STRONG CD SECOND HALF SINKS CRUSADERS, 38-29
October 12- The Bishop McDevitt Crusaders were simply outplayed by the Central Dauphin Rams tonight at CD’s Landis Field, with the Rams exploding for a 21 point fourth quarter en route to a 38-29 victory. Although CD trailed 20-10 at the half, the McDevitt lead was built on a fumbled Ram snap and a fine punt return by Mike Comasco. The McDevitt defense never consistently stopped the Ram rushing attack, and the Crusader offense suffered from untimely penalties and inconsistent play. The Crusaders (5-2, 3-2 in the Mid Penn Commonwealth Division) now face a rugged Altoona squad at home next week in a game with important playoff implications.
The game started poorly for McDevitt when, after a touchback, junior quarterback Kyle Koncar’s short pass to senior end Julian Harrell was fumbled and CD recovered at the McD 17. The Crusader defense held, however, and Ram kicker Daniel Fisher booted a 33 yard field goal to stake the Rams to a 3-0 lead, with 10:20 left in the quarter. McDevitt’s senior running back Mike Jones took the ensuing kickoff and roared up field before being tripped up at the CD 20, a 79 yard return. After a 1 yard Jones run Koncar passed to Harrell for an 8 yard gain, but the junior was dropped for a 4 yard loss on the next play. Comasco then kicked a 32 yard field goal to knot the score at 3. The 2 teams then traded punt before the Rams took possession at the McD 49. After 2 successful running plays CD’s Derek Day ran a counter for 30 yard score to re-establish the CD lead, 10-3. Jones returned the following kickoff 33 yards and the Crusaders launched the next drive from the McD 35. A key third interference call kept the drive alive at the CD 47 before 2 Jones runs netted 7 yards. Senior Derrell Holland converted the third down play with a tough 4 yard run before Koncar moved the chains with a 10 yard pass to Jones. Holland then fought for 10 more on a great individual effort and the Crusaders had a first down at the CD 16. A third down sack of Koncar stopped McDevitt’s progress as the quarter ended, however, and Comasco drilled another 32 yarder to narrow the Ram advantage to 10-6 on the first play of the second quarter.
Then the game’s momentum moved swiftly to the McDevitt side of the field. On the kickoff Ram quarterback Justin Shirk was drilled by junior linebacker Dante Ushery at the CD 20. On the next play the center snap squirted by Shirk, in the shotgun formation, and sophomore linebacker Jonathan Duckett recovered at the CD 4. After a 3 yard Jones run Koncar followed guard Vince Sullivan over the goal line and, following Comasco’s successful PAT, McDevitt had a 13-10 lead at the 10:56 mark. The Rams returned the kickoff to the McD 48 but a key pass breakup by junior cornerback Chris Houston on 3rd down forced CD to punt. Comasco took that punt at a dead run at the McD 17 and swerved down the right sideline. Following some effective blocking the senior avoided a Ram tackler at the CD 45 and another at the 23 before breaking into the clear to finish the 83 yard punt return. After catching his breath Comasco kicked the extra point to move the McDevitt advantage to 20-10. The Rams responded with an 11 play, 51 yard drive, keyed by the running of Shirk and Day. At the McD 20, however, another poor snap doomed the drive, as Ushery fell on the loose ball to end the threat. The Crusaders then moved into CD territory, helped by a 20 yard Jones run and Koncar passes to Comasco and Harrell, but Jones was dropped for a 3 yard loss on a short pass play on third down and Comasco punted into the end zone for a touchback. Two uneventful Ram running plays ended the half.
Central Dauphin advanced the second half kickoff to midfield and Day ripped off a 12 yard run to put the Rams in scoring position, but fine defensive plays by Ushery and senior cornerback Tyrell Harris stopped the threat. The CD punt that followed pinned the Crusaders back on the McD 7, and the McDevitt offense, hampered by a motion penalty, couldn’t move the chains. Comasco booted a 37 yard punt and the Rams gained possession at the McD 44. One play later Shirk ran a keeper for a 38 yard touchdown and CD had trimmed the McDevitt lead to 3 points, with 6:52 left in the 3rd quarter. After senior Evan McGovern advanced the kickoff 14 yards McDevitt began a 15 play scoring drive that drained most of the 3rd quarter clock. Jones ran for 4 yards and, following another motion penalty, Koncar targeted Harrell for a 9 yard gain. Holland again fought for the first down, blasting up the middle for a 3 yard gain. Koncar ran a 10 yard keeper on the option play and Holland gained 4 before 2 incompletions had the Crusaders facing a 4th-and-6 at the CD 41. Comasco dropped back in punt formation, but the snap went to McGovern in the up back position. McGovern dashed around right end and sliced through the CD defense for a 21 yard gain on the fake punt play, to the CD 20. Koncar then ran for 6 yards before passing for a 7 yards and a first down to sophomore Salath Williams at the CD 7. But, following a 2 yard Holland run, Koncar’s next 2 passes fell incomplete, so Comasco was called on for another field goal. His successful 22 yard kick gave McDevitt a 23-17 lead, with 24 seconds left in the third quarter.
The Rams began the 4th quarter by marching 80 yards in 9 plays, scoring on a 15 yard pass from Shirk to a wide-open Christian Spriggs. Fisher’s PAT kick gave CD a 24-23 lead and momentum had clearly crossed back to the home team. After Fisher booted the kickoff deep into the end zone for a touchback, the McDevitt offense went nowhere, forcing a Comasco punt. His punt was partially blocked, rolling dead at the McD 24. On the next play Day swerved 24 yards for a touchdown, and the Rams now had a 31-23 lead, with 7:06 left to play. Following another touchback, Koncar ran a 9 yard keeper and Jones ran for 5 to gain the first down. Williams caught a 9 yard pass form Koncar, but the next plays yielded nothing, leaving the Crusaders with a 4th-and-1 at the McD 43. McDevitt Coach Jeff Weachter decided to go for the first down and Jones confirmed the decision by blasting over the right side and sprinting for a 57 yard touchdown run. With the score now 31-29, McDevitt went for the crucial 2 point conversion, with 4:22 left to play. Koncar took a shotgun snap and rolled to his left, looking for an open receiver. With no one available Koncar tucked the ball and headed for the goal line. The referees ruled that he came up inches short and CD retained the narrow lead. The Rams quickly expanded that lead against the hapless McDevitt run defense. Two Day runs totaled 72 yards and led to a 1 yard Shirk touchdown that gave the Rams an insurmountable 38-29 lead, with 2:39 left. Duckett then fielded the short kick and galloped for 14 yards but fumbled the ball back to CD when he was hit from behind. The Rams had Shirk run a series of keepers until the clock expired and the home team’s celebration began.
Next Saturday, October 20th, McDevitt entertains the Altoona Mountain Lions in an important league contest. Game time is 1:00 PM.
QUOTES
Head Coach Jeff Weachter
Central Dauphin came out and played their best game of the year, and I thought we came out and played our worst game of the year. We didn’t block very well, we didn’t tackle very well, and we didn’t do a lot of things very well. We had motion penalties we shouldn’t have had that just killed drives; it was a comedy of errors. I can’t explain it but, even though we were leading in the first half they outplayed us. I don’t know, this is the second year in a row that we didn’t block or tackle very well against them. Whet CD did was go to an unbalanced line which makes us a little bit weak on the back side. We put a guy there but we just missed tackles. We have to go back and correct mistakes but I don’t know why we didn’t play better tonight. It’s tough, with the running backs we have, that we didn’t get more out of the running game. We had some opportunities in the passing game, too. In the first half our protection broke down and we made an adjustment by bringing the tight in and taking a wide receiver out. We still had guys open but some times we hit then and sometimes we didn’t. We just didn’t have it tonight. We won’t have a hard time getting up for Altoona. We just have to get back to some basics and if we block better and tackle better we’ll have a chance to win.
Assistant Coach/AD Tommy Mealy
Once again McDevitt-CD is just a great football game in general. I have so much respect for the CD staff. They’re great guys and they have great knowledge of the sport. Give credit to them: they did a great job and their kids played real well. At times we didn’t respond to the intensity they brought. In the end the better team won tonight. Even up 10 points we were saying at half time that we weren’t playing McDevitt football and we didn’t respond to that in the second half. We were really a different team tonight. I know our kids will rise to the occasion next week. Altoona’s a big game for us. They’re coming to our house on Homecoming. Without a doubt we will respond.
Assistant Coach Dominic Rozzi
It’s tough to lose to CD, but it’s tough to win a game when you miss tackles and you’re not blocking real well. We had some plays open and we didn’t hit them, and it makes it tough to win games that way. We started to overcompensate for the sweeps they were running and we started to get out of position. If you don’t play your assignments, well….I don’t think we’re going to have too much trouble getting the kids up for Altoona. They understand the importance of that game. It’s just like it was last year: to this point we’ve followed suit exactly as last year went, and last year we came out ready to play. It’s tough to go up there and play, but they have to make the trip this year.
RB/LB Derrell Holland
CD came out fired up in the second half and we couldn’t stop the trap and the sweep they were running. We had a bad game in the second half. I had a couple of good runs on offense but it wasn’t enough to win the game. We have to come out fired up next week against Altoona. That’s a big game because we’re still in it; we can still make the playoffs but we need a win next week. My adjustment to McDevitt is going all right. There are a lot of rules but I follow them. It’s good, I love it.
G Vince Sullivan
We could drive on them for the most part but we had a couple of breakdowns. We have to tackle when we have the chance. Our “D” line kind of looked tired. We weren’t getting any penetration and we weren’t making plays. We have to come back like we did against Cumberland Valley after we lost to Harrisburg. Last year we lost to CD and then we lost to Altoona. We can’t have that happen again because we want a higher seed in the playoffs.
C John Koury
I live in the CD school district, I know most of the players on that team and I grew up with them. They live in my neighborhood and its tough, losing like this. We beat ourselves. We weren’t blocking up front and they were running stuff at us that confused us at times. On defense we just weren’t making our tackles. That last touchdown run by Mike (Jones) really brought our hopes up. It gave us a lot more incentive to go out there and do our best. We have to make sure next week that everybody does their job and knows their plays. If someone goes down we need someone to come in and fill for them and keep everyone’s head in the game because it’s not over yet.