Harrisburg wins city brawl in thrilling OT shootout

Tagged under: District 3, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

Billy Splain | August 31, 2024

It was the game everybody was waiting to see for a long long time. Battle for the Burg, Battle for the city, you name it whatever you want, but today’s game started slow and turned into a battle for the ages. Like two heavyweight boxers, Harrisburg and Bishop McDevitt danced around and didn’t land many punches for the first 20 minutes of the game. But when they started throwing hard, the blows came fast and furious until, in the end, McDevitt just missed it’s last punch and the Cougars left Rocco Ortenzio Stadium with the City Game Trophy and a 35-33 overtime win.

“Our guys fought, I’m extremely proud of them. That was the message all week long. We just have to fight” said Cougar head coach Cal Everett. “We knew we’d have to make those guys fight for four quarters but we didn’t just make them fight for four, we made them fight for five”.

McDevitt landed an early blow when Aidan Grella put a kick through the uprights on the Crusaders first drive of the afternoon with 6:53 left in the first quarter. Then, the ring went silent. Back and forth they went, trading possessions, neither team getting particularly close to the others endzone. Then with about 5 minutes left to play in the first half, the football Gods sent down a burst of energy that would last the rest of the game.

Brand new quarterback Jaiyon Lewis started to get his legs under him and that allowed for some great passing. Lewis hit Elias Coke for a 13 yard pop, then Nehemiah Ewell ripped off a 20 yard run. Cap that with a nice 40 yard reception by Coke to the one and a one yard plunge by Newell to put the Cougars up 6-3.

McDevitt responded with a 63 yard scoring drive of their own. With Kentucky commit Stone Saunders held pretty much ineffective, the Crusaders turned to the run game. Maurice Barnes and Nazir Jones-Davis took turns carrying the rock, getting McDevitt to the Harrisburg one yard line where Saunders finally got a td pass that was caught by Dominic Diaz-Ellis with time expired in the first half. That 13-6 lead wasn’t safe. No, not at all.

Ish Palmer returned the second half kickoff 80 yards to the 3 yard line. Barnes crossed the goal line on the next play to give the Crusaders a 17-6 lead.

Ish Palmer returns the second half kickoff to the 3 yard line and Maurice Barnes puts it in the end zone a play later for a 17-6 @McD_Football_ lead over @HBGCougar_FBall 3Q 11:42 @PaFootballNews @CoachWeachter pic.twitter.com/R9zD5DHEtJ

— CC Hastings (@CCHastings1863) August 31, 2024

Then after Grella delivered a touchback, the Cougars delivered a right cross. Jaiyon Lewis took the very next snap and:

80 yards to paydirt for QB Lewis for the second TD of the second half in just 32 seconds. @McD_Football_ leads 17-13 over @HBGCougar_FBall in what is shaping up to be a dandy finish at Rocco Ortenzio Field @PaFootballNews @hbgcougarcoach pic.twitter.com/WU32C8YbHi

— CC Hastings (@CCHastings1863) August 31, 2024

This seemed to excite the Cougar defense and they forced a Crusader punt. I don’t normally do this but:

80 yards to paydirt for QB Lewis for the second TD of the second half in just 32 seconds. @McD_Football_ leads 17-13 over @HBGCougar_FBall in what is shaping up to be a dandy finish at Rocco Ortenzio Field @PaFootballNews @hbgcougarcoach pic.twitter.com/WU32C8YbHi

— CC Hastings (@CCHastings1863) August 31, 2024

Like I said, the football Gods sent a burst, more like a bolt of lightening. McDevitt, new to the Commonwealth Conference this year, once again move the ball near the goal line. This was a short drive that started on their 48 after the Cougars delivered a short kick. Grella delivered his second field goal, a 38 yard kick, to put the Crusaders back on top with 5:00 left in the third quarter. they extended their lead on another short field drive. Saunders found big tight end Liam Fuller for a td with 11:22 remaining.

4 yard Td pass from @Stone_Saunders8 to Liam Fuller makes it 27-19 @McD_Football_ 11:22 fourth pic.twitter.com/SqPGYqz7Nl

— Pennsylvania Football News (@PaFootballNews) August 31, 2024

Trailing by eight, 27-19, the Cougars never gave up. “It was a sacrifice by me to play qb this week. Last week I was a wide receiver and a little qb when our first guy got injured. We just kept our heads up” said Lewis of his first start behind center. “At the end of the day I got to play it, and coach was like yeah you do. We knew some guys weren’t going to play so we all had to step up. Coach Cal, he didn’t say much today. He did all his talking yesterday. He said when they throw punches, we punch back”. The Cougars nearly made it to the endzone on a pass from Lewis to Coke, but he fumbled the ball at the 10 and McDevitt recovered. It didn’t matter. The Cougars were feeling the momentum and forced another punt. Sixty two yards later Lewis found his way into the endzone from four yards out and was facing a situation that would make most new quarterbacks sweat bullets. The two point play to tie the game with 1:16 remaining. He did just that, finding the goal line to send this game into overtime.

Qb Lewis scrambles for a 3 yard TD to make it 27-25 @McD_Football_ . 2 pt is good for @HBGCougar_FBall to even the score at 27-27. 4Q with 1:16 remaining. @PaFootballNews pic.twitter.com/BnwbBbHNDO

— CC Hastings (@CCHastings1863) August 31, 2024

McDevitt had one more chance but a 52 yard field goal attempt by Grella just missed by inches. The Cougars got the first shot and scored after a holding call. Then Lewis hit Mekhi Jackson for the two. On McDevitt’s possession, Saunder hit Gage Lewis for the Crusader td, but the two point pass was just out of the reach of Jontai Quick.