District Championship #9, Win #500; McD 28, LS 14

December2- McDevitt's 28-14 victory over the Lampeter Strasburg Pioneers tonight at Hersheypark Stadium was one for the record books. The Crusaders notched district championship #9, the fourth in Class AAA (they have 3 in Class AA and 2 in Class AAAA). The win was also the 500th in school history, more than a quarter of them under the guidance of Head Coach Jeff Weachter. McDevitt has been a dominant program for well over two decades now, but tonight's opponents were not intimidated. The Pioneers, 40-10 losers to the Crusaders in the 2010 playoffs, proved to be a spirited opponent, even taking the lead for a short while in the second quarter. In the end, though, McDevitt's desire to return to the state championship game led to a rock-solid second half performance by the defense and ensured the victory.

    LS Head Coach Mike Manion decided to gamble on the opening kickoff and it backfired. The Pioneers' onside kick was recovered by sophomore linebacker Nate Monroe at the LS 47, giving the Crusaders excellent field position. Junior quarterback Alec Werner began the drive by passing to classmate Brian Lemelle for a 12 yard gain, and then rugged freshman Andre Robinson ran for a 3 yard game. After another short Robinson gain Werner found Lemelle again, this time for 18 yards, to the LS 12. From there McDevitt used 4 consecutive carried by junior Darnell Holland to advance to the LS 2 before Lemelle snagged a short Werner pass to open the scoring. Junior Connor Maloney converted the extra point kick and McDevitt had a 7-0 lead, with 8:11 left in the opening quarter. The second-seeded Pioneers wasted little time in answering, putting together an impressive 9 play, 63 yard scoring drive capped by a 2 yard Jordan Groff run to knot the score at 7 apiece. Senior Shaun Seif returned the ensuing kickoff 17 yards, to the McD 31, but the Crusader offense was thwarted in 3 plays and Lemelle punted to the LS 49. The McDevitt "D" returned the favor thanks to a fine tackle by sophomore defensive end Steve Marrazzo and forced a Pioneer punt. Lemelle fielded the boot at the McD 22 and weaved for a 24 yard return. Robinson then netted 8 yards on 2 carries to end the quarter.

    Holland's 6 yard run moved the chains for a Crusader first down before a delay penalty pushed the ball back to the LS 45. Werner then pass to Robinson for 4 yards and to junior Connor Marsico for 14 to advance to the LS 27. Werner's next pass attempt was intercepted, though, firing up the visitors and their enthusiastic crowd. LS then engineered another 9 play, clock-killing drive, greatly aided by 2 personal foul penalties against McDevitt on one play. When Groff finished the drive by catching Nate Shank's 23 yard touchdown pass the Pioneers had a 14-7 lead, with 6:24 left before intermission. The Pioneer lead proved to be short-lived when Seif gathered in the following kickoff and rocketed 09 yards untouched to gain a 14-14 tie. The fired-up McDevitt defense quickly forced a 3-and-out, leading to a punt that Lemelle fielded at the McD 46. The shifty junior circled to his left and then reversed his field, avoided two tackles and was soon behind a wall of blockers escorting him to the end zone. Alas, a blocking penalty erased the sparkling scoring play and the Crusaders had to settle for a spot on the LS 42. They scored 7 plays later, beginning with a 7 yard Werner-Lemelle hookup. Robinson then carried 3 straight times to gain 19 yards before sophomore Rashad Lawson, trying to shake off a nagging ankle injury, fought for a 2 yard gain. With the ball now on the LS 14 Holland slipped behind senior DeAndre Lawson's block to gain 11 yards and a first down. With  time rapidly dwindling Holland fought his way into the end zone to re-establish the McDevitt lead. Maloney's PAT kick gave the Crusaders a 21-14 lead with 1:21 left in the half. Any thoughts the Pioneers may have had about scoring were erased when sophomore Mike Perloski dropped  Dan Neff for a 5 yard loss as the half came to an end.

    The Pioneers started the third quarter by mounting yet another 9 play drive that advanced the ball from the LS 31 to the McD 17. Then fullback Matt McCrudden took a handoff and was met by senior Kyree Ross. Ross' jarring tackle popped the ball into the air and the pigskin was quickly grabbed by senior Brock Dean. Dean scurried back to the McD 33 and the Crusader offense was back in business. McDevitt managed one first down before stalling so Lemelle came on to punt. His punt was a line drive that hit at the LS and kept rolling. By the time senior Anthony Shingara picked it up the ball was at the LS 1 yard line. The Pioneers used a Shank-Groff pass to move out to the LS 17 but a key third down pass breakup by senior Miles Williams forced another LS punt, to the McD 44. Robinson ran for a yard and then Werner passed to Lemelle for an 18 yard gain, to the LS 25. From there it was 5 straight running plays aimed at the heart of the Pioneer defense: Robinson for 6; Holland for 5; Holland for 6; Lawson for 3; and finally Robinson for the final 5 yards and the score, at the 1:39 mark of the third quarter. Now leading 28-14, the Crusaders began preparing for LS's final onslaught.

    The fourth quarter started with an interference call against the Crusaders, moving the ball to the Ls 34. Senior Noah Spence sacked Shank for a 9 yard loss but the Pioneers kept the drive alive with timely passes and short runs that led them to a first down at the McD 6. At that point the McDevitt defense put a stop to the advance, starting with DeAndre Lawson's dropping Neff for a 1 yard loss. After an incomplete pass Lawson was at it again, nailing Groff for another yard loss on a sweep. Now facing fourth down and with the clock moving below 5 minutes, Shank dropped back to pass and spotted Ray Lopez near the goal line. Lopez grabbed the pass but was blasted by senior Maurice Geter short of the goal line. Monroe quickly came over to help and the scoring threat had been denied by the smallest of margins. Robinson got McDevitt out of the goal post's shadow by blasting for a 4 yard run, followed by a 14 yard gallop. Holland then ran for 5 yards and then 6 more against the tiring Pioneer defense. Robinson came back for 2 more runs that netted 9 yards but a third down fumble led to a short Lemelle punt. The Pioneers were spent by this time  and a desperation fourth down screen pass was sniffed out by Dean for a 4 yard loss. All that was left was 4 more Robinson runs, for a total of 37 rugged yards, and it was time to pick up the trophy and celebrate.

Next Friday, December 9th, the District 3 Class AAA Champion Bishop McDevitt Crusaders will travel to Altoona's Mansion Park to meet District 7 Champion Montour in the state Class AAA Western Final. The Spartans have a powerful, balanced attack and an opportunistic defense that has helped them to a 13-2 record. The winner of the game advances to the state championship game to be played at Hersheypark Stadium. Friday's game time is 7:00 PM