It doesn’t take much to turn the tide of a 12-game football season. That’s one thing the Archbishop Carroll football team has proven in 2024.
Following their 30-14 loss to Lansdale Catholic, the Patriots are once again stuck. Just as it seemed the fortunes of the club were turning for the better, they weren’t. The Pats took down one of the PCLs best in Neumann-Goretti just last week: 31-30 in OT. It seemed as though they might just be ready to turn things around after a lackluster 1-5 start to the season.
“We didn’t put in the preparation this week,” said head coach Kyle Detweiler. “I don’t know if they were thinking differently about how they prepared because of the win last week and they were riding that high or they felt like they could be a different team where they didn’t have to prepare to a lesser extent. Friday night is the product of the days leading up to it.”
Coming off their upset win over Neumann, the Patriots were looking to turn their season around. With the win over the Saints, the Pats came one step closer to securing a state playoff berth. As with a win over Conwell-Egan this coming Saturday, the team can work towards a spot in the District 12 playoffs. That being said, a win over a mediocre Lansdale club would prove a huge boost between two pivotal games, not to mention it being another Catholic League win at that.
Entering the night, however, the team knew things weren’t going to be easy. Detweiler’s club hadn’t picked up a win against Lansdale since the head coach’s first season all the way back in 2018. Since then, Detweiler had compiled a 1-4 mark against the Crusaders, making for a 2-8 all time record between the two Catholic League sides.
Though the Crusaders have had the Patriots number in the past, it didn’t feel like it for the majority of the first quarter, especially after the Carroll defense worked a big stop on their first drive of the game, which was followed up by an incredible touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Jay Boyd to freshman wideout Jayden Walters. That made it a 6-0 game after the missed PAT.
On the next drive the Patriots defense fell flat, after allowing LC to drive down field with big gains in the air and on the ground. The Crusaders capped it all off with a 31-yard touchdown run from junior running back Nick O’Brien, which was added onto by the two-point conversion that gave Lansdale an 8-6 lead.
Time and time again both offenses worked good drives down the field but struggled to get the ball into the end zone as the defenses reigned supreme. That was until LC finally broke through again for their second score of the day, a five-yard rush that made the score 14-6 heading into the half.
“As our d-line plays better, our LBs will get better opportunities,” said Detweiler. “Everything helps us on the back end. It’s a lot of the things we talk about all the time. They had a dangerous dual threat quarterback, like we saw last week. We just didn’t pull out the stops like we did last week.”
Similarly to last week’s win, the Pats struggled in the first half on both sides of the football, though a strong rally in the second half was not in the cards again as things only seemed to get worse for Carroll as the third period began.
On their opening drive of the second half, Yeboa Cobbold completed an 11-yard touchdown to Braeden Smith for the score to make it 22-6 Crusaders midway through the third period.
The Carroll offense, no matter how much help it received, could not make anything work. It took a fumble recovery from sophomore defensive back Cole Tancredi that was run in for a touchdown to get Carroll within one score at 22-14.
Yet again, after a few nice runs from senior running back Aaron Barnes, the Patriots created trouble for themselves. After consecutive penalties, the Patriots faced a 1st and 35 from their own 45-yard line. The snap was shot over Boyd’s head for the sixth time on the day and recovered by Lansdale Catholic for the touchdown, making it 30-14 after the conversion.
Following the Lansdale score, LC ran the clock out on and secured the win.
“We just got to stay focused this week,” said Boyd. “We have to get on people’s butts, no playing anymore – none of that. We’re going to hold people accountable and if we do, we will make the playoffs.”
With the loss the Pats fall to 2-6 on the season and 1-3 in the PCL. They’ll look ahead to next Saturday’s homecoming game against Conwell-Egan at Bishop Shanahan High School for a 12:00pm kickoff.
