Pine-Richland Hampered by Penalties, Turnovers in Loss to Bishop McDevitt

ALTOONA, Pa. — An uncharacteristic performance on the gridiron led to the elimination of Pine-Richland from the PIAA playoffs on Friday night.

The Rams were called for 15 total penalties, 11 of which were accepted, and committed three second half turnovers in a 28-14 loss to Bishop McDevitt in the Class 5A semifinals at Mansion Park Stadium in Altoona.

“When you’re getting deep behind the sticks with first, second and 20-plus, it made it very tough for us,” Pine-Richland coach Jon LeDonne said. “Especially tonight when our offense really wasn’t clicking. When you get in that type of hole, it’s hard to overcome.”

Pine Richland’s 11 penalties racked up 95 total yards, along with two of the flags negating a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter.

With the Rams trailing 21-0 early in the frame, a 21-yard touchdown pass from Aaron Strader to Tyler Hays was nullified due to a holding call. Pine-Richland then fumbled on fourth down.

Another hold brought back Jay Timmons’ 55-yard score before the Rams again lost the ball on fourth down via a fumble.

“It’s tough for sure, especially in a game like this when points are going to be at a premium,” LeDonne said. “That’s touchdowns each in a different series with points we didn’t get.”

Bishop McDevitt’s Landon Blauch intercepted a screen pass on Pine-Richland’s next possession.

The Crusaders capitalized with a 68-yard touchdown pass from Stone Saunders to Jontai Quick, putting Bishop McDevitt ahead 28-7 with 9:43 left in the game.

“We tried to match personnel with personnel on defense,” Bishop McDevitt coach Jeff Weachter said. “When they came out in a heavy set we were in our base, then we switched to nickel and dime packages depending on their sets and downs and distance. We saved our big safety looks for the playoffs.”

The Pine-Richland defense did its best to contain Saunders, a Kentucky commit who will go down as one of the most prolific passers in Pennsylvania high school football history at the end of his career.

Saunders’ first touchdown pass of the game in the second quarter was the 200th of his career, extending his state record.

The 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior finished 5-for-13 for 133 yards and three scores. Saunders needs 15 pass completions and 131 yards in next week’s championship game to break the all-time records in each category for Pennsylvania.

“We knew what Stone was capable of doing,” LeDonne said. “We wanted to take the quarterback and the deep threat away, and we did that for the majority of the game, but their running back really hurt us, too. We got hats to the ball; we just couldn’t get him down.”

When the Crusaders were unable to move the ball through the air, they turned to running back Nazir Jones-Davis, who finished with 29 carries for 222 yards and a touchdown.

“They play to take away the pass and give you a light box,” Weachter said. “We said all week that if they were going to give us that light box, it’s going to be hard to throw, and we were going to have to run the football. We found some things we liked in the running game and were able to get some big plays from it.”

Bishop McDevitt (13-2) will face District 12 champion Roman Catholic, a 41-17 winner over West Chester Rustin, in the state title game at Cumberland Valley High School’s Chapman Field at 7 p.m. next Friday.

Strader finished with 197 passing yards and two scores for the Rams.

Timmons hauled in seven passes for 70 yards and a touchdown while also rushing for 70 yards. Dajuan Webb also caught a touchdown pass for Pine-Richland, which closed an 11-2 season.

“They were fast and physical, and they really hit our linemen in the face,” LeDonne said. “They’ve got players on all levels on both sides of the ball. They’re going to the state championship for a reason. We’ll watch this game and hopefully get some corrections for the younger guys.”