September 12- The fine offensive line of the Bishop McDevitt Crusaders played an important part in tonight’s 35-6 win over the Central Dauphin East Panthers at Landis Field. On a night when do-everything senior Kyle Koncar (the backup quarterback) didn’t dress due to an injury and quarterback Matt Johnson also missed playing time from an injury, Head Coach Jeff Weachter decided to put the game in the hands of his running game. Running backs Jameel Poteat and Aaron Marks both topped the 100 yard mark in a game that was marred by rainy conditions. Tackles Steve Mosey and Victor Shaffer; guards Vince Sullivan and Andrew Miscannon; center Mark Sallinger and tight end Terajhe Gratkowski consistently provided the ball carriers with running lanes and eventually wore down the Panther defense. The McDevitt defense limited its opponent to one score for the third game in a row, capitalizing on East turnovers to give the Crusaders good field position.

McDevitt’s Poteat started the game with a 21 yard kickoff return to the McD 30, but after an 8 yard Marks run and an incompletion Poteat fumbled the ball to East while fighting for first down yardage at the McD 42. East moved steadily downfield before freshman quarterback Anthony Gelbaugh hit junior running back Christian Devan with a swing pass. Devan scooted down the left sideline and dove into the end zone to give East a 6-0 lead (the extra point attempt was blocked), the first time McDevitt has trailed this season. The Panthers had a golden chance to extend the lead on the second play of the ensuing series when Poteat fumbled again, this time at the end of a 28 yard screen pass play. But the McDevitt secondary came up big, as cornerback Cory Ford and safety Jonathan Duckett made key tackles to force a punt, to the McD 26. Marks started the following drive with a 12 yard gain, followed by 2 Poteat runs totaling another 12. Sophomore quarterback Matt Johnson then connected on a deep throw to junior receiver Salath Williams, good for a 44 yard gain to the CDE 6. Poteat fought for 4 tough yards before a motion penalty cost the Crusaders 5 yards. On the next play Johnson found a wide-open Gratkowski in the back of the end zone and, following Kyle McDonnell’s PAT, McDevitt had a 7-6 lead with 2:42 left in the quarter. The Panthers managed a first down on the next possession before being forced to punt again, to the McD 29. Marks had an 8 yard run called back for a holding penalty, but the shifty senior got that yardage back and more on a 26 yard jaunt, to the McD 46. After a motion penalty Poteat had a 7 yarder before the quarter ended.

Penalties and incompletions doomed McDevitt’s possession to start the second quarter, so sophomore Ted Deily, Koncar’s replacement, came on for his first varsity punt. A slippery ball, a low snap and a fierce rush led to a 2 yard punt, to the McD 45. Devan was soon stopped on a crucial 3^rd-and-1 play, though, and Panthers Coach George Landis elected to punt again, to the McD 18. Williams came on to quarterback McDevitt as all eyes were on Johnson, receiving medical treatment on the Crusader sidelines. Three slippery plays later Deily came on to pop a 25 yard kick to the McD 43. Two Devan runs netted a first down before junior defensive end Ryan Kuntz alertly recovered an East fumble at the McD 31. It was here that the McDevitt offensive line took control of the game. The Crusaders ran 10 straight plays, mixing runs by Poteat and Marks before sophomore fullback Sean Barowski got his turn. Barowski barreled for 19 yards and then dove for a 1 yard score to boost the McDevitt advantage to 14-6. The Panthers were soon punting again, and this time speedy junior Dawan Smith jolted the crowd with a 23 yard punt return that was shortened by a block-in-the-back penalty. Johnson was back at the helm and started things off with a 16 yard scramble, to the McD 43. Marks was held for no gain before Poteat fought for 8 yards. Next, Poteat broke open a third down play for a 21 yard gain and a first down at the CDE 28 as halftime loomed. Poteat ran for 3 and then Williams returned at quarterback. He lost 5 yards on the slippery turf before scrambling for 14 yards to end the half.

The second half began with McDevitt kicking out of bounds, setting the Panthers up at the CDE 35. After 2 incompletions and a Gelbaugh fumble that the young QB recovered, East punted to Smith, who returned the ball 11 yards to the McD 41. The Crusaders managed a first down before fumbling the ball back to East. The Panthers returned the favor 3 plays later, as linebacker Fred Dietz fell on a loose ball lat the CDE 41. 4 Poteat carries advanced the ball to the CDE 27 before Johnson dropped off a screen pass to the talented sophomore in the left flat. Poteat reversed his field and rumbled past 2 defenders to finish the scoring play. Now up 20-6 (after the PAT attempt was blocked) the McDevitt defense became even more aggressive. A roughing-the-passer penalty against the Crusaders gave East its longest gain of the second half, but that was followed by consecutive tackles for losses by Dietz. On the next play Gelbaugh was blasted while attempting to pass and the ball was intercepted by defensive Stefan Belle. Bell lumbered downfield but soon lost his grip on the ball (he is, after all, a lineman). Linebacker Pat Vargo recovered, however, at the CDE 24. It only took Poteat and the o-line two plays to take advantage of the turnover, a 10 yard run and then a 14 yard scoring play that stretched the McDevitt lead to 26-6. Weachter decided to go for two and Poteat strolled through a gaping hole created by Salinger and Sullivan to push the margin to 28-6.Then a dispirited Panther offense turned in another 3-and-out performance which led to a 45 yard punt to the MCD 27. The Crusader offense stalled and was forced to punt (the only time in the half) and Deily delivered a 36 yard kick. Three plays later another East fumble found its way to Dietz, at the CDE 33, and it was time for the Aaron Marks Show. The powerful senior tortured his former team with 4 straight punishing runs, the last being a 9 yard scoring carry that accounted for the final score. After the kickoff that followed East fumbled yet again, this time to Vargo. Marks carried for a final time, good for 13 yards, and then it was time for the reserves. Freshman Brandon Wallace was featured for 5 straight carries before the Crusaders turned the ball over on downs at the CDE 14. The Panther offense fared no better against the second McDevitt defense than they did against the starters and the inevitable punt followed. Another fine Smith return was hampered by a penalty, and the Crusaders finished off the game with junior Maurice Williams gaining 38 yards on 4 carries.

I wasn’t happy with the way we came out; we weren’t focused to play. We had a lot of mistakes early, we had three fumbles and we need better ball security than that. The defense did a nice job to stem the tide until we got in at halftime. Coach Berry made some great adjustments and really shut them down. We came out and played Bishop McDevitt football in the second half. Shady was on the sideline and I said to him, “Did you ever see this offense before?” We had to go back to old school when Matt got a little nicked up and Kyle was held out so we pounded the football. The offensive line and the running backs came through and that’s what mattered. The defense was great in the second hall. We just have to play better early on. Again, three opening drives in three games, well, at least we got a first down this time. We talked all week that we had three-and-outs the first two games. We have to start better because we’ll face better teams in the weeks to come. Right about when the rain really started coming down was when Matt got dinged a little on his throwing hand so we shut it down a little bit. On the play he got hurt we had Salath wide open on a Dig. We were asking the officials all game to put a towel on the ball and they weren’t and the ball was so slick. Even if Matt didn’t get hurt we were going to start pounding the ball because of the rain. I pulled the offensive line aside and told them that they were the ones that got Matt dinged up so they have to win the football game for us, and they did come through. They need to clean up some things but I was glad to see what they did in the second half. A bunch of guys took Kyle Koncar’s place tonight. Ted Deily did a nice job. We didn’t even know he punted until Wednesday when we knew Kyle couldn’t punt this week. He stepped up and did a good job. Dan Leonard is a good football player. He’d start for a lot of teams. Before the end of the year Dan is going to make some good plays for us. Brandon True, well, we consider Brandon a starter as a defensive back. He plays in our nickel; he can play corner or safety. I’ll tell you what, Dawan Smith did a great job returning punts. With their punter, the way he can kick and it comes off his foot left-footed, Smitty did a great job on those punt returns. Yeah, we’ve got some players but it would be nice to get healthy and get a full team out there. It will be nice to play on that nice, plush McDevitt field. People aren’t going to recognize it when they see it. It will be good to play at home and we can use the extra day of preparation. Hopefully we can get healthy and it’s going to be a real challenge for us.     

Assistant Coach Dave Weachter

Hopefully Matt (Johnson) is going to be all right. I think he hit his hand on something. I was proud of Salath, a kid who doesn’t get any work at that position did a good job just making the handoffs. We have to start off the games a little bit quicker, but I think that, as the games go on our offensive line is really starting to wear down the other team. We always pick up a lot of yards in the second half. Next week should be a typical CD week. I’m not sure how they did tonight (lost to State College) but either way, I’m sure they’ll be ready to play McDevitt next week.

S Jonathan Duckett

The switch from linebacker to safety is going good. They wanted to move me because we lost a lot of people in the secondary, and we have a lot of good linebackers so it didn’t matter if I left. It’s working out great. We didn’t come out to play tonight. That’s all it was. If we had come out to play the beginning would have been different. We thought that they were just going to roll over and they didn’t. The rain didn’t bother me; it’s just another game. Central Dauphin is going to be tough. We have to have a good week of practice.

C Mark Sallinger

When we came out in the first half we had a lot of trouble getting started. By the second half we were driving them off the ball. I like it when we run the ball. It’s better for the line to get work in when we’re running. I hope next week we come out strong and run the ball more. The rain didn’t cause any problems with the center snap when we were under center but the shotgun snaps were a little bit rocky. It’s kind of hard when the ball weighs more than it usually does and my hands are soaking wet. After waiting for three years here at McDevitt I’m just glad I can start. For CD we’re going to have to do what we do: come out strong and fire off the ball.

DE Ryan Kuntz

CD East really came out hard. We saw them on film and knew that they really came off the ball so we were prepared for everything they threw at us. We came out slow but made some adjustments at halftime. We used some stunts and blitzes that really work well against a passing team but with a two step drop like they were using you just put your hands up and see if you can get a piece of the ball. The weather didn’t really affect me; I’m not sure about my teammates. I think we’re in shape to get through things like that. We take pride in shutting down the other team but we know that we have to improve. We can’t come out flat like we have in the last two weeks and expect to win against better teams. Next week is very important. I know a lot of people on the CD team and it’s a great rivalry. They’re going to bring their “A” game and we have to bring ours.

CB Corey Ford

East didn’t do anything that surprised us. It was wet so we used that to our advantage because the rain bothered the offense more than us. We did miss some assignments in the first half but we got it together in the second. It was a good feeling all week in school after taking one to the house last week. We’re in for a tough week of practice this week.

PR/DB Dawan Smith

I got my opportunity to return punts this week with Kyle hurt and it was great. Coach Wec gave me the chance to show my talent and hopefully I did. We came out a little flat and East was ready to play. We have to step up and have a good week of practice for our first home game.

RB Jameel Poteat

In the first quarter they were stripping the ball and I wasn’t holding on to the ball tight, but I made the correction and started to hold on to the ball with two hands instead of one. Their main goal was to make us fumble. The offensive line blocked great. I just tucked in the ball and did what I can do. The defense did great, too, and gave us the chance to go back on offense all the time. On the screen pass for the touchdown their outside linebackers were blitzing and our line went out and blocked everybody. I just made the cut and went in and scored. To prepare for next week we’re going to take CD just like we took Harrisburg . For the big games we have to work hard and start fast.

DB Brandon True

They were doing a lot of stuff, especially out of trips and multiple wide receiver sets, so the tosses were hurting us early because we didn’t have people getting outside. Nothing real tricky, just basic tosses. After halftime we made the corrections then we shut it down. Even though I’m playing more on defense I still love special teams. It’s awesome! For CD we just have to do what we’ve been doing: score points, keep their score low and go out there and execute. That’s what it’s all about, execution.