September 5- The Bishop McDevitt Crusaders opened the 2009 football season with a 41-16 victory over the Harrisburg Cougars this morning, before a sun-drenched crowd at McDevitt Field. It Was McDevitt’s second straight win over the Cougars and their legendary Coach, George Chaump, and third win in the last five games. The offense was led by junior running back Jameel Poteat and junior quarterback Matt Johnson. Poteat gained 132 rushing yards on 18 carries, including a 54 yard touchdown run, and added 3 pass receptions good for 53 yards and another score. Johnson ran the offense with his usual commanding presence and passed for 181 yards and 2 touchdowns, and pitched in with a 42 yard scoring run for the Crusader’s first score. On defense, defensive linemen Stephan Belle and Ryan Kuntz, linebackers Fred Dietz and Brock Dean and defensive backs Jon Duckett and Brandon True merit special praise for their contributions. Harrisburg’s talented offense was held to a mere 142 yards total offense and 5 first downs.

The pregame ceremonies saw McDevitt’s senior tackle Victor Shaffer awarded a scholarship from the U.S. Air Force for having the teams’ highest GPA. Captains Dietz, Steve Mosey, Corey Ford and Salath Williams, all seniors, met the Cougar captains at midfield and the game got under way. Harrisburg received the kickoff and Jawon Chisolm galloped 26 yards, to the HBG 37. Two plays later the Cougars faced a 3^rd-and-2, but Chris Devan was stopped cold by Mosey and Harrisburg was forced to punt. Senior Dawan Smith drifted under the ball at the McD 25 and promptly fumbled, the Cougars recovering. A key tackle by cornerback Aaron Sye on an option to Devan stunted the Harrisburg advance and McDevitt took over on downs. The Crusader’s first series featured an incompletion and a motion penalty (a problem all morning for McDevitt), so junior Ted Deily dropped back to punt on 4^th down. The snap eluded Deily and the Cougars recovered on the McD 1. Chisolm, running out of the shotgun formation, quickly crossed the goal line and, after Marvel Cooper’s successful PAT, Harrisburg had a 7-0 lead. It only took McDevitt 4 plays (and 2 motion penalties) to answer the score. Smith returned the ensuing kickoff to the MCD 22 and Poteat ran for 6 yards. After a motion penalty Poteat spun for 8 more yards, to the MCD32. After yet another motion penalty Johnson launched a fade down the right sideline toward Williams and the lanky senior gathered it in for a 31 yard gain. On the next play Johnson deftly faked a handoff and circled left end untouched for a 42 yard touchdown run. Freshman kicker Connor Maloney’s kick was hampered by bad timing and missed the mark, so Harrisburg clung to a 7-6 lead. After a short kickoff the Cougars were held to a 3-and-out and punted. Once again Smith circled under the falling pigskin, but the results were different this time. Smith fielded the punt at the MCD 33 and darted to the left. He suddenly reversed his field and juked easily past Harrisburg’s Monti West. Now barreling down the right sideline, the speedy senior reversed direction once again, crossing over to the left sideline and outrunning his pursuers for a dazzling, 67 yard punt return score. After Maloney’s PAT McDevitt led, 13-7. Following another short kickoff, Cougar quarterback Jalen Fitzpatrick was sacked for a 5 yard loss by a rampaging Belle. The eventful first quarter ended after the next play, as Chisolm caught a swing pass and was dropped for a 6 yard loss by Dean.

The second quarter began with Duckett intercepting a screen pass at the HBG17, but 2 more penalties and a pair of incompletions ended the possession on downs. One play later Belle fell on a Harrisburg fumble at the HBG 9, but this series also failed to produce any points. After going nowhere in 3 plays Maloney misfired on a 27 yard field goal attempt and the Cougars took over on the 20. They managed a rare first down on a 13 yard Chisolm run before a fumbled snap and a Kuntz sack put an end to the advance. The subsequent Harrisburg punt rolled dead at the MCD 36 and it only took 2 plays for the Crusaders to score again. First Poteat slashed for a 7 yard gain, and then the 200 lb. junior followed the block of senior guard Andrew Miscannon past the Cougar secondary for a stunning 54 yard touchdown run. Maloney tacked on the PAT and McDevitt's lead had stretched to 20-7. What followed was another Harrisburg series and another 3-and-out, this time finished with a 20 yard punt to the MCD 45. Two more penalties started the drive, but Johnson calmly targeted senior Dan Leonard for a 14 yard gain and Poteat for a 26 yarder to give McDevitt a first down at the HBG 27. Johnson was then sacked for the only time of the game for an 8 yard loss, but countered with an 8 yard shovel pass to Duckett. On the next play Johnson dropped back to pass, pump faked once and lofted a pass toward the left corner of the end zone. Williams was tightly covered by Chisolm but managed to get separation at the last second and haul in the 27 yard touchdown pass, pushing the McDevitt advantage to 27-7. Harrisburg then used a 40 yard Devan kickoff return, a face mask penalty and a 27 yard Fitzpatrick pass to move into field goal territory. Cooper easily cleared the crossbar on his 36 yard attempt, making the halftime score 27-10.

The second half started off with a 50 yard kickoff return by McDevitt's promising freshman, Brian Lemelle. After 2 short Poteat runs and yet another motion penalty the Crusaders faced a 3rd-and-8 at the HBG 46. Johnson then threw a dart to Jeremy Cornelius for a 14 yard gain that moved the chains. Poteat then ran for 5 yards and Johnson drew the Cougars off sides with a staggered cadence, leading to another first down.  Then Johnson dropped a swing pass off to Poteat in the left flat. After one quick move Poteat was on his way to the end zone and, following Maloney's PAT, the McDevitt lead had moved to 34-10. The Cougars then put together an impressive 4 play, 62 yard scoring drive, keyed by a 49 Fitzpatrick run. Chisolm finished the drive with a 2 yard plunge and, after a bad snap doomed Cooper's PAT try, Harrisburg had narrowed the gap to 34-16. Lemelle returned the following kickoff 22 yards, to the MCD 27 and one play later a Johnson-to-Sye hookup was good for 12 yards and a first down. Two more penalties later Lemelle ran an end around for a 6 yard advance, but Poteat, in the “Wildcat” formation, mishandled a snap for a 9 yard loss and Deily punted to the HBG 38. The Cougars advanced to the MCD 38 before an illegal block penalty and a fine play by Duckett forced another punt as the third quarter ended.

The final stanza began with Smith wiggling 6 yards on a punt return, to the MCD 26. Poteat ripped off an 18 yard run, followed by a 4 yarder before junior fullback Sean Barowski blasted for 8 more and a first down at the HBG 43. Poteat then bolted for an apparent 43 yard scoring run, but a holding penalty brought the ball back to the HBG 46. The Cougars were flagged for pass interference on the next play, and then Poteat ran for a first down on a 10 yard advance.  Following a (you guessed it!) motion penalty, Barowski slipped out of the backfield, grabbed a short Johnson pass and blasted 26 yards, to the HBG 3. One play later Johnson followed center Steve Mosey into the end zone for the game's final score. The rest of the contest featured ball control by McDevitt, utilizing Poteat, Barowski, and youngsters Brandon Wallace and Sean Seif. Harrisburg's lone threat was snuffed out by an acrobatic interception by Cornelius, as McDevitt ran out the clock and began a muted celebration.

Next Saturday, September 12^th, the Crusaders welcome the Cedar Cliff Colts to McDevitt Field. The Colts, coming off a defeat of arch-rival Red Land, will be looking to avenge last year's 55-6 McDevitt win. Game time is 10:30AM. 

Obviously I'm happy with the win  but I'm not happy with the way we played. We're a much better team than that. We were sloppy in all three phases of the game: offense, defense and special teams and I'll take responsibility for that. We need to clean it up ,especially offensively. Our timing was off all day but I think it says a lot about our offense that we still put up 41 points against a good, athletic defense that blitzed us a lot and shook up our game plan. We'll clean that up and we'll clean up the special teams. We have a freshman kicker and a freshman holder, and obviously Dawan Smith made amends for his mistake so we'll be all right. As far as the motion penalties, we'll have to look at it on film, but let's give Steve Mosey a break. This was really his first game ever playing center. We asked him to move and he said “Anything for the team”. He gives us unbelievable intelligence up there because he's so darn smart he helps the rest of the line out by making all of the line calls. We'll get the snap count taken care of; I'd be shocked if you saw that from us the rest of the year. Our overall defensive effort was good. We knew that they'd come in and run the option. Obviously the last few years, for whatever reason ,we've had trouble stopping the option. The one play the caught us because we had no one on the quarterback and he took it to the 1 yard line, but I'm pleased with the defense. Harrisburg had a lot of athletes out here and that can be a problem with the option. Look at us; Matt Johnson pulling on an inside zone and their whole team stopped! With the athletes that they have they can make you pay for one mistake. I am so happy for Cougar Week to be over ! Now we can concentrate on the rest of our season and trying to reach our goals.  

Defensive Coordinator Pat Berry

I think we played a real good game. We had one bad series where we had a penalty, they ran the speed option and we just weren't ready to play that play. But besides that I think we did a real good job. The kids worked on the pass rush quite a bit. The defensive line coaches did a great job getting them ready. We have some things to work on but that was a good start. We worked on moving Noah Spence to linebacker over the summer and he did a great job, so it's just another wrinkle. Cougar week is a lot of fun but it's good to be over with.

Assistant Coach (Offensive Line) Jamie Harvey

We started off a little slow but in the second half, with the band playing and all of the audibles we made and with the defense needing a rest, I like how we just took the ball down the field and scored. To top it off the quarterback wedge, it's one of our signature plays, we don't get stopped on the quarterback wedge and I was proud of our guys for that. About the motion penalties, well, their band kept playing! It seemed like every time we were on their side of the field their band was playing as soon as we wanted to snap the ball, and that was a lot of the problem. I don't look as playing Harrisburg as playing my Alma Mater. Kids are kids. The kids here are the same as the kids over there; I love all these kids. My organization, Big Boys in Training, says that any kid that needs help, just come see me.

Assistant Coach (linebackers) Jesse Shay

The kids came out and executed the game plan really well. It was a sloppy game with some missed assignments but you expect that in the first game. Hats off to Harrisburg. Our kids had to work very hard to contain their speed. With linebackers we always talk about  not over-pursuing, staying home and letting the game come home to you. I thought we did a real good job today of not taking ourselves out of the game, staying home. We have 4 older guys at linebacker, and I throw Brock Dean in there since he came up with us last year. But we have 6 sophomores that are really coming along. They're not quite ready yet but they will be by mid-season. Now that Cougar Week is over we can start focusing on the rest of the year, starting with Cedar Cliff.

WR/S Jeremy Cornelius

The game went good. In the beginning it was a little sloppy but we put it together in the second half. I thought I was open on most of the pass plays; it's just that they had a pretty good rush and Matt had to throw it to whoever he could throw it to. On the interception, well, we scouted it the whole week. They ran a flare to the outside and the inside guy ran a fly. I just jumped the route and I picked it. I have a lot of friends on the other side but this is just one game. We're trying to win a state championship.

LB/FB Sean Barowski

The offensive line was amazing. They got a big push all the time. They controlled the line of scrimmage today. Good job by them. I knew we could beat Harrisburg and we did; it didn't surprise me at all. I love playing linebacker. I love hitting, so when they put me in the middle I get to do it a lot. Fred did a great job in there. We're fundamentally sound this year and we're well coached.

DE Ryan Kuntz

First of all I feel fine. I came back from that dehydration stuff and felt fine the whole game. We've been working real hard on the pass rush. Coach Rozzi, Coach Banks came in here and said that, basically, the philosophy is to dominate the guy across from you, dominate your man and everything will take care of itself. We benefited from that today. Harrisburg didn't give up like they did last year. They stuck with it and came out physical, but we pulled through. We've really concentrated on stopping the veer. That's been our Achilles heel the past few years. We worked on that because we have to stop the run first.

KR/PR/S Dawan Smith

On the fumbled punt I took my eye off the ball, I wasn't concentrating the way I practiced it, but I bounced back from it. On the touchdown run I just had to remember to keep my elbows in like my coach tells me all the time. I just cut it back and used my speed. I know that I have the ability and talent to break it all the way so I'm expecting to every game now. The main thing the coach tells me is to catch the punt in the air, so even if I don't return it for a touchdown I'll set up the offense with good field position. This is my senior year and we've beaten Harrisburg two years in a row so that's good. I have a lot of friends on the other side of the ball but not when game time's going on!

RB Jameel Poteat

It was a great game. We came off a little shaky; I think we were a little nervous at first. The first touchdown run was a 25 power G and I just followed Andrew Miscannon. Our line did an excellent job today. He kicked the guy out and I just took it from there. Sean Barowski cleared the safety up, too. On the swing pass Matt put it there and it was one-on-one with the d back. Coach Deuce said I can't get tackled one-on-one so I had to make a move. I have a lot of friends on Harrisburg; I have family over there! I played little league ball with Chris Devan and I know what a great running back he is, so I'm glad to get it over with.

G Andrew Miscannon