Saturday Night Lights
Bishop McDevitt vs. Central Dauphin
By Bob W.
Well I took advantage of having no Maryland football to watch this past weekend and made a quick road trip up 83 back to the ancestral homeland that is central Pennsylvania. Much like Western Maryland, Central PA LOVES High School football. It was quite a bit of culture shock for a kid who grew up in Cecil County where soccer is king (I tried to keep a straight face typing that, but I just couldn’t do it), and I knew I was in for a treat when my grandfather told me that he went to pick up the tickets on Wednesday! Unfortunately the rain (and boy did it rain) kept many of the faithful away. In fact the 50/50 drawing that gave away $400+ the week before, was a measly $73 this particular day. But nothing was going to stop my Aunt, cousin, and me from watching future Terp Jeremy Ricker run the show for McDevitt. My grandfather on the other hand once again proved a direct correlation between age and wisdom, and opted to stay home and just watch the game on TV, again televised HS Football just baffles my mind.
Well the attraction of the day was just not Jeremy Ricker, but another Maryland Commit Offensive Lineman Tucker Baumbach, unfortunately for Tucker, it was raining so hard that I didn’t bother getting a program, so I had no idea what number he was. Sadly they just don’t say the O’lines names that much after a play. However, I do know he was one of 3 300 pounders for McDevitt and quite frankly I would have taken any of those guys.
Anyway on to the game, McDevitt got the ball to start the first half and I was skeptical how much of a read I could get on Ricker in the 45 degree pounding rain. The first play was a run up the middle. It wasn’t a fancy play but it still showed that this could possibly be a one sided affair rather quickly. The next play was a fake hand off with Ricker keeping it and rolling to his right. He fired one down the field into quadruple coverage and his receiver got drilled (and hurt) on the play. Not a good start. In fact of the 5 people waiting on the ball, the McDevitt guy was probably the third or fourth most likely to get it. Fortunately it fell harmlessly to the ground. The drive continued on another vanilla draw play. Ricker than DRILLED a WR down the line in full stride for a 40 yard gain. The drive ended on a draw up the middle for 6 and it was quickly 7-0 McDevitt. That pretty much describes how the rest of the game went.
I won’t bore you with the full recap of a High School game that ended 42-0, but I will point out a few highlights and stats:
- Ricker scored on a bootleg, not unlike the play Scott McBrien used to run with such efficency. It was from 18 yards out and he finished it by going vertical over top of a CD player who was a little late and a dollar short.
- Ricker’s second TD of the game came on a shovel pass (Ahh remember the Duffner days) that went for about 15 yards up the middle.
- Ricker also had, not 1, not 2, but 3 TD passes called back due to various reasons.
- Another impressive stat was that Ricker had 3 punts (he also punts) land inside the 10. One landed at the 1, one at the 5, and one at the 9. Not one of his punts went into the end zone for a Touchback.
- On down note Ricker also threw for 3 Interceptions. Fortunately they were all on throws that were well down field.
Overall Ricker Finished with one TD pass, one rushing TD, 3 INT’s and 3 would be TD’s that got called back. A scout once said “When I go to a HS game I take my wife. After watching the first quarter I ask her who I am there to see, if she hasn’t figured it out by then, we get up and leave.”. I would say Ricker passed that test. I am no High School Football junkie, but I have never seen a HS kid throw as hard as Ricker does. He’ll throw 30 yards down field and the ball will be there in like 2 seconds. Every deep pass that he connected on he hit his man in full stride. He also showed good mobility inside and outside of the pocket. The major knock on him I would say is his decision making. All three of his INT’s were deep throws that should have just been chucked out of bounds. But can you blame a guy who is that dominate for thinking he can do anything? Especially in game that was quickly out of hand. The weather was also terrible for passing and had it been dry, Ricker would have picked apart the CD defense rather easily. Overall I was very impressed with him, and after working with Freidgen and his staff, I think he will be a great Maryland Quarterback, but it won’t be for 3 more years.
On another side note, LeSean McCoy (The #1 RB Prospect in the Nation) was on the sidelines with crutches. Instead of wearing the blue and gold of McDevitt, he was wearing red and black! Allegedly both he and Ricker are tight, but unfortunately I don’t think that tight.