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Leechburg Outmaneuvers Bishop Canevin Late For 35-13 Victory @lasd_athletics @CrusadersFball

Tagged under: District 7, Gameday Hub, News

| October 11, 2020

Saturday night’s Bishop Canevin-Leechburg game proved to be a see-saw battle that saw the youth movement of both schools on display. In the end, Leechburg sophomore Braylan Lovelace outdueled Canevin freshman Marquis Carter and the Blue Devils pulled away very late for a 35-13 victory. Don’t be fooled by the scoreline, however—This was a one score game with 4:00 to play.

Let’s look at how it unfolded…

The Game

Bishop Canevin squibbed the onside kick, and after some controversy as to if it went 10 yards, Leechburg took over and went 3 and out. After a 46 yd punt for a touchback, Canevin took over at their 20. On 3rd and 15, Willie Banks-Hicks hit Jordan Ruffing for a 15 yard gain and a fresh set of downs. The drive stalled at the 30 and Canevin brought on the punt team, and Xavier Nelson took the snap and rolled out, faking the punt, flying forward for a 20 yard gain and a new set of downs. On the next play, Banks Hicks found Lesae Lacks for a gain of 27. The drive would fizzle out again at the Leechburg 33. Nelson’s put was deflected and took a friendly roll to the 11.

The teams would trade  series of three-and-outs for the remainder of the opening quarter, as Canevin’s offense struggled to protect Banks-Hicks, allowing Leechburg’s front seven to swarm him and get him on his horse to scramble out of the pocket, resulting in several big losses of yardage.

Meanwhile, Leechburg was unable to amount anything significant in response until Dylan Cook hit Thomas Burke for a 31 yard gain with :30 to go, down to the Canevin 22. The quarter ended on a pitch for no gain, bringing up 3rd and 10 to start the second.

Ruffing picked off the opening pass of the quarter and took it to the house, but a flag wiped the score off the board. Regardless, the Crusaders took possession on their own 32. After pushing to the midfield, Banks-Hicks uncorked a 37 yard pass to Nelson to get inside the Leechburg 10. Freshman Marquis Carter gained 5 yards to the 3, and Banks-Hicks kept for a touchdown on the next play. The PAT was good, extending the lead to 7-0 with 7:45 to go in the second quarter.


On their first play of the drive, Sophomore back Braylan Lovelace ripped off a 54 yard run up the middle and rumbled to the 16 of Canevin before being tackled. After two offsides penalties against The Crusaders, Leechburg found themselves first and goal at the 6. Lovelace fumbled and Canevin recovered, taking over at the same spot with 6:38 to go in the half.

Canevin was unable to advance the ball and their punt was deflected, giving Leechburg prime positioning at the Canevin 16 with 4:17 to go in the half. Lovelace carried to paydirt on their first play. Leechburg went for 2 and converted to take an 8-7 lead with 4:10 to go in the half.

Canevin continued to only move backwards, ending up on 4th and 31. The punt formation crumbled and Nelson scrambled for about 15 yards before being tackled. Leechburg gained a fresh set, but Cook’s pass was picked off by Adante Berrien in the end zone with :17 to go. The Crusaders fumbled on their second play and Leechburg recovered at the Canevin 12 with just :4 left in the half. Leechburg made them pay as Cook hit Lovelace for a touchdown pass to extend the Leechburg lead to 15-7 at the half.


Canevin began the third quarter with a 20 yard gain by Carter into Leechburg territory, but after a series of sacks on Banks-Hicks, Canevin had to punt. On their opening possession, Leechburg extended their lead as Cook hit Logan Kline for a 45 yard TD pass. The conversion failed and the score stood at 21-7 with 7:35 to go in the third.

Canevin fired right back on a 40 yard TD pass from Banks-Hicks, who scrambled away from significant pressure to evade what would have been his 8th sack suffered of the night, to Andrew Jones. The conversion was no good, putting the score at 21-13 with 3:56 to go in the third.

Canevin stopped Leechburg on their next drive as Banks-Hicks sacked Cook on 4th down. Canevin took over at their 20 and began a drive that stretched to the end of the quarter.

In the fourth, Canevin pushed to midfield and ran out of downs. Banks-Hicks pass to Jones on fourth down fell incomplete. Leechburg went 3 and out on their drive and punted back to Canevin with 7:30 to go. On their first play, Carter carried 21 yards to the Leechburg 42. Canevin got down to the 20, but two bad snaps over the heads of the entire backfield saw Leechburg recover the second snap on the Canevin 9. Cook hit Eli Rich on 3rd down to extend the lead to 28-13 after the PAT with 3:15 to go in the game.


After Canevin failed to move the sticks and punted, Lovelace iced the game with a ripping 63 yard TD run to extend the score to 35-13, giving Leechburg the icing on the cake.

Final Thoughts

For Leechburg, they’ve got a great running back in Lovelace and a tough D-line that was able to bring major pressure and cause Banks-Hicks fits the entire night. While they struggled against the top teams in the division, they’ve got a good chance to turn results in their remaining games, and tonight was a big step forward under a new head coach.

Keep an eye on sophomore running back Braylan Lovelace. He’s got an incredible combination of bruising power and speed. He’s got the ability to become a college football player.

Coach Randy Walters had the following to say following the victory: “We’re going one game at a time. We got a good win. I told them they didn’t quit, they stuck together and we made some plays.” He also added the next victory will be win 400 in Leechburg program history.

For Bishop Canevin, they have a quarterback with an excellent arm in Willie Banks-Hicks. The biggest issue for them offensively is their line, which left Banks-Hicks hanging or rushed far too often on the night. Canevin also committed far too many penalties on both sides of the ball and had some major snap issues while driving late. Simple mistakes hurt them this evening, as they were in the game until the final few minutes.

The silver lining for the Crusaders: They’re unbelievably young. They’ll return almost the entire roster in a growing program next year, so the freshmen and sophomores seeing significant time will only learn from these mistakes as time goes on and the program continues to add more talented players.

Watch this Canevin team in the next few years–They’re going to make noise.

Statistics

LEECHBURG

RUSHING

Lovelace 16-166-2TD
Cook     5-19

PASSING

Cook     7-15-77yd-2TD-2INT

RECEIVING

Rich     2-10-1TD
Kline   1-6
Lovelace 2-13-1TD
Burke   3-48

 

CANEVIN

 

RUSHING

Carter      23-147
Jones     1-4
Nelson      1-20
Banks-Hicks  14-(-29)-1TD

 

PASSING

Banks-Hicks  7-11-126yd-1TD

RECEIVING

Nelson       3-49
Ruffing      1-15
Lacks        1-27
Jones        1-40-1TD

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