CRUSADERS FLATTEN HEMPFIELD, 40-0
September 8- Relying on a balanced
attack and a smothering defense, The Bishop McDevitt Crusaders moved to 2-0 (1-0
in Mid Penn Commonwealth League play) with a 40-0 pasting of the Hempfield Black
Knights this morning at McDevitt Field. Although Hempfield made the Crusaders
earn every yard gained with determined defensive play, the Knight’s offense was
completely shut down by the quick McDevitt defense, which posted its second
shutout in as many weeks.. Eventually, the lack of support from the offense took
its toll on the Hempfield defense, as McDevitt posted 28 points in the second
quarter against the exhausted Knights.
McDevitt began the game with
possession on its own 35 yard line, courtesy of an out-of-bounds kickoff. Junior
quarterback Kyle Koncar opened up with a swing pass to senior running back Mike
Jones, good for a 7 yard gain. Two consecutive Jones carries netted 5 yards and
a first down before Koncar passed to senior Julian Harrell for 6, moving the
Crusaders into Hempfield territory. Jones bulled for 2 tough yards before
earning another first down on a 5 yard scamper. After another 5 yard Jones
carry, Koncar floated Jones a screen pass that was good for a 28 yard gain
before the play was called back for a blocking infraction against McDevitt. Then
Koncar fired a dart to Harrell, who made a dandy catch-and-run to the HEMP 20
before that play was erased by a motion penalty. Undeterred, Jones promptly
dashed 15 yards, to the HEMP 40. From there, Koncar dropped back to pass but was
flushed out of the pocket and started running to his left. Right before crossing
the line of scrimmage the crafty junior pulled up and threw a short pass to
senior Mike Comasco. Comasco hauled in the toss, broke a tackle and advanced to
the HEMP 10. From there Koncar ran for 3 yards, and then targeted Harrell on a
slant pattern that was stopped just short of the goal line. Koncar then followed
junior center Vince Sullivan into the end zone for the game’s first score with
6:12 left in the opening quarter. The extra point was missed. Hempfield returned
Comasco’s kickoff to the HEMP 25, and then Hempfield’s Eric Macik drove off left
tackle for a 23 yard gain. It would prove to be Hempfield’s longest advance of
the game. The McDevitt defense stiffened, with the aid of a motion penalty, and
the Knights were forced to punt, which traveled into the end zone for a
touchback. The next Crusader scoring drive started with a 9 yard Jones gain
erased by a holding penalty (the Crusaders were flagged 8 times for 75 yards).
Freshman running back Jameel Poteat then powered his way for 5 yards before
Koncar hooked up with Comasco for an 11 yard gain and a first down at the McD
35. Jones had another 5 yard carry and Koncar threw his first incompletion
before finding Comasco again for a 6 yard completion that moved the sticks.
Junior running back Billy Stair added to the drive by darting for a 6 yard gain
and then Koncar passed to Harrell for 18 yards as the quarter ended
The second quarter started with the
Crusaders poised to score at the HEMP 30. Stair swerved for 6 yards before
Poteat took a counter 19 yards, to the 5 yard line. From there Koncar followed
guard John Koury and tackle Jordan Knox over the right side into the end zone
and, after Comasco’s successful PAT, McDevitt led 13-0. The next Hempfield
possession looked familiar: 3 hapless running plays out of a flex bone set,
followed by a punt. This time senior safety Evan McGovern fumbled the punt, but
senior guard Jared Henley alertly pounced on the ball at the McD 31. The
Crusaders were stymied by penalties, though, including a holding call and an
offensive pass interference call that erase a long Harrell reception. Comasco
came on for McDevitt’s first punt of the season and it was a beauty, traveling
52 unreturnable yards to the HEMP 33. Three more short Hempfield runs later, the
Knights punted to the McD 34, where the ever-present Comasco received the punt
and advanced to the 47. Head Coach Jeff Weachter again called Jones’ number, and
the sturdy runner responded with a 6 yarder, and then a 12 yard gain to the HEMP
35. After 2 incompletions sandwiched around a Stair 6 yard gain, the Crusaders
faced a 4th and 4 at the 29. Koncar dropped to pass behind the usual
flawless pass protection and fired a seed to Harrell, who made the catch and
dragged 2 defenders to the HEMP 12. Jones then finished off the scoring drive by
circling left end, breaking a tackle and crossing the goal line with 3:03 left
in the half. Now leading 20-0, McDevitt squibbed a kick to the HEMP 35. The
Knights went backward from there, losing 10 yards on a fumbled pitch and
committing a personal foul penalty that cost them 15 more. But, after a 5 yard
run, quarterback Jarvis Cummings completed his longest pass of the morning, for
24 yards to Kori Meshaw. Now facing a 4th-and-2 at the HEMP 43,
Hempfield coach Bob Forgrave threw caution to the wind and went for it. The
Knights ran the option to the left and Cummings kept the ball and was promptly
bulldozed by junior defensive end Terahje Gratkowski for a 3 yard loss as the
Crusaders took over. After 2 incompletions Koncar found lanky sophomore receiver
Salath Williams crossing from left end. Koncar hit the tightly-covered Williams
perfectly at the 25 and Williams outraced the Hempfield secondary to score with
1:37 before half time. The subsequent Comasco PAT increased the Crusader lead to
27-0. Hempfield returned the following kickoff to the HEMP 21, where Pat Vargo
made a fine tackle. The Hempfield success in passing the previous series
evidently emboldened coach Forgrave, so Cummings dropped back to pass with
seconds left in the half. His pass floated over the middle where McGovern picked
it off and raced to the end zone to pad the McDevitt lead with 37 seconds left
in the half. Hempfield went back to the running game after that and the half
ended with a 34-0 McDevitt advantage.
The Black Knights took possession to
start the second half but faired no better than the first, going 3-and-out and
punting to the McD 37. Koncar passed to Gratkowski for 3 yards before the
penalty bug bit again. A procedure penalty cost 5 yards and then a monumental 65
yard TD run by Jones was erased by a holding call. After an incomplete pass, a
Koncar-to-Williams hookup gained 14 yards but was well short of a first down.
Comasco punted to the HEMP 32 and the Hempfield returner made it to midfield
before running into sophomore linebacker Fred Dietz, whose jarring hit caused a
fumble recovered by Koury at the McD 48. The Crusaders moved quickly down field
on throws by Koncar to Comasco (11 yards), Harrell (11 yards) and Williams (14
Yards). Then, facing a 3rd-and-9 at the HEMP 12, Koncar dropped off a
screen pass to Jones in the right flat. Jones broke a tackle as his blockers
fought ahead of him and spun toward the sideline. He was met by another
Hempfield defender but avoided the tackle with a stiff arm while colliding with
a McDevitt blocker. Jones regained his balance, cut behind a Harrell block and
scored one of the most exciting 12 yard touchdowns in McDevitt history. Even
though the PAT was blocked, the score stretched the McDevitt lead to 40-0,
invoking the “Mercy Rule” for the second consecutive week. Hempfield took over
at the HEMP 31 and managed 1 first down as Crusader reserves began replacing
starters. Junior linebacker Dante Ushery stood up a Hempfield runner, causing a
fumble that Ushery recovered at the HEMP 43. The Crusader offense that took the
field had freshman quarterback Matt Johnson at the helm, and McDevitt used runs
by Stair and Poteat to advance to the HEMP 24 before turning over possession on
downs. The Black Knights made one last attempt to score but the Crusader
reserves were determined to preserve the shutout. Defensive backs Pat Hannigan
and Corey Ford took turns defending Hempfield passes while defensive end Ryan
Kenny contributed a strong pass rush . Hempfield was finally turned away at the
McD 32 and Johnson ran a couple of 2 yard keepers to run out the clock.
Next Saturday, September 15th,
the Crusaders take to the road to play archrival Harrisburg. The game, to be
played at legendary Severance Field, is scheduled to start at 12 noon.
Quotes
Head Coach Jeff Weachter
I’m really proud of the defense and
the defensive staff is doing a great job. Coach Berry and his staff put in a
good game plan and the only disappointing things were the PAT’s and all of the
penalties. We have to clean that up. On one penalty we had a new fullback and he
went the wrong way and got a holding penalty but we have to clean that up. We
can’t afford to give up that many penalty yards against Harrisburg. They ran the
same offense that McKeesport does. I went back and looked at the McKeesport tape
last Sunday night and we made a few adjustments concerning the stuff that hurt
us against McKeesport. That’s the thing with that offense: if you do the right
things to shut it down it’s tough to score with. Mike Jones did a great job
today. I think he’s the best back in the league and we’ve got some receivers
that are doing some good things and Kyle’s playing well. He was a little bit
late on some of the deep throws, which made them too long, but we’ll get better
at that. You know that Cougar Week is my favorite week of the year. We just have
to stay focused. I’m sure that Harrisburg was looking past Altoona a little bit
last night and I know that they will be fired up for us. It should be a great
game.
Assistant Coach Dave Weachter
As much as we’re proud of the first
team, this second group and third group, when they get in there they’re taking a
lot of pride in it. When Hempfield was driving a little bit at the end of the
game I could hear them in the huddle yelling, “Don’t lose the shutout!” In other
years when we’d get in that situation we’d end up giving up a touchdown or two,
which is kind of demoralizing to the first team. But these guys have done a
great job. What was great about today’s game was on our first couple of drives
we had very few plays over 15 yards. When you can constantly move the ball up
and down the field like that without big plays it says a lot. And, again, a lot
of the young kids are stepping up. Salath Williams is a kid that played
quarterback and we haven’t really seen what Salath can do before
he
gets a little more experience. Now Cougar Week is here. We have kind of mixed
emotions about Harrisburg losing last night. Obviously it’s going to make their
practices a lot better this week. I guess it’s just going to be a typical city
championship game.
Assistant Coach Jesse Shay
The defense has played phenomenal.
The kids bought into our game plan and they played hard, covered their
assignments and played as a unit. Any time that you start sophomores at any
position you know that you’re going to have to live with some mistakes, but we
have incredible confidence in Duckett and Dietz. They’re great football players,
they know their assignments and they don’t try to do more than they’re supposed
to. Hempfield jammed it up the middle against Conestoga Valley last week and
that’s what that offense tries to do. Their best running back is that Macik and
we decided that we were going to take it out of his hands and if they were going
to beat us, someone else was going to have to do it. Cougar Week is the greatest
week of the year. Christmas came early this year. I can’t wait. It’s going to be
a packed house down there and I’m sure they are going to want some revenge from
us for knocking them out of the playoffs last year but our kids are going to be
ready.
WR Julian Harrell
Hempfield was pretty good, they
weren’t as bad as East but when we play our best I don’t think anyone can stop
us. All of the off season we were working on the passing game because we knew
that, if we got out timing together, no one could stop us. We worked on it all
week, too, and it really paid off today. As far as Harrisburg is concerned, we
have to take it like any other game. If we play like we have these first 2 weeks
we’ll be hard to stop, but I still expect a close game.
FB/S Evan McGovern
The interception was a good play. I
had help from the strong safety, Pat Vargo, and we were prepared for that. It’s
like their only pass play. I read it right and then took it to the house. I
don’t know about some of those penalties but we have to work on our blocking in
some places. On the fumbled punt return, I got a bad read off of the punter’s
foot and I wasn’t ready. I tried to come up and field it and I didn’t have my
elbows in. Coach Mealy is always telling me to tuck my elbows in and the ball
bounced right off my chest. I’m very happy about how the defense is playing. We
let them get away with a couple of good runs but, other than that, we were
outstanding. For Harrisburg, well, I can’t wait. We’re really hyped about it.
LB Fred Dietz
The shutouts are great. Our defense
is really coming together well. So far we have 2 shutouts, 89-0! We’ve been
crashing in, taking on the blockers and making the plays. If I can’t make the
tackle I just push a lineman into the ball carrier. On the fumble on the punt
return, I was really excited for that one. I was hyped up and I knew I was going
to go down and crack somebody. For Harrisburg, we need a good week of practice.
Everything steps up a notch.
WR Salath Williams
When I made the switch from
quarterback to wide receiver Julian Harrell took me under his wing all off
season and worked with me on our routes and stuff. I want to be the next good
wide receiver. On the touchdown pass Kyle really threw it in there, the line
blocked great and Kyle put it right on the money. I had to score. As far as next
week, may the best man win. I have a couple of neighbors and a couple of cousins
that play for Harrisburg.
DT Stefan Belle
Well I’m really happy about starting.
It was a real surprise to me because I wasn’t expecting to play that much this
year. I thought that I was going to be playing JV, so I was surprised and happy
when I was told I would start. Hempfield was good competition. It was kind of
rough for me in the first half but in the second half I started to pick it up.
As far as the Cougars are concerned, well, I hear everyone else talking about it
so I guess Cougar week starts right now.
OT Jordan Knox
Hempfield was better than last week
so we had to step up our game on the offensive line. I thought we did better
than we did last week; we made fewer mistakes and we’re improving. As far as the
Cougars go, like everyone else says, may the best man win.
Click here for the Hempfield Game Stats
Back to Home Page