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#2 Bishop McDevitt survives #4 Bishop Shanahan @bshs_eagles_fb @mcd_football

Tagged under: District 1, Gameday Hub, News

| December 4, 2021

Once the playoffs begin only one thing matters, survive and advance, Bishop McDevitt by the skin of their teeth were able to do just that. On 4th and 10, with Bishop Shanahan deep in their territory late in the 4th quarter, the Crusaders defense swarmed to Eagles QB Cooper Jordan just short of a line to gain and in an instant heavily favored McDevitt had survived the gutsy Eagles of Shanahan 28-21, to advance to Thursday’s 4A Championship game in Hershey. This was the Crusaders 4th  trip to the state semifinals in the past  8 years, the Eagles had never won a game in the state playoffs before, but to anyone watching the game you would have thought the Eastern Finals were old hat to both teams. “It was a battle,” said McDevitt head coach Jeff Weachter, “It’s been since 2013, but it feels good.” In a game that featured two balanced high powered offenses, in the end it came down to defense, and McDevitt’s defense making one more big play, than the Shanahan D.

The Eagles won the toss but, deferred giving the Crusader’s offense the ball first, after Shanahan’s defense forced punt on a quick 3 and out Shanahan’s Cooper Jordan took over. Jordan would electrify the raucous Shanahan faithful with 173 of total offense. Shanahan started their first drive on their own 33 yard line, with a mixture of power running, jet sweeps and precision passing, and with the help of a McDevitt offside on a 4th and 1, marched the ball to the Crusader’s 13 yard line. On first and goal Jordan sent Eagles standout Brandon Choi in motion, rolled right, then found Choi in the end zone, Zane Domsohn added the extra point, and just like that the Eagles were up 7-0. The Crusaders fielded the short kickoff, taking the field at the their own 37,  McDevitt’s Quarterback, freshman sensation Stone Saunders would lead the Crusaders down the field using the running tandem of Cyncir Bowers (9-61-TD) and Marquese Williams(24-115 TD), finally hitting Rico Scoot on a 16 yard pass to tie the game at 7-7.

Jordan would then direct maybe the most impressive drive in the history of Shanahan, taking over at the 10, the Eagles would go 90 yards against the Crusaders vaunted defense, taking 13 plays and chewing up over 8 minutes of clock. Using a seemingly endless wave of running backs, receivers and scrambles, Jordan picked apart the Crusaders, going the final 7 yards himself, giving Shanahan the lead 14-7. The Crusaders would storm right with a 71 yard drive of their own.

The Crusaders had driven to the Eagles 7 yard line, then were penalized 3 straight plays pushing the ball back to the 26 yard line. On the night officials threw an unbelievable 22 flags. Williams took the handoff, broke to the outside and in an instant was in the end zone. On the extra point attempt Brandon Choi broke through the line, blocking the try, keeping Shanahan ahead 14-13. That is how an entertaining first half ended.


Shanahan started the second half from their own 14 yard line, McDevitt changed their defensive front going to a four man line which stoned the Eagles running game. “At halftime we made two adjustment, we went to a four man line and changed our blocking scheme,” said Weachter. McDevitt took over after a Shanahan punt, driving to the 3 yard line.

The Crusaders would then use a little trickeration, for what would be the final offensive score of the night. Lining up in a tight formation, what looked like a quarterback sneak turned into a reverse, with Cyncir Bowers taking the ball around end for the score, the two point conversion made it 21-14. For the balance of the game the defenses took over.

After a Shanahan 3 and out, Colin McGrory deflected a Saunders pass, which was gathered in by Eagle DB Nick Romano.  Deep in their own territory Jordan dropped back attempting to throw the ball in the flat but McDevitt linebacker, batted the ball to himself and rambled 29 yards for the score making it 28-14.

It seemed that the bigger favored Crusaders had taken over the game, with their defense dominating the Shanahan offense and their ground game eating up chunks of real estate on O. Then came the ensuing kickoff and the Eagles Cooper Jordan bursting 95 yards, out running the Crusaders to the end zone, making the score 28-21. The end of the 3rd quarter and the first 9 minutes of the 4th turned into a defensive struggle, with neither team gathering much momentum.

McDevitt attempted to run out the clock, but on a 3rd and 7, Shanahan’s defense snowed under QB Saunders, forcing a McDevitt punt. Shanahan took over on their own 31 with no timeouts and under 3 minutes to go in the game. Jordan found Evan Kapczynski for a first down, then connected with Romano for another first. Jordan then squeezed a ball in between 2 defenders to Simmi Whitehill and the Eagles had a first at the Crusader’s 27, it looked like the game was headed to OT.

After 3 straight incompletions, the Eagles season came down to a 4th and 10. Jordan dropped back to pass, was chased out of the pocket, with his receivers blanketed, he took off down the sidelines, but in the end he couldn’t escape the bevy of Crusaders chasing him and was brought down short of a first down. McDevitt then took a knee, ending the game. McDevitt had survived the upstart Eagles and advanced to Thursday’s State 4A Finals.

For the Eagles head coach Paul Myers the game was bitter sweet, “We battled, I’m so proud of our team and our seniors, they are a special group that starting in their freshmen year, set the goal of winning a state championship, we fell just short but I couldn’t be prouder of this group.” Many expected a McDevitt blowout tonight, but in the end it was a great high school football game, with both teams knowing they had been in a war for 48 minutes.

Mcdevitt with a big hit to force an incompletion. 4th and 5, Shanahan punts. Jaire Rawlison on the hit. @McD_Football_ @PaFootballNews pic.twitter.com/aF57i9bL6w

— Kam (@Kam_PFN) December 4, 2021

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews

 
 
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