Harrisburg Thumped, 44-13; McDevitt Finishes Regular Season 8-2

November 5- When a rivalry is as deep as the Harrisburg-McDevitt rivalry, any victory is treasured. So, even though the Crusaders came into this morning's game at McDevitt Field as a prohibitive favorite and the Cougars limped in with a 1-8 record, McDevitt's 44-13 victory was very satisfying to Coach Jeff Weachter and his charges. The underdog Cougars played defense with a fierce passion but were eventually overwhelmed by McDevitt's offensive firepower, while the vaunted War Eagle defense turned in another stellar performance. Harrisburg was limited to 132 total yards and 6 first downs, scoring only after the McDevitt starters had been removed. To overcome the Cougar's determination to stop the Crusader running game junior quarterback Alec Werner took to the air and the results were historic. Werner accounted for 379 passing yards, all in the first half, to stake McDevitt to a 35-0 halftime lead. The Crusader offensive line, a collection of 6 seniors peaking at the right time, kept Werner upright and protected while receivers Brian Lemelle, Shaun Seif and Nate Showalter roamed the Harrisburg secondary freely, gathering in Werner's accurate throws and scoring 3 times.

    Sophomore Rashad Lawson took Harrisburg's opening kickoff and returned it 17 yards, to the McD 25. The promising opening drive that followed covered 69 yards in 5 plays. First Werner passed to freshman Andre Robinson for a 1 yard gain and then Seif gathered in a 15 yard Werner bullet. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Harrisburg advanced the ball to the 44 before Lawson ran for a yard. Following an incompletion Werner fired a strike to the slanting Lemelle, but a massive hit by the Cougar secondary separated Lemelle from the ball and Harrisburg recovered the fumble at the HBG 6. The Cougar's Vidal Little ran for 16 yards on the visitors' first play but the McDevitt defense quickly forced a punt that rolled to a stop at the McD 23. From there the two teams traded punts as the inspired Harrisburg defense, led by linebacker Shawn Simmons, stopped the Crusader running game. After McDevitt had regained possession at the McD 16 near the end of the quarter it was the junior Showalter who jump-started the Crusader attack. First the lanky receiver ran a slant and caught Werner's pass for a 17 yard gain. Then Showalter made a sparkling, one-handed catch along the sideline in front of the Harrisburg bench and advanced for a 31 yard gain, to the HBG 36. Robinson then ripped off a rugged 21 yard run. Werner followed that play by finding Lemelle all alone in the far corner of the end zone for the game's first tally. Junior Connor Maloney drilled the extra point and McDevitt led, 7-0, with 1:20 left in the first quarter. After the subsequent kickoff Little took a direct snap and ran for a 33 yard gain, the Cougars' longest gain of the morning against the McDevitt starters. The Crusader "D" quickly restored order, though, forcing a punt to the McD 19 as the quarter ended.

     Lawson began the event-filled second quarter with a 4 yard run against the stubborn Harrisburg defensive wall. The next play was a pass to Lemelle and the shifty junior split the Cougar secondary and raced for the end zone, only to be tripped up at the HBG 1. Lawson followed the 78 yard gain by bouncing across the goal line on the next play and, after Maloney's successful boot, the McDevitt lead had grown to 14-0. Then, after the teams had again traded punts, the Crusaders started at the McD 29. Lawson had a 1 yard gain before Weachter decided to stay with the aerial attack. Werner quickly targeted Lemelle, first for a 15 yard gain followed by a 25 yarder. With the ball now at the HBG 30 Seif gathered in a 5 yard toss and then Werner again spotted an open Lemelle and delivered an accurate missile for a 25 yard scoring play and a 21-0 lead. There was 4:39 left in the first half and the Crusaders weren't done scoring. After holding the Cougars to yet another 3-and-out McDevitt began the next possession at the McD 42. A nifty 30 yard strike from Werner to Seif immediately had the Crusaders in scoring position and the 25 yard gainer to Lemelle that followed spotted the ball at the HBG 3. Junior Darnell Holland finished the job from there, scoring on a 1 yard plunge a play later to give McDevitt a 28-0 lead, with 2:47 remaining before half time. Little's subsequent 54 yard kickoff return was spoiled by a blocking penalty and the discouraged Cougars promptly threw 3 consecutive incomplete passes as the Crusaders regained possession at the McD 44. A well designed screen pass to the ever-improving Robinson worked for a 40 yard gain, to the HBG 16 and, one play later, Werner found Seif in the end zone for his third scoring pass of the half. The dazzling 28 point second quarter gave McDevitt a 35-0 half time lead and enacted the "Mercy Rule" for the Crusaders' for the 6th straight game. Harrisburg ended the half by fumbling to sophomore defensive end Mike Perloski.

    The second half began with a continuously running game clock and the Cougars trying to enter the scoring column. After a lengthy kickoff return and gaining a first down at the McD 35, senior linebacker Alan Holman sacked Cougar quarterback Shane Gillespie for a 10 yard loss. Three hapless plays later Harrisburg lined up to punt for the 7th time in the game. Senior defensive end Noah Spence, in a great individual effort, flattened a blocker and blocked the punt, eventually recovering the ball at the HBG 11. Two Lawson carries netted 10 yards and moved the chains but the shifty sophomore fumbled in the end zone on the next play and Harrisburg recovered. The relentless War Eagle defense was soon forcing punt #8, a 30 yard effort that rolled dead at the HBG 48. This time Andre Robinson showcased his running style with consecutive 3 yard gains. Then, after a Harrisburg off sides penalty spotted the ball at the HBG 37, Robinson followed the block of center Kyree Ross and rolled past the tiring Cougar secondary on his way to the end zone. Maloney's 6th straight PAT pushed McDevitt to a 42-0 lead, with only 50 seconds left on the rapidly-moving third quarter game clock. The Crusaders' final score came two plays later, when Gillespie retreated into his own end zone to pass and was hounded by Holman and Spence. Gillespie dumped the ball in the vicinity of Enhaut and McDevitt was awarded a safety for the intentional grounding penalty in the end zone. That play brought forth a wave of clean McDevitt jerseys, as a pile of Crusader backups entered the contest. Coach Weachter engineered a curtain call for the team's seniors, calling a time out after Harrisburg's free kick to allow the departing veterans to leave McDevitt Field one final time to an accompanying standing ovation from a grateful home crowd. The Cougars spoiled the shutout by scoring twice in the waning seconds but the McDevitt reserves acquitted themselves well, playing with a fierce determination worthy of a Harrisburg-McDevitt game.

Next Friday night, November 11th the Crusaders begin defense of the PIAA District 3 Class AAA crown by playing the Donegal Indians. Donegal plays in Section 3 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League and sports a 6-4 record. The game will be played at McDevitt's new West Shore home-away-from-home, Mechanicsburg's Frederick Field, which will be the site of all further McDevitt home playoff games. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 PM.

QUOTES

Head Coach Jeff Weachter

It's always a big relief to get "Cougar Week" over with. There's just so much talk during the week. We knew that there would be some extracurricular stuff and we told our guys all week to be McDevitt men and we have the playoffs to worry about so don't retaliate. I was proud of our guys and the way they reacted to that. We came out and we dropped a few balls early but they were trying to stop the run and if you do that we're just going to air it out. Alec and the receivers did a good job and the line did a good job of protecting. The last 2 weeks everybody's been dropping 8 guys and dropping their linebackers

Assistant Coach Johnny Hicks

I think we did a great job, the defense as a whole, not just along the front 7 which is usually where I'm looking. We controlled the line of scrimmage and didn't let them get their running game on.  You know they had one good counter against us when we were a little out of position but we adjusted well and sustained for the whole game. This year the defensive line has definitely improved, technique-wise. It helps when you play some of the teams we play in our conference, where you can work on your technique and get ready for that playoff run. That's exactly what the kids got in their heads and that's what they did. When you get a large lead on a team some teams get out of focus but our kids do a good job of working on their technique and improving so they can get better for next week. I'm going to miss a lot of these seniors. I'm going to miss them all up front, to be honest with you. They just make plays; it's going to be tough not seeing those numbers flashing on the field.

QB Alec Werner

I definitely feel satisfied the way the year turned out. My coaches did a good job of preparing me, my teammates stood by me and this summer we worked hard. We've gotten better every week. Today we were facing a man-to-man defense and the line did a great job of blocking. Of course the receivers get open and Coach Wec did a real good job of calling the plays and that leads to touchdowns. For the playoffs I want us to get rolling like last year but I want us to finish with the state championship. We have to get better every week, have good practices and play hard.

LB Nate Monroe

This has been a great year. The coaches put faith in me by putting me out there and I was able to do my thing because of that. I thought we played great today; we played and practiced well during the week. Harrisburg played with a lot of emotion but we were ready for them. I can feel the intensity as we get to the playoffs. We now have 6 weeks left and we have to get better and better each week.

C/DT Kyree Ross

Harrisburg, they're really young. I expect them to be really good in the next year or two. They did have some senior leadership, Shawn Simmons and those guys, but it just wasn't their year. We have 3 great running backs. At the beginning of the year the offensive line, we weren't clicking as well but as we went on, each game we started to get better and better. It's just all momentum for the playoffs. Man, it's going to be hard not playing on this field Saturday mornings; I'm going to miss it a lot. We'll have a little bit of a different mind set for the playoffs, a little more focused than last year. We lost because of a mistake; we don't want to lose like that so we're going to become more focused going into the playoffs and play every game hard.