October 26- In a game that more than lived up to its pre-game hype, the State College Little Lions ended the Bishop McDevitt Crusaders’ hopes for an undefeated season, 20-19, this afternoon at McDevitt Field. The game had been moved from its scheduled Saturday start due to torrential rains, and a large Sunday crowd enjoyed the sunny (if windy) weather and excellent high school football between two state ranked class AAAA teams. McDevitt was hampered by an injury to starting quarterback Matt Johnson early in the first quarter. But senior Kyle Koncar, the Crusaders’ starting QB the last 2 years, came on to lead a potent offensive attack. Unfortunately for McDevitt a number of untimely mistakes, on offense, defense and special teams, killed momentum and State College took advantage.

McDevitt received the opening kickoff and junior Jeremy Cornelius started things off with a 25 yard return, to the McD 34. Two tough runs by sophomore Jameel Poteat (who finished with over 200 total yards from scrimmage) gained 5 yards before Johnson hooked up with Cornelius for 4 more. Johnson then followed senior center Mark Sallinger for a 2 yard sneak on fourth down to move the chains. Short runs by Poteat and senior Aaron Marks left McDevitt facing a 3^rd-and-6 at the McD 46. Johnson flipped a swing pass to Poteat that the shifty soph advanced 15 yards, into Lion territory. Two plays later Johnson ran a keeper down the left sideline and was met by State College safety Dom Mills. The result was a violent collision that echoed throughout the stadium. Johnson was helped to the sideline, where he remained for the rest of the game. Koncar moved over from his flanker position and immediately had trouble handling the shotgun snap, ending the Crusader drive at the SC 33. State College managed a first down before stalling, and the short punt that followed rolled dead at the McD 45. Koncar quickly took advantage of the good field position, dropping off a screen pass to Poteat, who blasted ahead for 27 yards. Marks fought for a yard before ripping off a 12 yarder, to the SC 15. Marks needed only two plays to score from there, the final one a tackle-breaking 7 yard run. Senior Kyle McDonnell booted the extra point and McDevitt had a 7-0 lead, with 38 seconds left in the opening quarter.

The two teams traded punts to start the second quarter and State College ended up with the ball on its own 20. Junior speedster Alex Kenney then took a handoff and burst through a hole in the right side of the line, outrunning the Crusader secondary for an 80 yard scoring play. The extra point attempt was flubbed, however, and McDevitt held onto a 7-6 lead at the 9:18 mark in the second quarter. The ensuing kickoff was a short one and McDevitt junior Dawan Smith advanced the ball 17 yards, to the McD 42. From there it only took Koncar 5 plays to lead McDevitt to another TD. After a 1 yard run, Poteat went high in the air to make a one-handed grab of Koncar’s screen pass before weaving downfield for a 44 yard gain. A nice Marks gain was erased by a holding penalty before Koncar found another target. This time it was senior tight end Terahje Gratkowski, who gathered in Koncar’s pass over the middle and rumbled to the SC 4, a 31 yard gain. One play later Marks fought for a 3 yard touchdown, but the extra point was blocked. Now leading 13-6, the Crusaders kicked off and held Kenney to a short return, to the McD 20. Lion quarterback James Avedesian then led State College to the tying score by first passing to senior Logan Belinda for a 27 yard gain. After that Belinda broke through the line and ran for a 45 yard score, tying the game at 13. Then came McDevitt’s most frustrating drive. Poteat returned the kickoff to the SC 38 and promptly ripped off a 7 yard gain. On the next play Koncar ran a keeper all the way to the SC 4, but a block-in-the-back penalty spotted the ball on the McD 40. Undaunted, Koncar launched another pass over the middle that Gratkowski snared, this time gaining 50 yards. After a roughing-the-passer penalty was tacked on, McDevitt had first-and-goal at the SC 5. Poteat fought for a yard and then Koncar threw an incompletion. On third down Marks swept the right side for a 3 yard gain, but a motion penalty halted McDevitt’s 4^th down try. McDonnell then missed a 23 yard field goal attempt and the Lions had dodged a bullet. Avedesian then used short passes to advance State College into McDevitt territory, but a fine play by junior defensive end Ryan Kuntz stopped the Lions on 4^th down. With little time remaining before half time, Koncar threw another successful screen pass to Poteat, but a holding call against the Crusaders negated the gain. Koncar then threw a long pass to Junior Salath Williams, who had slipped behind coverage down the right sideline. Koncar’s pass slipped past the normally sure-handed Williams and another opportunity was lost. On the last play of the half Koncar hooked up with Cornelius for a 43 yard gain, but the gain was well short of the goal line.

The second half had a promising beginning for McDevitt. On the play following the kickoff Belinda ran for a 15 yard gain but senior cornerback Chris Houston stripped the ball from Belinda and then recovered it at the SC 40. A third down sack of Koncar ended the threat, however, and Koncar punted to the SC 17. Avedesian then fumbled on the next two plays, but the Lions recovered both before punting to the McD 40. Poteat followed with a 30 yard dash, and, after a 15 yard run by Marks, the Crusaders were once again in prime scoring position. McDevitt came away empty-handed after 3 consecutive incompletions, the last two fades to the corner intended for Williams. The lanky junior appeared to have scored on the first one but the official waved it off. State College took over at the SC 15 and managed to get to midfield before punting. The Crusaders then moved to the McD 40 before punting the ball back to the Lions as the quarter ended.

The final quarter started with Avedesian running keepers to advance State College, but senior linebacker Dante Ushery soon put an end to that with a bone-jarring tackle good for a 3 yard loss. State College punted to Smith who wriggled for a 4 yard return, to the McD 35. Koncar was brilliant on the 8 play, 65 yard scoring drive that followed. First he threw an 8 yard out pattern to Williams, and then found Williams for 8 more to move the chains. From midfield Koncar again threw to Williams, who made the catch and darted ahead for a 33 yard gain, to the SC 17. Koncar then ran a keeper for 7 yards and, after a 2 yard Marks run, a 2 yard sneak good for a first down at the SC 6. On the next play the gutty senior circled around right end and dove into the end zone as the large McDevitt crowd exploded with glee. State College was tagged with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that was assessed on the extra point, but Head Coach Jeff Weachter decided to have McDonnell kick. The kick was blocked, so the McDevitt lead stood at 19-13, with 6:33 left to play. Kenney then took the ensuing kickoff and raced ahead for a 60 yard return, to the McD 25. It looked like the McDevitt defense would hold, but Avedesian hit a crucial 3^rd down 19 yard pass to tight end Jake Reeder. Fullback Rob Stupar bulled over from there and, after the successful PAT, the Lions led, 20-19, with 4:37 left to play. McDevitt proceeded to keep possession for the game’s final 17 plays, starting with a fine 30 yard kickoff return by Cornelius. Koncar kept the drive alive with a 3^rd down sneak at the McD 45, but another holding penalty on a successful Poteat screen pass erased the gain. After a 6 yard pass to Cornelius, the Crusaders benefited from a questionable pass-interference call against State College. Now at the SC 45, Koncar saw another gain, a pass to Williams, wiped out by a holding call. After two incompletions, Koncar and McDevitt faced a 3^rd-and-27 at the McD 38. Time for another screen pass to Poteat. This time (without a penalty!) it worked for 22 yards, and Koncar completed the deal by passing to junior Aaron Sye for a 10 yard gain and a first down at the SC 30. Following 3 incompletions it was nail-biting time once again for the McDevitt faithful. This time Koncar kept the ball and darted and dashed for a 17 yard gain as time was running out. A shovel pass to Poteat followed but was good for only a 1 yard gain. Then, after 2 incomplete passes, Weachter decided to try for the game-winning 28 yard field goal. As the crowd waited with anticipation, the snap came back to holder Koncar and McDonnell moved ahead to make the kick. Junior Bernard Smack had decided to spoil the storybook ending for the Crusaders, however. Smack smothered the kick almost immediately to deny McDevitt and end the game.

Next Saturday, November 2^nd, the Crusaders welcome Erie McDowell to McDevitt Field. Game time is 2:00 PM

I’m proud of our guys for hanging in there and battling. It was tough losing Matt early but that’s what we have Kyle there for. He gets a few reps at quarterback during the week but not a lot. He stepped up and played a heck of a game. We had our opportunities, especially in the first half, to put points on the board but we didn’t get them. They’re very good defensively. Jimmy Williams coached at Penn State for 20-something years and he’s not easy. He takes some things away, but I’m proud of the way our guys battled. When you’re facing first-and 27 like we did at the end you just want to pick up some yardage to make it manageable. We came back with the screen; I was right behind it and if we had one more block he scores. We got the first down and we had our opportunities but the protection broke down a little bit. Again, I can’t say enough about how tough these guys are. Our kicker, Kyle, is a soccer player. He’s taking too long to approach the ball. The soccer team had playoffs until Wednesday and their coach didn’t want him with us, which is understandable. On Thursday he had to go to physical therapy and we didn’t have much of a chance on Friday. He does great on kickoffs. We haven’t lost confidence in Kyle. For him to be successful on field goals and PAT’s he has to be with us during the week. It’s just timing. Now on the blocked field goal at the end we slid our protection over to the right side; it just took too long. We’ll fix that. McDowell is a good, physical football team. They run McKeesport ’s offense, that Flexbone, which is tough to defend. We’ll have a battle next week. We have to come back strong. 

QB Kyle Koncar

It was kind of weird watching Penn State have their quarterback get hurt last night and then it happens to us today. On the scramble at the end of the game I was actually looking for my receivers downfield and I got a little pressure. I saw that I could run to the right and get the first down so I did whatever I could to get the first down. State College is the best team we’ve played so far. They’re big, physical and they tackle really well. They hit hard, and I can say that because they hit me really hard a couple of times. On offense State College they use a lot of misdirection, a lot of option that can cause problems because we don’t know who has the ball. A couple of times our players got kind of mixed up, didn’t take the right player and they capitalized on it. I’ll be ready next week. Whether Matt’s ready or not I’ll be ready to go. 

C Mark Sallinger

I think the line came out and played hard and did a good job. We had a few tough times but we did our best. State College was definitely our first real test. Their defense came out hard and low. That’s a good test for us next week when we play Erie McDowell. During the week before practice I take snaps with Kyle and sometimes I get in on the second team “O” and I get in some snaps there, so that wasn’t a problem today.

WR/KR Jeremy Cornelius

It was a good game. We executed well and we tried to stop Alex Kenney. The whole week the coaches said he could be a big factor on the kickoff returns and, as you could see, he ended up with a real good return that set up the game-winning touchdown. I’m feeling good on my kickoff returns. I’m real, real close to popping one. Kyle played real well today. He played just like a senior should. He made big plays but at the end of the game we were a little bit short. McDowell is a big challenge for us. We have to position ourselves for the playoffs next week.

LB Pat Vargo

It was a hard-fought game. I just wish that some of the stuff would have gone our way, but that happens sometimes. State College is big, they’re a great team and they’re disciplined. We had to do everything right. When we didn’t they capitalized on it. When Matt got hurt I was angry at the other team, because they hurt our quarterback. It makes you want to stand up for him. Everyone says McDowell is a good team. The western teams are always good but we’re going to regroup, fight hard and do the best we can.

WR Aaron Sye

I think Kyle did a great job coming in. I knew he could do it. But that’s OK, we’re going to regroup with a real good week of practice and get ready for Erie McDowell. On that last fourth down play I ran a hitch, I ran my guy off, stepped back a little bit and Kyle threw it and I caught it. I think Matt will be all right and we’ll be all right.