Harbach, Smith, Stewart wrap up Monday’s win vs. Northern Lebanon
Tidy victory for Lancaster Catholic on Monday night at Northern Lebanon:
Crusaders 59, Vikings 17 in an L-L League Section 3 game in Fredericksburg.
Catholic improved to 6-1 overall and to 4-0 in Section 3, good for sole possession of first place in the section race. Three teams – Annville-Cleona, Elco and Lampeter-Strasburg – are 3-1 and trail the Crusaders by a game in the hunt. The Crusaders can take another step closer to locking up a solo crown with a win Friday at home against rival Columbia (0-4, 0-7).
Caught up with three folks after Catholic’s win Monday: Coach Bruce Harbach, QB Kyle Smith and RB Jordan Stewart. Smith and Stewart both had big nights for the Crusaders.
You can listen to those audio Podcast interviews here …
Bruce Harbach likes where his team stands.
And Catholic’s coach loves the fact that his Crusaders have won four games in a row since a 42-12 setback against Manheim Central despite missing a handful of starters because of some nagging injuries.
Catholic has outscored its Section 3 opponents 180-37 with a couple of backup guys thrust into a starting role, which means the Crusaders could be even trickier when the regular starters come back – while giving Catholic plenty of depth at key spots.
That’s why Coach Harbach had plenty of good things to say about his team after Catholic rolled Northern Lebanon 59-17 Monday night.
We chatted about the hot start in the section race, about the injuries, but how the new starters have stepped up and stepped right in, about how the loss to Central has motivated his team to take care of business (although he’s kind of getting tired of the questions about the Barons), and where the Crusaders go from here, with the finish line in sight.
You can listen to the interview by clicking on the ‘play’ button above.
You can also download the Podcast and play it on your favorite mp3 device by clicking here.
Ankle injury?
What ankle injury?
Kyle Smith is just fine, ladies and gentleman.
Showing zero ill effects from a high ankle sprain that sidelined him for the much-ballyhooed Manheim Central game in Week 3, Smith has come back firing.
Like Monday night against Northern Lebanon, for instance.
Catholic’s senior QB lit up the Vikings’ secondary, going 12-for-18 for 263 yards and five TD passes – giving him 21 TD tosses this season, tops in the L-L League.
Smith also moved up a couple of rungs on the state’s all-time passing yardage and TD pass list. He’s now 10th in career passing yards and 4th in career TD passes – and he’ll continue his assault at those records Friday, when Catholic hosts Columbia.
Against Northern Lebanon, Smith was very sharp. Despite a couple of first-half sacks, he displayed good pocket presence by biding his time and picking out open receiver after open receiver.
Three of TD tosses went to Tyler Purvis, one to Rhys McCall and one to Andrew Millay.
Smith met the media after the game, and we discussed the passing marks, the victory over Northern Lebanon, his injury, and where Catholic goes from here.
You can listen to the interview by clicking on the ‘play’ button above.
You can also download the Podcast and play it on your favorite mp3 device by clicking here.
Talk about making up for lost time.
After missing the first two games this season, Jordan Stewart has been monstrous the last several weeks, including Monday night, when he ran wild in Catholic’s 59-17 win at Northern Lebanon.
Check out this line:
In 17 carries, Stewart rushed for 179 yards – 10.5 per carry – and scored on TD runs of 5 and 12 yards, respectively, for the Crusaders, who improved to 4-0 in the Section 3 standings after piling up 428 total yards against the Vikings.
In five games, Stewart has piled up 763 yards on 96 carries – a fine 7.9 yards per pop – and he’s scored nine TD for Catholic, which is picking up some major steam with just three games to go in the regular season.
Stewart has been a big reason for that. With the junior RB gouging out yards on the ground, teams haven’t been able to key on Kyle Smith and Catholic’s vaunted passing attack.
With defenses guessing, Stewart has taken advantage – like Monday, when Northern Lebanon (like everyone else lately) didn’t have much luck bringing him down before he gained some serious real estate.
Stewart met with the media after Monday’s game at Northern Lebanon, and we chatted about his big night and Catholic’s rushing attack, about Kyle Smith and what he means to the Crusaders’ offense, and about how Catholic will approach the final three weeks of the regular season.
You can listen to the interview by clicking on the ‘play’ button above.
You can also download the Podcast and listen to it on your favorite mp3 player by clicking here.
