Bishop McDevitt took on Roman Catholic for the Class 5A title in one of the most competitive high school football games in recent memory.

CLICK ON THE ABOVE PHOTO FOR WINNING FIELED GOAL VIDEO.

McDevitt, led by head coach Jeff Weachter, aimed to lead his team to their second state title in three years in quarterback Stone Saunders’ final high school game before he early-enrolls at Kentucky.

With the Crusaders leading 7-3 in the second quarter, Nazir Jones-Davis takes the handoff up the middle 5 yards into the end zone to give McDevitt an 11-point lead at the half.

In the third quarter, Saunders found Dominic Diaz-Ellis for a 30-yard score to set the career passing yards record and increase McDevitt’s lead to 21-3.

But Roman Catholic will fight back, as a fake punt led to a 48-yard touchdown, followed by a pick-six, as Saunders’ pass was tipped up into the air and returned 75 yards to the house by Louis Gaddy to take the lead 31-28 with 5:44 left to play in the fourth quarter.

McDevitt would tie it up on a 20-yard field goal with less than 3 minutes to play from Aidan Grella.

McDevitt would win the toss and elect to play defense first on the 10-yard line to start for each team. Roman catholic would stall and miss a field goal.

This allowed McDevitt’s Grella to get another chance to win the state title, and he came through, kicking the game-winning field goal in overtime to win 34-31. For the second time in three years, the Bishop McDevitt Crusaders are your PIAA 5A State Champions.

CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. — The Bishop McDevitt Crusaders were crowned the PIAA 5A football champions on Friday evening following a thrilling 34-31 overtime victory over the Roman Catholic Cahillites. From record breaking performances to a walk-off field goal, it was a season finale for the Crusaders and those who attended that won’t be forgotten any time soon.

Scoring was hard to come by early in the contest. Roman Catholic took the early 3-0 lead with a 25-yard field goal just over three minutes into the game. The game’s first touchdown did not come until the final minute of the 1st quarter when Bishop McDevitt’s Stone Saunders launched a pass to Dominic Diaz-Ellis for the 41-yard touchdown that gave the Crusaders their first lead of the game 7-3.

On the ensuing Roman Catholic drive, the Crusaders defense came up big with an interception by Diaz-Ellis, but the Crusaders failed to capitalize after an aggressive 4th down attempt that was stopped on the 9-yard line. However, the Crusaders were gifted another prime scoring opportunity when a botched Roman Catholic punt started Bishop McDevitt in the red zone. After overcoming a 2nd and 15 in the drive, from five yards out Nazir Jones-Davis punched in Bishop McDevitt’s second TD of the game and took the 14-3 lead into the halftime break.

To start the 2nd half, the Crusaders pick up where they left off with some record-breaking history added to the mix. With a 30-yard touchdown pass to Dominic Diaz-Ellis that gave Bishop McDevitt the 21-3 lead, Saunders surpassed the the Pennsylvania state record of 13,562 passing yards in a high school career.

However, the fanfare and celebrations for the dominant and record-breaking Crusaders performance so far would not last much longer as Roman Catholic made it’s comeback surge. The Cahillites scored the next two touchdowns, the first thanks to a recovered fumble in the end zone and the second off of a fake punt pass scored from 48 yards out, to cut the score to 21-17.

The two teams then started to trade punches with a back and forth affair on our hands. Crusaders stopped the bleeding with a quick response on the next drive that finished with a Saunders QB sneak from 1-yard out that made it 28-17. Roman Catholic scored next off of a 30-yard passing TD to put the game back within one score 28-24.

In a stunning turn of events, a Saunders pass was tipped, intercepted and taken to the house by Roman Catholic for the late 4th quarter pick-six that gave the Cahillites their first lead since the first quarter 31-28.
It took another record-breaking stat for Bishop McDevitt to inch their way back in the game, after Saunders completed his 177th career pass to Gage Ruth to unofficially break the state’s all-time career completions record. The beautiful toe-tapping play put the Crusaders in great field position but they ended up having to settle for the 20-yard field goal to knot the game up 31-31 with under 3 minutes in regulation.

The Crusaders defense then stepped up once again, Akeelyn Smith intercepted a pass to give the Crusaders the ball back at the Roman Catholic 46-yard line with under 2:30 and halted the potentially game-winning drive. The Crusaders were able to make it to 33-yard line to give Aiden Grella a 43-yard attempt to win the game. The kick fell short and forced the game to overtime still tied 31-31.

Bishop McDevitt won the toss and deferred giving Roman Catholic the first chance to score in the 10-yard overtime format. On the opening OT attempt, Roman Catholic were forced to kick a 30-yard field after three big stops by the Crusaders. The kick was missed and gave the walk-off chance to Bishop McDevitt. In a finish that was eerily opposite of what happened to Bishop McDevitt in their 4A semi-final game last year against Dallas, the Crusaders got their redemptive opportunity.

From 21-yards out, Grella lined up the kick and hit a ‘too-close for comfort’ low-liner through the uprights, 3 points nonetheless, to give Bishop McDevitt their second state title in three years and their third in program history. A walk-off overtime thriller for the storybooks.