Bishop Shanahan rolls past D-West on Senior Night
Downingtown >> Bishop Shanahan celebrated its Senior Night with a resounding 41-14 win against Downingtown West Friday evening, and a number of seniors shone brightly for the home crowd.
Shanahan senior Andrew Smyth stepped up at quarterback, throwing for 217 yards and three touchdown passes, two of them to senior co-captain Tom Waite.
Senior co-captain Dan DiBeneditto caught the other TD pass, and scored twice on tough inside running plays.
“This was a great win for the seniors, we beat a well-coached team in Downingtown West,” said Shanahan head coach Paul Meyers, whose squad improved to 6-2.
Shanahan opened the game with a 10-play, 70-yard drive for a touchdown. Smyth, who ran for 71 yards in the first half, made several key gains on the ground, including a crucial 6-yard pickup on 4th-and-2 at the Downingtown 41 yard line.
Midway through the second quarter, a well-protected Smyth tossed a 37-yard touchdown pass to Waite on 4th-and-10.
“Our offensive line gave me a ton of time tonight,” said Smyth. “And when I had to run with the ball, the holes they opened up were huge.”
Meyers said, “I think we won the game up front tonight – I think the whole offensive line did a great job.”
Four seniors manned the offensive trenches for the Eagles Friday evening – tackles Kevin Jones and Mac Barry, guard Dan McGinn and center Mike Robinson. They were joined by junior guard Ian Wybranski. Barry and Robinson (along with DiBeneditto and Waite) are the Eagles’ four co-captains.
Three minutes into the third quarter, with the game tied at 14-14, the Eagles went ahead for good with a 54-yard touchdown pass from Smyth to DiBeneditto. The senior receiver had to reach out in full stride to make the tough catch, juggled the ball for a second or two, then gathered it in and raced into the end zone for the score.
“That was a fantastic catch,” said Smyth.
Late in the third quarter, Waite leaped high in the back right corner of the end zone to snare a 13-yard touchdown pass from Smyth to make it 28-14 in favor of the home team.
Shanahan chewed up the clock with a long drive in the fourth quarter, capped by a 6-yard touchdown run inside by DiBeneditto, who broke several tackles to reach paydirt.
“[DiBeneditto] did a great job for us tonight, at running back, receiver and at safety,” said Meyers. “He’s a quality kid, has a lot of character.”
Two plays later, senior middle linebacker Liam Dearing, who had been making a number of key tackles Friday evening, intercepted a Downingtown West pass at the Whippet 38 yard line and ran it all the way down to the visitors’ 2. Di Beneditto ran it in for his third touchdown of the night to make it 41-14.
For Downingtown West, both touchdowns were scored on long runs by talented, sizable (6-5, 205) sophomore quarterback Will Howard, who threw for 262 yards against Downingtown East the week before.
Howard’s first touchdown run Friday evening was for 64 yards in the first quarter, and his second TD jaunt was for 25 yards at the beginning of the third quarter, a play that briefly tied the score at 14-14.
It was the third loss in a row for the Whippets (3-5). Prior to the three-game skid, Downingtown West defeated Great Valley, 52-7.
“We’ve been a mystery team – we play one good game, then we have a bad one,” said Downingtown West head coach Mike Milano. “But give all the credit to Shanahan tonight – they thumped us.”
Bishop Shanahan 41, Downingtown West 14
Downingtown West 7 0 7 0-14
Bishop Shanahan 7 7 14 13-41
First Quarter
BS-Smyth 1 run (Bailey kick)
DW-Howard 64 run (Molchulski kick)
Second Quarter
BS-Waite 37 pass from Smyth (Bailey kick)
Third Quarter
DW-Howard 25 run (Molchuski kick)
BS-DiBeneditto 54 pass from Smyth (Bailey kick)
BS-Waite 13 pass from Smyth (Bailey kick)
Fourth Quarter
BS-DiBeneditto 6 run (kick failed)
BS-DiBeneditto 5 run (Bailey kick)
Team Totals
DW BS
First downs 7 17
Yards rushing 18-144 49-261
Yards passing 119 217
Total yards 263 478
Passing 12-26-1 10-13-0
Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-1
Punts-avg. 3-43.0 1-34.0
Penalties-yds 4-42 3-22
Individual Statistics
Rushing: D-West: Landis 3-7, Willenbrock 2-6, Simmons 1-3, Howard 6-107, 2 TD, Ciliberto 5-21, Richard 1-0. Shanahan: Smyth 23-104, TD, DeBeneditto 6-21, 2 TD, Whalen 8-47, Dearing 7-54, Moffatt 1-3, Fardone 1-22, Novak 3-10.
Passing: D-West: Howard 12-26-1, 119 yards. Shanahan: Smyth 10-13-0, 217 yards, 3 TD.
Receiving: D-West: Landis 3-0, Willenbrock 2-35, Byrnes 5-52, Simmons 1-11, Wetzel 1-21. Shanahan: DiBeneditto 4-121, TD, Waite 5-89, 2 TD, Sweeney 1-7.
Interceptions: Shanahan: Dearing.
