earn a starting spot, to get out there and
show what I got. The offensive line, we’re improving and we are going to get
better every week, This coming up week we have
Harrisburg
, the biggest game, our rival. We’ve been working on trying to stay
on our blocks, trying to get our “ butt in the hole” so that we can get a
touchdown on every play.
RB/DB Mike
Jones
First of all, I’m 100% health-wise, now. Our line did an
excellent job this week. They have really been working hard in practice. The
receivers did a good job blocking, especially in the “bunch”. Our defense is
really playing well. Basically it’s just like last year with different
personnel, so we should be all right. Cougar week? It’s going down this year,
for sure.
WR/LB Matt
Vargo
On my interception, oh, man, I think it was Dave Onorato who
put pressure on the quarterback, he tipped it up and I just jumped up and got
it. But then I landed the wrong way and just fell over! This year our defense
has really stepped up. We have a lot of senior leaders and we just fly to the
ball. It’s a lot of fun out there. I can’t wait for next week but we have to
bring our “A” game. They’re #2 in the state so we have to play our best game of
the year.
WR/DB
Julian Harrell
I love getting good blocks. It’s almost as good as having a
good catch or whatever. I want to help the team score whatever way I can. On
the long pass I just looked upfield and saw I had one man to beat. I made him
miss and I had 2 blockers in front of me. Mike Jones threw a real good block on
the corner but they just got me there at the end. A guy came off a block and
grabbed my jersey. On that screen pass I was real close to picking that off. I
had it right in my hands but the guy took it away from me. I was looking to run
before I really had it. This week is going to be the best practices of the year
because we’re really looking forward to
Harrisburg
. They are going to be picked to win by a lot and we just want to go
out there and prove that we can beat them.
RB/DE Dave
Onorato
It was a big win for us and overall, from a team perspective,
I thought we played well. We knew coming in that we had to play with a lot of
urgency because there were a lot of expectations about playing Hempfield again.
They wanted to get revenge on us for last year. Running in the middle is pretty
much my comfort zone. Our offensive line really came off the ball hard tonight.
They were making holes and I was able to get through them. It was really fun
playing defensive end tonight. I had the opportunity to bat the ball down twice
tonight. That gave my time the opportunity to score and that’s great. We have
to come to practice ready to work this week if we’re going to have a chance to
upset the Cougars. I think we can do it and it’s going to be a lot of fun.
WR/DB/P/K
Mike Comasco
On the interception I think I might have had a bad grip on it;
my knee came up and knocked it out.
Was a little upset about that; I wanted to score a touchdown! Our defense was right
on top of it tonight. Coach warned about a couple of their plays and when they
ran them we were right on them. I missed my first field goal today but I
concentrated more on the next 2 and it was pretty big when I made the one
before the half. I didn’t bring my leg around on the first one and I got it
with my toe. Cougar week is a big week, a big game but I think we’ll be ready.
QB/PR/S
Thomas Mitchell
I have to be ready at a moment’s notice to play. After one
play, just like tonight, I have to be ready to come in and command the troops.
I’ve been practicing my punt returning and it looks like it’s paying off. You
know how that goes. I’m excited for this week. It’s been marked on my calendar
since the spring. We have a great coaching staff that will prepare us for this
game.
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