September 5- After exploding for 35 second half points to turn a competitive game into a laugher, the Bishop McDevitt Crusaders swamped Cedar Cliff tonight, 55-6 at West Shore Stadium. McDevitt held a 20-6 lead early in the 3^rd quarter, but Crusader fans were squirming in their seats as the Colts, employing an effective short passing game, drove deep into McDevitt territory. Junior cornerback Corey Ford came up with a game-changing play, though, returning an errant halfback option pass for an 83 yard touchdown to open the floodgates. The scoring onslaught that  ensued was enough to invoke the “Mercy Rule” before the quarter ended. Despite having occasional trouble with the Colts’ passing attack McDevitt’s defense turned in another fine performance. Safety Jonathan Duckett, linebackers Dante Ushery and Fred Dietz, and defensive linemen Ryan Kuntz and Noah Spence spearheaded a unit that surrendered only 6 points and consistently came up with timely plays. Special teams standouts Brandon True and Kyle Koncar were responsible for Cedar Cliff’s poor field position, and Ford teamed with Chris Houston to deny the Colts big strike capability. On offense, quarterback Chris Johnson overcame a shaky start (2 for 6, 1 interception) and had another superb game, passing for 2 scores and running for 1. Johnson, who finished 11 for 16 for 207 yards, targeted 7 different receivers for the Crusaders. Running backs Jameel Poteat (13 for 108, 2 TD’s) and Aaron Marks (8 for 74, 1 TD) pounded away at Cedar Cliff’s front wall and were responsible for the early McDevitt lead, aided by the nasty Crusader offensive line.

Duckett returned the opening kickoff to the McD 40 but a rare sack against the Crusaders led to a 31 yard Koncar punt. The Colts went nowhere in 3 plays and punted back to the versatile Koncar, who squirmed 13 yards to the McD 45. Poteat carried twice for a total of 6 yards, and then Johnson cleverly lobbed a shovel pass to Duckett, good for a 19 yard gain. The Crusader’s O-line took over from there, leading the way on 6 consecutive running plays. First Marks bulled for 6, and then Poteat stretched for a 4 yard gain. Johnson snuck 1 yard to move the chains, Poteat carried for 5 yards and then 6 more before finishing the drive by bouncing a run to the outside and scoring from 8 yards out. After Kyle McDonnell’s successful PAT attempt McDevitt had a 7-0 lead, at the 5:01 mark in the opening stanza. A short kickoff allowed the Colts to start the ensuing drive from the CC 35, and a personal foul penalty against McDevitt kept the drive alive. Facing a second-and-eight at the McD 26, Cedar Cliff quarterback Jake Troutman rolled to his left and soon found the rampaging Spence breathing down his neck. Troutman heaved the ball in the vicinity of Lewisberry and was rewarded with a drive-killing intentional grounding penalty. Chris Parthemore’s punt then rolled dead at the McD 8 and the Crusaders took over. Marks then scooted for a 10 yard gain to give McDevitt a little operating room as the quarter ended.

The second quarter began with McDevitt hampered by a couple of incompletions and a motion penalty, so Koncar came on to punt. His 32 yarder was fumbled and somehow True came up with the ball amid a pile of blue Cedar Cliff jerseys. A Johnson-to-Aaron Sye 4 yard hookup moved the ball into Cedar Cliff territory before Poteat blasted for a 6 yard gain up the middle. Johnson snuck 1 yard for a first down, but his pass that followed was intercepted at the CC 39. The McDevitt defense rose to the occasion, forcing another 3-and-out and, after a 15 yard Koncar punt return, the Crusaders started the next possession at the McD 41. Salath Williams hauled in a short Johnson throw and scurried for a 7 yard gain before Koncar snagged a swing pass and advanced 11 more. Poteat then swerved for a nifty 14 yard gain and Marks fought for 3 tough yards against a tiring Cold defense. Johnson passed to senior tight end Terajhe Gradkowski for a first down at the CC 16 and then Marks moved the pile for a bruising 8 yard run. On the next play Johnson faked a handoff to Poteat and ran around right end for an 8 yard touchdown run, completing the 7 play, 59 yard scoring drive. McDonnell’s following kick stretched the McDevitt lead to 14-0, with only 4:08 left in the second quarter, but there was to be plenty of action before halftime. McDevitt’s kickoff team pinned Cedar Cliff back at the CC 9 with some fine kick coverage, but a highly questionable pass interference call against the Crusaders gave Cedar Cliff new life. Troutman guided the Colts downfield using an assortment of short passes, including a key 18 yard 3^rd down conversion to Sean Kelly while a McDevitt defender was draped all over the QB. The Colts’ only score came on a 6 yard pass to tight end Josh Lebo and, after the PAT attempt was smothered by an assortment of McDevitt players, Cedar Cliff had narrowed the Crusader lead to 14-6. Only 1:54 remained on the first half clock when the Colts kicked off, but it was plenty of time for Johnson & Co. to light up the scoreboard again. Duckett returned the kickoff 13 yards to the McD 31 to give the Crusaders good field position. Johnson’s initial pass of the drive, a swing pass to Poteat, was stopped for a 1 yard loss. Undaunted, Johnson went back to Poteat on the next play, leading him beautifully with a pass down the left sideline that produced a 21 yard gain. The next pass went to Koncar and the gritty senior fought through tackle attempts to post an 18 yard gain, to the CC 26. An incompletion followed, and then Johnson saw junior receiver Jeremy Cornelius breaking clear near the goal line. Johnson’s pass found its target right before the Colt safety arrived and Cornelius had his first McDevitt score and the Crusaders had a 20-6 lead (McDonnell’s kick was wide left). The entire scoring drive had taken 5 plays and only 58 seconds! The Colts managed a first down before punting the ball away with a second left in the half, and the half ended with a desperation Johnson-to-Poteat hookup that was stopped 28 yards short of the end zone.

The second half started with Cedar Cliff fumbling the kickoff and beginning its possession from the CC 10. Troutman began to find open receivers for short gains, mixing slants and crossing routes to Parthemore, Kelly and Lebo. The Colts were soon on the McD 21, looking to gain momentum from an opening drive score. Halfback A.D. Huff took a handoff from Troutman and started around right end, but Huff soon stopped and unloaded a fluttering pass back toward the left flat and a waiting Troutman. But Ford had “stayed home” on the play and easily intercepted the pass. Ford then streaked untouched down the right sideline to complete the 83 yard interception and, after McDonnell’s kick, McDevitt had a 27-6 lead. The dispirited Colts answered with a short kickoff return and 3 incomplete passes, and Parthemore came on to punt. His kick whistled down toward midfield, where the fearless Koncar fielded it on the dead run. The tricky senior bounced off one tackle and veered to the right to avoid another, then set sail full speed toward right sideline with Colt defenders in hot pursuit. The race to the goal line was no contest, however, as Koncar easily outdistanced the competition for the 50 yard score and 34-6 McDevitt lead at the 7:11 mark in the third. The Colts again took possession and used a 22 yard Huff run to advance to the CC 47. One play later Kuntz and tackle Stephan Belle shared a 3 yard sack of Troutman and Cedar Cliff was again forced to punt. The punt was a short one, rolling dead at the McD 37, and the Crusaders had their first offensive possession of the quarter. It wouldn’t last long. On the first play Johnson dropped back behind perfect protection and fired a beauty of a pass to deep downfield to Sye, who had beaten his coverage by 8 yards. Sye gathered the ball in and raced away for a 63 yard pitch-and-catch touchdown. After McDonnell tacked on the extra point, the McDevitt lead had expanded to 41-6, and the Mercy Rule (with its continuously running clock) was in effect. The Colts spent the rest of the quarter in a futile effort to penetrate the McDevitt defense and the quarter ended with Cedar Cliff preparing for another punt. McDevitt players had touched the football on three plays in the entire quarter and the result had been three long touchdowns.

The Colts punted to open the final quarter, as the ball rolled dead at the McD 32. Two short runs produced little before a personal foul against Cedar Cliff advanced the ball to the McD 42. Poteat had a 7 yard gain before ripping off a 51 yard scoring jaunt, complete with twisting moves and sprinter’s speed. Now up 48-6, McDevitt Head Coach Jeff Weachter began to substitute for his starters. The move paid quick dividends when Spence forced a fumble on an option play and freshman linebacker Brock Dean pounced on the loose ball at the CC 43. Marks then combined for 8 yards on 2 carries before the powerful senior dashed for a score from 35 yards out. The rest of the quarter ticked away quickly, as reserves from both teams gained valuable varsity playing experience.

Next Friday, September 12^th, the Crusaders travel to Landis Field to take on the Central Dauphin East Panthers. Game time is 7:00 PM

Assistant Coach/AD Tommy Mealy

There were a lot of expectations coming in because we know that Coach Cantafio is a great coach. We knew that, offensively, they were going to be really well prepared. We knew that the pick routes were going to be the key for our secondary. That’s what they did and it took us a while to adjust to that because really it was the first test for our secondary this year. We have 2 new safeties in John Duckett and Kyle Koncar and we had a couple of technical errors by our corners. It’s something that we have to keep on improving; we’re not where we want to be. Corey Ford sparked us. He was very smart with his play on the field because he keyed the halfback, read it perfectly, made the pick and took it to the house. It picked our team up and you could really feel the momentum shift toward us for good. C.D. East has become a real rival of ours in the last couple of years so I know our kids will be up. It’s a local rivalry, we’re moving out near there in the next couple of years and it will become a greater rivalry.

WR/S/PR/P Kyle Koncar

We made a lot of mistakes in the first half on defense. We let them drive down and score on us and we weren’t happy about that. Other than that we played pretty well and we just put everything together in the third quarter. I almost had an interception in the first quarter but I broke a little bit late on it. If I would have broken earlier I would have scored. We practice our two minute drill every practice, at the end when we’re tired. That really paid off at the end of the first half on that last scoring drive. On the punt return touchdown I saw a lane and I wanted to hit it hard. I joked around with a couple of guys before the game, saying I was going to take one for a score, and I did. I always try to catch a punt in the air, no matter where it is. Me and Coach Mealy practice that every day and I’m getting pretty good at it. C.D. East is a good team. We can’t come out like we did this game. We have to put them away early.

WR Aaron Sye

On the touchdown pass Matt threw a good ball and I caught it and just took off as fast as I could. I ran a real quick slant and he put it on the money. We didn’t have any trouble getting open. They played a cover 2 at the beginning of the game but we made some changes in the second half and they got out of it. To be ready for next week we just have to work hard all week in practice.

OT/DT Steve Mosey

It’s always great to come out and pound on the defense right from the beginning. On the second drive we were hitting on all cylinders, which is good. Cedar Cliff really came out and played. They stunted a lot and were moving back and forth; they were tough. To compete with East we have to have a good week of practice and study up on them.

DT Stefan Belle

It was tough penetrating against them because they were in tight splits. They would just step back and throw the ball, so the best we could do was throw our hands up to block the pass. But then we started coming together as a team; we started getting good penetration and good things started to happen for us. To get ready of East we need a good week of practice and we have to keep going hard.

RB Aaron Marks