Cougars victorious in ‘Battle of the Burg’, McDevitt finds positive things in loss

Tagged under: District 3, Game Photos-Videos, Gameday Hub, News

Billy Splain | August 30, 2025

You wouldn’t have known it talking to McDevitt Head Coach Jeff Weachter after the game, but the Crusaders lost a tough battle with Harrisburg. “We’re back. That’s a good football team, we played a good team last week but I feel like we made big strides”.

The Cougars and Crusaders battled back and forth all game. Harrisburg scored on a Messiah Mickens 7 run, McDevitt countered with a 2 yard Maurice Barnes run, then PJ Dent, who had to step up for an injured Mickens, ran in from 14 yards out putting the Cougars up 16-7. He made a fantastic catch in the corner for the two pointer.

McDevitt got another td from Barnes and Jaiyon Lewis hauled in a perfect pass from Mikal Shank Jr to give the Cougars the lead at the break.

McDevitt scored on a 1 yard run by Sebastion Williams and Dent slammed the door shut with an 8 yard run late in the fourth.

McDevitt had one last shot but fumbled the ball away.

Box score and pictures below

hbg v mcd by PAFootball Newsdotcom

Pics by Ron Wise

First quarter

H-Messiah Mickens 7 run (Mikal Shank Jr. pass to Titus Brown), 7:54

McD-Maurice Barnes 2 run (Aidan Grella kick), 2:24

Second quarter

H-PJ Dent 14 run (Shank Jr. pass to Dent), 11:54

McD-Barnes 2 run (Grella kick), 6:55

H-Jaiyon Lewis 12 pass from Shank Jr. (pass failed), :09

Third quarter

McD-Sebastian Williams 1 run (Grella kick), 5:02

Fourth quarter

H-Dent 8 run (Amir Everett kick), 4:18

Team statistics McD H

First downs: 14 18

Rush-yards: 31-135 24-165

Passing: 125 167

Comp-Att-Int: 11-14-1 13-19-0

Fumbles-lost: 1-1 0-0

Punts-Avg.: 2-37 4-30.3

Penalties-yards: 11-91 7-49

Individual statistics

RUSHING: Bishop McDevitt, Nazir Jones-Davis 14-68, Maurice Barnes 7-26, Jerome Larue 6-21, Sebastian Williams 3-16, Zach Brown 1-4; Harrisburg, PJ Dent 14-90, Messiah Mickens 7-64, Mikal Shank Jr. 1-8, Jaiyon Lewis 1-3, Ja’auan Johnson 1-0.

PASSING: Bishop McDevitt, Williams 11-14-1—125; Harrisburg, Shank Jr. 13-19-0—167.

RECEIVING: Bishop McDevitt, Gage Ruth 4-56, Jontai Quick 3-40, Howard Holton Jr. 2-19, Larue 1-6, Ish Palmer 1-4; Harrisburg, Elias Coke 4-65, Lewis 3-37, Trays Walker 1-18, Dent 2-18, Lewis Dillard 2-16, Keijuan Sinkler 1-13.