Lancaster Catholic opens with win over York Catholic

Lancaster Catholic opened with a 22-14 nonleague victory over York Catholic on Friday night in Lancaster.

Crusaders senior Jaevon Parker returned the opening kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown and the game’s initial score.

The Crusaders (1-0) later closed the first half with an 89-yard blocked field goal return for a touchdown by Kellan Murphy to extend its lead to 22-0 at halftime. The Irish (0-1) responded with two touchdown runs from quarterback Levan McFadden (126 yards passing, 112 yards rushing) in the second half to narrow the deficit.

York Catholic took over at its own 35-yard line with 2:15 remaining and drove to the Crusaders’ six with under a minute to play. But the Irish failed to connect on a pair of passes to the end zone, turning the ball over on downs.

Turning point

Two critical second-half drives by the Crusaders’ offense may not have led to points, but they kept the clock ticking and gave a tiring defense a rest. Backed up on its own two-yard line, the Crusaders ran 10 straight plays to get the ball to midfield. Later, after McFadden’s second touchdown run narrowed York’s Catholic’s deficit to eight with 7:25 to play, the Crusaders ran nine straight plays for 45 yards to help pin the Irish back.

Stars of the game

In the first half, Lancaster Catholic’s defensive line harassed McFadden to the tune of multiple incompletions, a sack and a handful of negative rushing yards. In the second half, the offensive line paved the way for backs Terrell Crawley (20-68) and Christian Fields (7-35) to keep the chains moving.

Key statistic

Lancaster Catholic quarterback Will Cranford finished the contest 14-for-23 with a pair of 2-point conversion passes and an eight-yard touchdown pass to RJ Gonzalez.

Quotable

“This is huge for us starting off the season on the right note,” Lancaster Catholic coach Chris Maiorino said. “Just proud of our guys for just kind of plugging and fighting through cramps and injuries. Just early season football, that’s the way it is.”

Up next

The Crusaders travel to McSherrystown for a Thursday night matchup with Delone Catholic.