Week 1 Game Preview: La Salle College Vs. Bishop McDevitt

Pennsylvania high school football is finally back for the 2021 season, and we have a great matchup with Bishop McDevitt hosting La Salle College Friday night August 27th. In a crazy 2020 season, despite going undefeated last year, Bishop McDevitt missed the playoffs. For La Salle College they also missed the playoffs, despite going 5-1 last season. They are both looking for revenge. &nbsp; Bishop McDevitt is loaded on offense and leading the way for them is freshman QB, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="154352" first="Stone" last="Saunders"]</strong>. Saunders threw 2 touchdowns in his first scrimmage as the starting quarterback. To protect Saunders’ blindside is top ’23 offensive lineman <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="27745" first="Gabriel" last="Arena"]</strong>. Loved what this kid did last season as a sophomore and exciting to see how he improved. Look for junior defensive lineman <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="140975" first="Darold" last="Dengohe"] </strong>to make some noise in the backfield. In the backfield for the Crusaders is a great 1-2 punch with top running back in the ’23 class with <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="27732" first="Marquese" last="Williams"]</strong> and also junior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="140027" first="Cyncir" last="Bowers"]</strong>. Williams had a 62-yard touchdown run in their scrimmage while Bowers added 2 more rushing touchdowns. While Williams is a definite P5 player, I believe Bowers is a Group of 5 player who could be a potential Power 5 player. La Salle College linebackers <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="27556" first="Abdul" last="Carter"]</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="99376" first="Sean" last="McFadden"]</strong>, and <strong>Chris Thompson</strong> are going to have their hands full. The Crusaders receiving core can be dangerous as well with seniors <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="27593" first="Mario" last="Easterly"]</strong> who I believe is a better safety, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="27597" first="Kamil" last="Foster"]</strong>, and junior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="140018" first="Jeffrey" last="Penn"]</strong>. Penn is a big target for Saunders, they did make a TD connection in the scrimmage. Expect more of that in this game and for the season. Senior corner <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="140885" first="Amir" last="Anderson"]</strong> is going to have a tough task ahead of him as well, no matter who he’s covering. &nbsp; La Salle College has second-ranked running back in the ’22 class, and Rutgers commit in <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="27560" first="Samuel" last="Brown"]</strong>. All eyes will be on him for Bishop McDevitt. In the 5 games Brown played last year, he carried the ball 86 times for 460 yards. In the season opener, Brown had 196 yards from scrimmage with 4 touchdowns. This season opener could be a little different with Bishop McDevitt’s defense, Brown is a big physical back who can be hard to take down. Junior linebacker <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="66047" first="Kade" last="Werner"]</strong> has his hands full. He did record 43 total tackles last season. Luckily he has help in the back end with Easterly who is a physical kid and sophomore <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="91629" first="Ty" last="Kephart"]</strong> who is a good tackler as well. This is an interesting and exciting matchup.