Times Chronicle & Public Spirit

Ic romps over Mcdevitt

- By Christiaan Defranco

Two yards. That’s how many yards of offense Bishop McDevitt had against iansdale Catholic on Friday night.

Two yards, one first down, eight punts and seven threeand-outs.

“They beat us in every phase of the game and we couldn’t respond,” iancers coach Pat Manzi said. “Give them credit.”

Kevin Sabo rushed for 105 yards and three touchdowns as iC blasted McDevitt, 350, in front of a rabid crowd at Wissahicko­n High in the teams’ Philadelph­ia Catholic ieague opener.

This is the first time since 2007 that iansdale Catholic has started a season 4-0.

“Our kids played really well,” iC coach Tom Kirk said. “And this being our first league game, it really meant a lot.”

The Royal iancers didn’t make a first down until the start of the third quarter, when quarterbac­k Christian Connor hit Chris Bloomfield for a 16-yard completion down the sideline. That gain was nearly wiped out on the next play, when Sabo sacked Connor for an 11-yard loss.

The only other possession­s that weren’t three-andout for McDevitt were a pair of turnovers and when the clock ran out at the end of each half.

The Crusaders’ defensive front generated pressure on McDevitt quarterbac­k Christian Connor all night while the iancers fumbled nine snaps.

“That quarterbac­k can really throw the ball … so we knew we couldn’t let him just sit back there in the pocket,” Kirk said. “It was a great game plan by our defensive coordinato­r, John McFadden, and our kids did a great job executing it. We got pressure from our D-line and from our linebacker­s.

“It’s tough to play offense when you have guys coming at you from all over the place.”

As for iC’s offense, it set the tone early.

Sabo’s first touchdown came from a yard out on iansdale Catholic’s opening drive, which was a 12-play march that ate up half of the first quarter. He followed it up in the second period with a 32-yard scoring run, bobbing in and out of traffic before bursting free as the iC crowd roared.

“I just need to thank my O-line for every single run I had,” Sabo said. “Our defense played great, and we played as a team allaround.”

With 11 seconds remaining before halftime, Crusaders quarterbac­k Pat Duggan attempted a 55-yard field goal. He put some boom into it, but tumbled to the ground short of the end zone.

A bright spot for McDevitt was the play of linebacker Aaron Mitchell, who recorded a pair of sacks and was in on several tackles.

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