HERSHEY, Pa. – Another week, another playoff game, another playoff blowout victory. That’s been the M.O. for the Lancaster Catholic Crusaders this 2008 season, and, Saturday afternoon, Mount Carmel became the latest victim to fall under the wheels of the purple and gold steamroller.
Lancaster Catholic (13-1) racked up 605 yards of offense en route to a 41-28 victory against the Red Tornadoes (13-1) at Hersheypark Stadium. It was the 9th straight week Catholic has topped the 40-point mark.
With the win, the Crusaders will take on West Catholic, a 49-21 winner over defending Eastern champion Dunmore Friday night, for the “AA” Eastern Championship next weekend at a District 12 site. Date and time will be determined later.
The game plan, according to Catholic coach Bruce Harbach, was simple.
“We wanted to establish the line of scrimmage,” the Crusaders’ boss said.
Catholic did that – and did it rather easily. The Crusaders marched right down the field on their opening possession, taking a 7-0 lead on the legs of sophomore tailback Jordan Stewart’s 10-yard run. Stewart (27 rush, 144 yards, 3 TD) ran six times on the opening drive for 45 yards.
After forcing a Red Tornado punt, Catholic then showcased its aerial attack – Smith threw two passes on the drive and completed both – the second was a 63-yard scoring strike to tight end Andrew Millay (2 rec., 64 yards), and Catholic quickly led, 14-0.
“They established what they wanted to do,” said Mount Carmel head coach Mike Brennan. “They spread us out a little bit. (Simply), we were outplayed. That’s part of football.”
The red and white responded on its next possession. Julius Demetrius (12 rush, 156 yards, 2 TD) scored on a 58-yard run to halve the margin to 14-7.
But Catholic reached into its bag of tricks, and it broke the backs of Mount Carmel right before the half. Smith (16-of-25, 323 yards, 2 TD) fired a bullet to a wide-open Tyler Purvis, who lateraled the ball to a trailing Travis Jankowski. The hook-and-ladder play covered 52 yards and gave LC a 21-7 lead at the break.
“It’s something we’ve been working on in practice,” Smith, the Crusaders’ junior hurler, said. It was the first time, Smith said, that Catholic ran the hook-and-ladder this season.
Catholic widened its margin to 28-7 when Stewart scored on a 2-yard run. Stewart would add a 10-yard run to cap the Crusader scoring in the fourth quarter. Between those two Stewart scores was a Quinn Houser (4 rush, 70 yards, TD) 41-yard dart to paydirt.
Mount Carmel made things interesting in the second half – totaling 311 yards of offense and scoring 21 points. Julius Demetrius scored his second touchdown on a 1-yard run and senior quarterback Marcus Wasilewski connected on a pair of touchdown passes.
Wasilewski, a senior, topped the 6,000-yard passing mark for his career on his 53-yard touchdown pass to Justin Pellowski. #7 completed 16 of his 34 passes for 252 yards, finishing with 6,145 yards in his career.
“Very similar type of players,” Brennan said, comparing #7 to two-time PIAA champion Dave Shinskie, who owns the MCA career passing record with 6,334 yards. “Dave had a talented supporting cast and a great arm.
“Marcus went through some tough times. He carried this team on his shoulders, something Dave never had to do. Maybe he (Marcus) didn’t have the success record-wise, but he put us on his back. He was the heart and soul of this team.”
In addition to the 323 yards, which is a new school record, Catholic ran for 282 yards on 43 carries, and ran 68 plays in the game to Mount Carmel’s 58.
“It’s a great tribute to our team,” Smith said. “It’s not just me out there.”
NOTES: Catholic won its first ever PIAA playoff game, improving to 1-1 in school history. LC lost in the 2005 quarterfinals to Montoursville, 27-21, in Shamokin. The Crusaders are also 3-0 all-time against Mount Carmel.
With the win, Catholic improved to 56-8 since the start of the 2004 season. That’s an impressive winning percentage of .875.
Both Lancaster Catholic and Mount Carmel set new school records for points scored in a season. Catholic, in 14 games, has scored 565 points, breaking the old school record of 545 set in 2005. Mount Carmel finished the season with 539 points scored, breaking the 1996 team’s 533-point output.
