October 2-  The Bishop McDevitt Crusaders improved to 5-0 tonight with a 42-6 victory over the Lower Dauphin Falcons. Unlike previous contests McDevitt's powerful offense began slowly, due in large part to LD Coach Rob Klock's  determination to stop the Crusader running attack. McDevitt couldn't take advantage of splendid field position, courtesy of the Crusader special teams, throughout the first half. As a result the score as close until a second half point explosion put the game out of reach.

The opening kickoff was a short one, recovered by McDevitt at the McD 35. From there the Crusaders managed one first down, on a 13 yard pass from junior quarterback Matt Johnson to senior Salath Williams, before being forced to punt, to the LD 22. The Falcons stalled 6 plays later and punted the ball back to senior Dawan Smith at the McD 32. The dazzling Smith, who had McDevitt fans on their feet all night, reversed his field on the return and galloped to the LD 20, a 48 yard return. From there junior tailback Jameel Poteat ran for a 15 yard gain and McDevitt looked to be ready to score. But 3 short running plays and an incompletion to Williams later and LD had dodged a bullet, taking over at the LD 4. The Falcons used an effective inside running attack for short gains before being forced to punt again, this time from the LD 22. Senior safety Jon Duckett burst through the protection and blocked the punt, though, and senior linebacker Fred Dietz returned the squibbler to the LD 10 to set up another golden opportunity for McDevitt. Again, the offense failed to deliver, as Poteat was dropped for a 2 yard loss before Johnson scrambled for 4. A third down pass to Poteat moved the ball to the LD 3 but Lower Dauphin turned away the threat by sacking Johnson for a 9 yard loss on 4^th down. The McDevitt defense then forced a 3-and-out, and it was time for Smith to put on another show. This time the return was good for 27 yards, setting up the Crusaders at the LD 30 . After a procedure penalty Johnson hit a wide-open Williams for a 16 yard gain as the quarter ended.

The second quarter began with a 3 yard Poteat run, followed by an incomplete pass. Facing a third-and-7 at the LD 16, Johnson dropped back to pass and threw toward Williams, near the right sideline. The 6'4” receiver slid to the ground to gather in the pass, going out of bounds at the LD 1. From there Poteat followed the offensive line surge into the end zone  and, after the first of Connor Maloney's 6 successful PAT kicks, McDevitt had a 7-0 lead, with 6:19 left in the half. The Falcons went nowhere on the ensuing possession, and were soon punting the ball back to McDevitt. This time the punt went out of bounds at  the LD 47 and it only took four plays for the Crusaders to score again. After a first down incompletion Johnson found Williams for a 14 yard gain before targeting senior Jeremy Cornelius for 5 more. A personal foul penalty moved the ball back to the LD 43 and from there Johnson and Williams hooked up for a sweet 43 yard touchdown pass that pushed the McDevitt advantage to 14-0, with 3:25 left in the second quarter. McDevitt's kickoff was a touchback so the Falcons started at the LD 20. On the first play quarterback Casey Kulina rolled to his right and lofted a pass down field.  Kulina's toss found Joey Miller wide open at the 45, and Miller ran the rest of the way to complete the 80 yard scoring play. After McDevitt was off side on the PAT attempt Klock decided to go for the 2 point conversion but the running attempt was stopped cold, making the score 14-6, with 3:02 left in the half. Lower Dauphin's fortunes looked even brighter after the kickoff, when the squib kick was recovered by the Falcons at the McD 34. Two short runs and an incompletion led to a 4th-and-3 at the McD31 and LD decided to go for it, but Dietz blitzed and flattened Kulina for a 6 yard loss and the Crusaders took over. Johnson passed to senior Aaron Sye, who made a juggling catch good for a 14 yard gain, but the drive stalled and McDevitt punter Ted Deily booted a 42 yarder to end the half.

The second half began with the McDevitt defense re-establishing its dominance, forcing a 3-and out. The ensuing punt served as a reminder to the Lower Dauphin coaching staff that punting the ball out of bounds against Bishop McDevitt is probably a smart thing to do. Smith took the punt at the McD 45, picked up a dandy block by senior cornerback Corey Ford and danced and fought his way all the way to the LD 1. Poteat popped into the end zone from there and McDevitt had a 21-6 lead, courtesy of their short-but-dynamic punt returner. The Falcons then produced an decent drive, a 9 play, 22 yard advance that was hampered by a holding penalty but used up much of the third quarter clock. When LD finally punted it was aimed out of bounds, at the McD 45. Johnson began the next drive by finding freshman Brian Lemelle open for a 16 yard gain into LD territory, but the running game still wasn't clicking and Johnson suffered another sack to bring on Deily to punt. The junior mishandled the snap but deftly avoided the rush and got off a fine 37 yard punt. Now the McDevitt defense was dominating the line of scrimmage, producing consecutive tackles for losses. On third down Kulina, under pressure, floated a pass that was picked off by senior safety Brandon True, who was playing a fine game. True returned the pick to the LD 12 before a blocking penalty moved the spot back 10 yards. After an apparent touchdown run by Duckett was canceled by a procedure flag Poteat fought for 8 tough yards before the quarter ended.

The final stanza began with the Crusaders poised to score, on the LD 19. McDevitt covered the distance in one play, a  pass in the flat to Sye that the senior took to the house. LD took their next possession to midfield before surrendering on downs, McDevitt taking over on the McD 49. On the next play junior fullback Sean Barowski, back in the lineup after a one week injury absence,  burst over the left side of the line and rumbled for a 42 yard gain. Poteat scored his third touchdown of the night on the next play, patiently waiting for the blocking to develop before dancing in from 8 yards out, giving McDevitt a 35-6 lead with 8:33 left to play in the game. A brutal tackle by senior defensive end Ryan Kuntz highlighted the next McDevitt defensive stand, leading to LD's 6^th punt of the night and the Crusaders' final tally. Sophomore Brandon Wallace came on to replace Poteat and quickly showed his promise. Wallace ripped off a 17 yard run on first down and followed that effort with a 22 yard gain that had the crowd stirring, advancing the ball to the LD 13. Johnson finished the night's scoring on the next play, faking a handoff and circling left end for the tally that enacted the “Mercy Rule”. The game's final series consisted of the Lower Dauphin offense desparately trying to score against a succession of McDevitt reserves. The Crusader defense was up to the task, though, stopping the advance at the McD 21 as the gun went off and victory #5 was in the books.

Next Saturday, October 10, the Crusaders welcome the Altoona Mountain Lions to McDevitt Field. Game time is 1:00 PM

QUOTES

Head Coach Jeff Weachter

We weren't focused at practice all week. The defense and special teams played well. Offensively Lower Dauphin did some things well but we just had so many missed assignments. At half time when we could show the kids what they were doing they were overloading the tight end side. We knew when we went double tight that we could get the kick out block on the counter trey. But we have to play a lot better than this. Hopefully the guys learned their lessons. The one positive is we had a little bit of adversity, which we hadn't had, and we needed that. Hopefully that will make us a better football team. Sean Barowski didn't come back to practice until Wednesday and none of us were very sharp in practice. Sean showed good speed on the long run and did a good job. We're going to lean on senior leadership. We're going to have a little team meeting when we get back to McDevitt, behind closed doors, and I think it will be taken care of.

Defensive Line  Coach Johnny Hicks

Lower Dauphin was fired up tonight. They played good that first half and they really got us into a stalemate, so it was good to see our team face adversity and fight through that adversity. We do have to get better with the little things, though. I think that this will definitely help us in the weeks to come, because now they can see that it is not going to be a cakewalk. We're going to have to practice hard and get better every week, no matter who the opponent is.

S Brandon True

After the CD game we took our practices way too lightly. We have to treat every game like it's CD. We have to treat every game like there's 10,000 fans out there. Our season depends on that. On the interception, well, he threw the ball straight up at me.  I just took it straight up the field; I didn't want to fumble and I wanted to get it as close to the goal line as I could. It always feels good to get interceptions but I'm just trying to help out the team. It feels great to be part of this state caliber-type team. We're not there yet but if our defense keeps going the way it is and our offense keeps scoring then I believe we're going to make it.

C/DT Steve Mosey

I think we were just really excited last week, playing an undefeated team, and we had a great week of practice. Now we're playing a team, you know, not undefeated, and I think we came out flat. We might have overlooked them a little bit. They had a great defensive scheme; they scouted us really well, but I think we made good half time adjustments and ran it better in the second half. I'm definitely in shape to go both ways, and when it gets colder, it gets easier. I think this was a good lesson for us. We faced some adversity and we overcame it. This will teach us a lesson that we have to push through every week, play hard every week.

PR/KR Dawan Smith

Every week I feel more confident with the punt returns. I'm starting to know what I can do and I feel like I can score every time I get the ball.. When they kick it short, or to the left side or to the middle I try to reverse it back because I'm trying to get to the wide side of the field. My best blocker, I think, is Corey Ford. He sets up some good blocks for me when I reverse field. We didn't come out in the first half like we wanted to. It was a lack of focus. We may be number one but they came to play. We can't think about the things in the paper and on the news. We have to just come to practice and play, like we've been doing