Homecoming charges Devils to win
By JAI E. COURTER Echo Pilot

From left, Adam Ritchey takes off after catching a pass, Paul Peer makes a tackle and Stephon Walker scores a touchdown despite being in the grasp of a East Penn tackler in the Blue Devils' 28-8 victory.

Greencastle-Antrim made Homecoming 2007 a night to remember and more importantly moved to 6-1on the football season Friday night taming the East Pennsboro Panthers. After giving up an early touchdown, the Blue Devils picked things up to win 28-8.

The Devils elected to receive the opening kickoff, but fumbled the return setting up the Pantherns on the 25. After allowing the Panthers to drive to the goal line, the defense held tough to force fourth-and-inches and Matt Copenhaver came up big knocking down a pass.

The Devils couldn't do much on offense and were forced to punt deep, but Jesse Lenharr's punt hit an East Pennsboro defender and Alex Izer recovered the ball. The Devils continued to drive all the way down to the Panthers' three-yard line until they were stopped on fourth down and turned the ball over on downs.

The Panthers took over deep in their own territory. They drove right down the field and eventually broke out for a 41- yard run down the right side breaking several tackles and finding the end zone. Dustin Barry broke through the line and blocked the PAT keeping the score 6-0.

Devils mount charge When G-A got the ball back, they were forced to punt. Lenharr's kick went through the end zone giving East Penn the ball at their own 20. On the first play, Jared Smith leveled the quarterback forcing a fumble and Barry recovered and ran 20 yards for a touchdown to tie the score 6-6.

After forcing a punt, the Devils took over from their own 21. Six plays later, after a 22-yard run from Barry and a 21-yard dash from Ritchey, the Devils found themselves at the five yard line. Ritchey rolled out and found Stephon Walker in the end zone for a touchdown. Walker got the call on the two-point conversion giving G-A a 14-6 lead that lasted until halftime.

The Devils came up with a defensive stop forcing the Panthers to punt on their opening drive of the second half. They started their next drive from their own 45 with Brett Meyers in at quarterback. After a five yard scramble by Barry, Walker had a 15-yard run along with a 15-yard penalty putting the Devils on the 20 yard line. On the next play, Meyers found Ritchey on the fade route to the endzone putting the Devils up 21-6 after Christian Hoover converted the PAT.

Staying on a roll

After a few scoreless possessions, the Devils got the ball on their own 34 with 3:51 left in the third quarter. The Devils burned almost eight minutes off the clock on the drive getting eight rushes for 43 yards from Walker. Ritchey hooked up with Rusty Cordell for a touchdown with eight minutes remaining in the game to complete the 66-yard drive. Hoover's PAT was good and the Devils went up 28-6.

Ritchey had an interception on the next East Penn drive to put the Devils on their own oneyard line. Two plays later Ritchey fumbled the snap and pounced on it in the end zone giving the Panthers two points for the safety with 4:04 remaining. G-A forced a fumble on the next drive and Lenharr recovered allowing the Devils to run the clock out.

Ritchey threw for 35 yards on four completions while Meyers went 3-for-5 for 32 yards. Barry compiled 103 yards on 16 carries while Walker rushed 14 times for 69 yards. Cordell added 59 yards on eight carries and Ritchey had 42 yards on eight carries. The Devils combined for 276 yards on the ground and 343 yards of total offense.

Copenhaver led the defense with 10 tackles, and Cordell had five tackles, while Barry and Smith each had four. Izer and Barry each recovered two fumbles and Lenharr recovered another.

The Devils travel down the road to play Shippensburg (6-1, 3-0 MPC-Colonial) next Friday who sits at the head of the Mid- Penn Colonial Division with Northern.

Last week the junior varsity Devils clipped West Perry 31-14. Brett Meyers was 18-for-31 for 346 yards passing and four touchdowns. He hit six targets, including Tanner Maloy (4 catches, 98 yards, TD) and Josh Short (four catches, 81 yards) and TD passes to Tyler Coleman, Brandon Trefelner and Dylan Schaeffer. Trefelner rushed 14 times for 61 yards and a score. Defensively Todd Dewalt had eight tackles and Lance Miller recorded five and a sack.