Members of the PennLive prep football coverage team gathered Tuesday night inside PA Media Group headquarters to discuss the District 3 programs still surging in postseason play. Here are some unfiltered excerpts from those discussions.
Topic: Bishop McDevitt Crusaders
Time: 8:45 p.m.
Location: Ray Gover conference room
Roll call: Eric F. Epler, Andrew P. Shay, Mike Bullock, Jeff Reinhart, John Tuscano
Epler: Call it arrogance or a sense of entitlement, but you can place a positive spin on both when talking about a football team. Let's face it, the Crusaders have been the neighborhood bully in District 3-AAA since sliding down in 2010. They can grab a fourth straight title this week. Still, I actually believe that week 9 loss to Cedar Cliff helped make them a more complete football team.
I know a lot of coaches don't subscribe to the “good loss” theory, and I don't know if Jeff Weachter is one of those guys or not. But, for a program that was running white-hot through a very challenging Keystone Division, getting stopped in their tracks by a gritty team like the Colts sort of humbled this bunch, in my opinion. I think it forced each standout, and there are plenty, to work that much harder for the good of the team. We haven't always seen that selfless behavior at McD. It's something to be remembered no matter when this season ends.
Shay: Honestly, if you asked me 16 weeks ago to choose my fancy in regards to the Crusaders I would have jumped on the War Eagle defense bandwagon without hesitation. Watching the McDevitt offense blossom over the last four months has me shaking my head at times. All those weapons on a high school football field together is borderline ridiculous. The run game has been powerful since the opening whistle, and the pass offense has evolved into a big-play field of dreams. The depth is almost unfair.
For all the flash, what I like the most about this team is just how relentless and fearless the boys up front on both sides of the ball operate. Each group is so comfortable in their own skin, it almost gets lost how important this component is for this particular squad.
From the beginning I’ve said this team was built to win championships at various levels. In Pennsylvania you can’t throw the ball over the lot and win in late November and December. This team leans on the run and has a defense to back up the fireworks on offense. I’m not sure how you stop this crew for 48 minutes.
Reinhart: Full disclosure: I haven’t seen Bishop McDevitt since August, when the Crusaders pushed around Lancaster Catholic in the season’s first scrimmage game. Yeah, it was a scrimmage, but McD was in mid-season form.
I was mighty impressed then, and sans a 49-41 setback to Cedar Cliff on Oct. 25, McD pretty much dominated all-comers.
This is one ridiculously hot offense — a group averaging 418 yards and 43 points a game going up against a stingy Manheim Central defense that is yielding just 215 yards and 9 points per game.
Something has to give there.
With this much firepower — QB Nick Marsilio, RB Andre Robinson, RB Rashad Lawson and WR Kobay White are household names across the midstate — would you bet against McD?
SHAY ON TWITTER: @APShay
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