Bishop Shanahan holds on late to beat Daniel Boone, keep perfect record
DOWNINGTOWN >> For the second straight week, Bishop Shanhan staved off a late drive to come up with a victory.
The Eagles used two Cooper Jordan to Garrett Glendenning touchdown passes to post a 14-9 nonleague victory over Daniel Boone to stay unbeaten at 3-0 and avenge a 36-29 loss to the Blazers last year.
“Wow,” said Shanahan coach Paul Meyers. “They really make my heart work.”
The Blazers fell to 1-2, but controlled the ball most of the evening as they tried to bounce back from a 42-0 defeat to Owen J. Roberts last week.
“I’m proud of the fight,” said Boone coach Rob Flowers. “We continued to battle all game long. These are great kids and they have a lot to be proud of.”
Boone struck first after recovering a fumble by Jon Loftus on the Shanahan 45-yard line on its first posession. The Blazers chewed up 28 yards in the first two plays of the drive — an 11-yard run by Larry Williams and a 17-yard pass from Justin DeMild to Dan Honowski — to set them up at the 17. Five plays later, Tanner Vanderslice punched in from the one for an early 7-0 lead.
Shanahan had a chance to get on the board early in the second quarter, but a 30-yard field goal attempt by Connor Bailey slid off to the left.
Boone took off a time-consuming march, going 11 plays down to the Shanahan 15, but Ben Reno fumbled on an off-tackle run, and Brandon Choi recovered on the 12.
Shanahan struck quickly to tie the score. Glendenning, who was battling a turf toe injury all week, streaked past the Boone secondary. Jordan hit him perfectly in stride to cap off an 88-yard jolt that sent the home fans into a frenzy.
“They expected us to run,” said Meyers. “We wanted our athletes to make a play. We took a shot and it worked. We told them we needed big plays to win.”
“We went four verts down the field and I got behind the defense and Cooper threw a great ball.” said Glendenning.
For the second straight week, Shanahan was impressive in its opening posession of the second half. On a 1st-and-10 at the Boone 31, Jordan launched a pass into the end zone that Glendenning came down with as he was being hit for his second on the night and a 14-7 lead.
“He overcame adversity,” Meyers said of Glendenning. “He didn’t practice all week, but he came out here tonight and made a couple of huge plays.”
Boone’s offense then went a time-churning drive from its own 20, taking up almost 10 minutes over the third and fourth quarters, mostly behind the running of Vanderslice and Reno. However, the Eagles stiffened and stopped Vanderslice four yards short of a first down on a 4th-and-9.
“We were much better on the ground than last week,” said Flowers. “We just needed to punch it in.”
The Blazers had one more chance and marched from their 31 to the Shanahan 15, but a fourth down pass by DeMild was knocked down and the Eagles took over.
Jordan ran out of the end zone on fourth down for a safety as time expired and Shanahan escaped with its perfect record in tact.
Reno lead Boone oin the ground gaining 96 yards on 22 carries, while Vanderslice had 48 yards on 12 carries.
The Eagles play their fourth straight home game to open up the season as they entertain Avon Grove next week. Boone heads home to take on Conrad Weiser.
