BISHOP McDEVITT 48, CARLISLE 28
McDevitt grabs hold of gold
Sunday, November 28, 2004
BY ROD FRISCO
Of The Patriot-News
It all seems like a distant memory now for Bishop McDevitt football.
The sluggish start to the season. The walking dead first half against Carlisle. The survival against Berwick. The embarrassment against Central Dauphin.
And, of course, the years of frustration the Crusaders had stacked up like so many old LPs.
That is all gone now, replaced by the gold that always seemed within reach for Bishop McDevitt but never in hand. The Crusaders have a good grip on it now.
That gold is the District 3-6 Class AAAA championship trophy, won McDevitt-style at Hersheypark Stadium last night in a 48-28 rollover against Carlisle in front of 5,731 forehead-slapping fans.
What is winning McDevitt-style these days? Last night, it went like this (again): 42 carries, 352 yards and seven (7!) rushing touchdowns by Crusaders junior-cum-deity LeSean McCoy.
Those numbers once again are all records of some fashion. The carries and the yardage are District 3-AAAA championship marks. The seven touchdowns are the mark of sheer greatness.
"I've run out of superlatives for Shady," Bishop McDevitt head coach Jeff Weachter said. "I just don't have any more."
Words fail to describe what only numbers can when it comes to McCoy. He is now at 2,788 rushing yards (and 31 ground TDs) this year and 5,711 for his two-year career. In McDevitt's three-game playoff run alone, he has rushed 106 times for 1,097 yards and 15 touchdowns.
But even more important than those outrageous statistics is where McDevitt now stands in Pennsylvania's football hierarchy.
At 10-2, McDevitt is just one of four Class AAAA teams left standing. It moves into Saturday's PIAA Class AAAA West Championship game at Altoona's fast-track Mansion Park against excellent and undefeated Pittsburgh Central Catholic (14-0). Game time is tentatively set for 1 p.m.
"Did we ever doubt that we would be here?" McDevitt strong safety Eric McGovern said. "I don't think so. We know what we have on this team, and after our losses we picked it up and kept carrying it through."
The title is McDevitt's sixth District 3 football championship but its first in Class AAAA and its first since 1997, when it won the third of three straight 3-AA crowns. McDevitt became the first team to win district football championships in three classifications, having won two 3-AAA trophies.
Last night's effort by McDevitt was more than enough to make up for its lost-in-space spinout against Carlisle in Week 4 of the regular season, a 26-20 loss.
In that game, McDevitt had no answer for Carlisle junior tailback Tyreese Marshall, who blew through the McDevitt interior for nearly 300 yards rushing and four touchdowns.
Last night, Marshall, nursing all kinds of nagging injuries, could muster just 39 yards on 11 carries, part of Carlisle's net total of 121 rushing yards, its lowest output of the season.
That's because one huge play completely changed the tempo of the game, and not for Carlisle's benefit.
The Thundering Herd, which ended a great season with an 11-2 record, pounded McDevitt on the game's opening series, going 81 yards on 11 plays, the last a 20-yard scoot by quarterback Clem Johnson on an option left.
Except for a failed extra point, it was exactly what the Herd wanted: a 6-0 lead, and McCoy had yet to touch the ball.
McDevitt responded with a similar 63-yard drive that featured a critical 15-yard screen from Jeremy Ricker to McCoy for a first down at the Carlisle 23. That was followed by McCoy's first touchdown of 2 yards. The first of Mike Comasco's six extra points made it 7-6.
Then, with 14 seconds left in the first quarter, Carlisle's world exploded.
A bad option pitch was recovered at the Herd 12, and it was a snap for McCoy to pop through two plays later with 4 seconds left in the quarter.
The race was on, and Carlisle, despite its speed, could never catch up.
McCoy followed with scoring runs of 59 and 9 yards for a 28-6 lead, sliced by 6 with 1:09 left in the half when Johnson found Rich Rayborn on a 62-yard post.
But McCoy and McDevitt never quit running downhill. McCoy would post scoring runs of 10, 35 and 31 yards in the second half. Carlisle kept trying to hang, but McCoy was too good and too gone.
