With the top high school stars of Maryland and Pennsylvania face off in the Big 33 classic, it was only a matter of time before premier regular season matchups would follow between the states. Nationally ranked Dematha Catholic from Hyattsville, MD made the trek north Friday night to the home field of one of the perennial powerhouses Bishop McDevitt in Harrisburg PA. Loaded with D1 talent and ranked #5 by USA Today, the Stags were put to the test by the Crusaders. In the end, Dematha prevailed 35-7 over Bishop McDevitt in a hard fought, entertaining contest.
Leading the way for Dematha Catholic were QB Beau English and RB Myles Miree. English’s two first quarter TD passes got the Stags off to a hot start. Miree had TD runs of 29 and 6 yards. Miles also led Dematha in rushing with 106 yards.
Dematha Head Coach Elijah Brooks praised his teams defensive effort, ”Our defense made them fight for every yard. They came up with some crucial stops and crucial turnovers and those guys did a great job.” McDevitt Head Coach Jeff Weachter was proud of the effort his Crusaders showed, “Give them credit! They made plays when they had to and we didn’t. Our kids fought hard and we got better.”
29 yd TD by Myles Miree. @DeMathaFootball now up 21 -7 @HailToTheeMcD @HSPNSports @EPAFootball @AndyBrackets pic.twitter.com/V4xnIAHHPN
— Bruce Badgley (@BadgleyBruce) September 10, 2016
Dematha got off to a fast start in quarter one. After a three and out by McDevitt, the Stags got on the board first. On fourth down, a 29 yard TD pass from English to Jermaine Johnson got things going for Dematha. Following another Crusader punt, the Stags moved the ball down the field again. Another fourth down pass hit pay dirt for Dematha. Dominic Logan-Nealy made a nice 26-yard grab for the score. At the three minute mark of quarter one, the Stags were out to a 14-0 lead.
This is where McDevitt dug in and held their own with the heavily favored Stags.
Thanks to poor Dematha punts, and a tough Crusader defense, most of the second quarter was played in the Dematha end of the field. The Dematha D showed some tenacity to keep the McDevitt offense totally bottled up. The second quarter was scoreless and the game went to the half with Dematha holding only a 14-0 advantage.
Dematha took the second half kick. An interception on the opening drive by McDevitt’s Aaron Gethers gave the ball to the Crusaders in the Dematha end. A short, tough drive ended with QB Tayvon Bowers powering into the end zone on a fourth down play. A surprised Dematha squad was now up only 14-7 early in the second half. The Crusader TD seemed to wake the Stags into a frenzy.
After getting the kickoff, Dematha went the length of the field in only six plays to move the lead back out to 21-7. The crusaders answered with another grind it out drive. Deep in Dematha territory, the Stags D held on a crucial fourth down. Despite the setback there was no quit in McDevitt. After a defensive stop, they marched right back down the field. Once again the Dematha D made another big play. Under heavy pressure, Crusader QB Bowers’ pass was picked inside the five-yard line. Dematha took over and sealed the game with a 98-yard methodical drive. Miree’s second TD at the 6:26 mark of quarter four made it 28-7 Dematha. Dematha tacked on a late TD by the second team offense to make the final 35-7.
Clearly Dematha is a deep and talented team, worthy of it’s national ranking. But give enormous credit to the young and undermanned Bishop McDevitt squad. The Crusaders put up a great effort that left the outcome of this game in doubt until late in the fourth quarter.
