Sep. 18—CAIRNBROOK, Pa. — Moments after his team secured a 42-12 victory over Bishop McCort Catholic, Chestnut Ridge coach Max Shoemaker got drenched by a bucket of water and ran through a banner honoring his 200th career triumph on the sidelines.
His Lions squad scored on their first four possessions, using a methodical and balanced offense to prevail in Friday night’s Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference contest played at Shade High School with Sargent’s Stadium at the Point, Bishop McCort’s home field, unavailable.
Friday’s victory improved Shoemaker’s overall record to 200-101-1 and 104-58 at Chestnut Ridge.
“It means you’ve been around awhile,” Shoemaker joked after the game. “I just want to thank the good Lord for blessing me with a very supportive family, including a wife (Nancy) that’s always encouraged me to continue to coach. I’d like to recognize her and the other members of my family as well. The assistant coaches down through the years that have helped me, we couldn’t have done it without working together. They deserve as much as the credit as I do.
“Finally, all the kids that have played under me play a big part. You go back almost 30 years, you have a lot of fond memories. That’s one of the things I try to instill to the kids. The memories that you create each and every game are special. They’ll last you a lifetime. You want those to be positive experiences. Hopefully, I’ve done that for a lot of kids over the years.”
Bishop McCort coach Tom Smith was quick to complement Shoemaker.
“First off, I want to congratulate Coach on his 200th win,” Smith said. “First and foremost, I think he does a really great job. I’ve been coaching against him for years. He is a really good guy. That’s a great milestone.”
Friday’s game served as Bishop McCort’s “Ovarian Cancer Awareness Night.”
Chestnut Ridge (2-2) totaled 393 offensive yards, 176 on the ground and 217 through the air.
The Lions marched 65 yards on nine plays in their first series, capped by quarterback Nate Whysong’s 6-yard touchdown run. The first of six Jack Moyer extra points made it 7-0 midway through the first quarter.
Bishop McCort (1-3) replied on its next drive. After Sunny Flemmings (106 receiving yards) caught a 66-yard pass from Trystan Fornari, Fornari scored from 1 yard out. A failed extra point made it 7-6.
Chestnut Ridge’s next series ended on Whysong’s 1-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-goal quarterback sneak. Chestnut Ridge led 14-6 after the first stanza.
“We had opportunities, we just can’t close them,” Smith said. “We had chances where we had them on third and fourth downs, they did a nice job of taking advantage of some of the areas they had us in space and were able to connect on some passes. On third and fourth down, you need to get guys off the field and force them into punting situations. We struggled doing that tonight.”
Bishop McCort faced a fourth-and-3 early in the second quarter. Fornari, also the team’s punter, rolled to his right and was stopped for no gain on a fake punt attempt.
“We gave him a little bit of an option there,” Smith said. “We thought he could have scrambled more to the outside and maybe would have had more of an opportunity to get the first down. He did the best he could to hit the sticks, it just didn’t work out.”
Chestnut Ridge capitalized on the short field. On a fourth-and-9, Whysong rolled right and hit Trevor Weyandt for a first down. The senior wasn’t satisfied as he broke multiple tackles and raced down the sideline for a 37-yard touchdown.
Whysong finished 13-for-19 with 217 yards and three passing touchdowns to go with his two rushing scores.
Weyandt (five catches for 90 yards) also caught a 13-yard touchdown pass to give Chestnut Ridge a 28-6 halftime lead.
“The kids made some outstanding plays that gave us nice momentum and resulted in some scores,” Shoemaker said. “In the second half, I thought it was a totally different team and we played much more inspired football. Our overall balance of being able to run the ball and spread the ball around helped. Nate had a nice night throwing as well.”
To begin the second half, Matt Whysong, an all-state selection in basketball and football, returned the kickoff 80 yards to paydirt.
Later in the third, Nate Whysong rolled left and hit Matt Whysong, his older brother, in stride on a corner route for a 41-yard scoring strike to give Chestnut Ridge a 42-6 lead and start the running clock.
Bishop McCort’s Johnny Golden picked off a pass in the fourth quarter. He also scored on a 34-yard run to set the eventual final at 42-12.
“We just need to focus on getting better and trying to build our football team,” Smith said. “It’s Week 5, we’ve undergone some changes early in the season coming in. We’re in Week 5, we should be through some of those waters, but we’re not yet. We’re still working through some stuff. Our kids are playing hard. They’re working hard at practice and doing the things they need to do. We just need to brush up on some of the little details. If we continue to do that, we’ll be better. There were some bright spots tonight.”
Jake Oswalt is a copy editor for The Tribune-Democrat. Follow him on Twitter @TheWizOfOz11.