HARRISBURG, Pa. – It’s rare for Cedar Cliff head coach Jim Cantafio to turn down an interview request.
But, sitting on the visitor’s bench behind Bishop McDevitt High School Saturday afternoon, the veteran taskmaster politely declined comment postgame.
After what happened in the two-plus hours that preceded the polite declination, one would understand exactly why the 220-game winner kept mum.
Bishop McDevitt’s (4-2) defense held Cedar Cliff (4-2) to minus-78 rushing yards at one juncture in the fourth quarter and Jameel Poteat ground out four rushing touchdowns in a 39-7 victory Saturday afternoon in Harrisburg.
McDevitt’s effort was rather workmanlike, as the golden domers stuck to mostly pro-I sets for much of the game, and Bowling Green commit Matt Johnson only attempted 13 passes the entire game.
“The only game we ran the ball consistently was against Cumberland Valley (a 35-21 victory),” said Crusaders’ boss Jeff Weachter. “And last week, we threw the heck out of the ball.”
No matter what defensive set Cedar Cliff employed – the 3-3-5 stack, four man fronts or nine man boxes, the Crusaders simply ran over, through, and around it. In all, the blue and gold churned out 260 yards of terra firma.
“We saw some things in their stack and thought we could exploit it,” Weachter said.
The Crusaders (and Poteat) wasted little time in flexing their muscles this day. After forcing a three-and-out on the Colts’ opening possession, McDevitt ground out a 13-play, 67-yard, 6:23 drive. Poteat registered 10 of the carries, including a 3-yard scoring run.
McDevitt pushed its 9-0 when junior LB Tariq Spence sacked Colt field general Tim Kelly in the end zone. To that point, McDevitt had sacked CC quarterbacks twice – and it was only bound to get worse for the blue and white.
In all, Cedar Cliff finished with minus-18 rushing yards on 28 carries, including 16 plays of negative rushing yards. With 4:15 left in the game, McDevitt had outgained the Colts 260 to minus-78 on the ground.
Cedar Cliff’s lone score sliced the Crusader lead to 9-7, when Tyler Orris hit Adam Breneman on as 14-yard pass.
But a 6-yard Poteat scoring run and a 27-yard field goal by Connor Maloney extended McDevitt’s lead to 18-7 at intermission, and Poteat runs of 5 and 4 yards put the game out of reach at 32-7 with 7:04 left in the fourth quarter.
“I’m very excited about today,” Poteat said. #10 had every reason to be excited – he finished with 200 yards on 33 carries, giving him 3,853 yards for his career.
“This year is a little different – we have a young team,” Poteat continued. “Losing early in the beginning of the season was the best thing that could have happened to us, because it woke us up.”
Darnell Holland capped the Crusader fourth quarter scoring binge with a 57-yard run.
Johnson finished with 150 passing yards on only seven completions and sophomore receiver Brian Lemelle snared three passes for 97 yards.
McDevitt, despite finishing with 410 yards of offense, committed 14 penalties for 132 yards.
Orris paced the Colts’ passing game with 82 yards and the touchdown on a 7-of-13 day. Kelly finished 3-of-8 for 32 yards. In mop-up time, T’quan Strickland finished with a team-best 42 yards on six carries.
