Crusaders

“It started opening up on the outside,” he said. “It was there the whole game. It just took the second half to get it going.”

Kirk said he wanted his team to try to hold the Burrs to 14 points or less. Instead, Lansdale Catholic, a runheavy team, had to attempt to come from behind in the second half.

The Crusaders started a drive with 11:38 left in the fourth quarter trailing by seven points. Aided by West Catholic personal foul and encroachment penalties, Lansdale Catholic marched to the Burrs’ side of the field.

The drive ended, however, with an interception thrown by junior quarterback Peter McHugh to senior Nadir Morton-Andrews. West Catholic scored a touchdown on the ensuing 55-yard drive to take a twoscore lead with 1:48 left.

The Crusaders’ final consequential offensive play was also an interception. West Catholic junior Shakur Smalls picked off McHugh and returned it 92 yards to the end zone with 18 seconds left.

“We were just trying to score as fast as we could, trying to keep the game close,” said senior Jason Carr, who had four carries and two sacks.

“We’re a better running team than we are a passing team,” Kirk said. That’s just the way it is. And yeah, it’s not easy for us to come back quickly from being behind. So yeah, when they were up a couple of scores we had to change a little bit, but obviously that’s not our strength.”

Lansdale Catholic junior running back Danny Dutkiewicz led all rushers with 35 carries for 120 yards, and he scored the game’s first touchdown on a fourth-down play in the second quarter. The Crusaders made it a point to establish the run early.

“We always need to run before we can pass,” Dutkiewicz said. “And our linemen to block hard, they did good today. Just got to do better. Everyone has to do better.”

Lansdale Catholic missed an opportunity for a touchdown on the last play of the first quarter when junior Ty- ler Owen dropped a poten- tial touchdown after getting behind a defensive back. But the Crusaders also kept the Burrs off the board after they took over in the red zone after a muffed punt.

West Catholic won their fourth game in a row, while the Crusaders will try for their first Catholic League win on Saturday against Bonner-Prendergast. Lansdale Catholic has been outscored 83-35 in its past two games.

“This is past right now,” Kirk said. “We’ve just got to move forward and figure out a way to beat Bonner.”