PIAA District III Class 4A Title on the line: It’s McDevitt v Manheim Central! What to expect.

Tagged under: District 3, News, Playoffs

Billy Splain | November 24, 2023

Tonight at Bishop McDevitt’s Rocco Ortenzio Stadium there’s going to be a winner and a team that didn’t win. I can’t say loser because both of these teams are on fire. The two quarterbacks, Zach Hahn and Stone Saunders, have thrown for 5,700 yards combined and 89 touchdown passes. Saunders stat line is 3,182 yards and 52 td passes, Hahn has 2,666 yards with 37 td passes. For the Barons, Brycen Armold has rushed for 1,642 yards with 23 trips to the endzone, the Crusaders come at you with Maurice Barnes and Nazir Jones-Davis. The two have combined for 1,450 yards and 16 trips to the paint. Offensively the two team are evenly matched, McDevitt averages 48 points and the Barons are putting up 46.

Defensively, McDevitt only gives up 12 and Central gives up just 16 per contest. Brodies Dougherty leads the Barons on defense with 104 tackles from his linebacker spot with Zion Rolon and Bode Sipel tallying 80 each. This defense has 15 sacks, 10 interceptions and is good against the pass. Head coach Dave Hahn has experience going this deep in the playoffs and the Barons are no strangers to making the state finals. For McDevitt, Coach Weachter also has the knowledge of what it takes to get to the finals. Ty Kephart leads the team with 90 tackles. Venny Brooks has 61 tackles. The Crusaders also have 15 sacks but they throw in 17 interceptions. It’s a tenacious defense that will put pressure on Hahn.

The keys:

For McDevitt it’s simple. On offense the need to give Saunders time to find Rico Scott and Chase Regan and had a balanced attack. Armold can be a problem if they don’t play position defense.

For the Barons, the interior line needs to keep the holes open for Armold. He doesn’t need much room to get loose. If Aaron Enterline get open in space, that will help. Defensively, they need to keep everything in front of them, don’t give up the long ball or it could be a long night.

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