In a rematch of last year’s state semifinal match up, the

Landstown Eagles continued where they left off against L.C. Bird last season,

as the Eagles scored twice in the first quarter and twice in the second to jump

out to a 26-0 lead at the half before cruising to a 40-7 victory.

font-family:Verdana'> 

font-family:Verdana'>

Deveon Simmons got the Eagles started off on the right

foot by scoring on runs of 3 and 94 yards in the first quarter, giving

Landstown a 12-0 first quarter advantage. 

Simmons rushed for 160 yards in the game.

yes">  “He’s a specimen,” said Coach Chris Beatty, “He's a powerful

runner and a lot of times, he gets overlooked because we've got Percy and Damon

out on the edge and people kind of lose track of him but he's been doing that

for us all year just when we need him.” 

font-family:Verdana'> 

font-family:Verdana'>The Landstown defense took over from there as they

returned three interceptions for touchdowns beginning with a 67-yarder in the

second quarter by Enrique Cox that not only put an end to some Bird momentum,

but also seemed to salt the game away. 

In the second half, DB Ryan Goings scored on a 20-yard interception

return before Percy Harvin added a 65-yarder. 

On the three interceptions Beatty smiled and said, “You can't beat

that.  When you score on defense, it

makes it a lot easier on the offense. 

I'll take that every week.”

font-family:Verdana'> 

font-family:Verdana'>The Eagles defense limited the Bird rushing attack to 58

yards on 26 carries while forcing four interceptions and allowing only 98

totally yards of offense.  Beatty

praised the offensive line, “When a team is going to try and run it down your

throat, it's up to those guys to show up big and I think that they did.”

font-family:Verdana'> 

font-family:Verdana'>

Landstown collected 375 yards on offense behind the power

running of Simmons and the skills of wideout Percy Harvin who, along with the

interception return, scored on a 3-yard fade pass in the back corner of the end

zone.  Percy rushed for 46 yards and

caught 5 passes for 90 yards in the game.

font-family:Verdana'> 

font-family:Verdana'>Beatty praised Bird saying, “They had a great year and

Coach Bedwell is a great coach,” before reflecting on the season that the

Eagles have had thus far.  “We expected

to be here but we know that it's hard work to get here.

style="mso-spacerun: yes">  Every season is a long season and this one

has been long.  We've fought through a

lot of adversity and we had a great game last week with Oscar Smith and we

fought through.  We're there and I'm

just glad to be there.”

font-family:Verdana'> 

font-family:Verdana'>Beatty’s Eagles will meet the Robinson Rams Saturday at

the University of Richmond Stadium for the Division 6 championship.

style="mso-spacerun: yes">  In that game, he will be coaching against

his former high school coach, Mark Bendorf, who coached Beatty when he played

at Chantilly High School in Northern Virginia. 

“We've talked about it every week since the beginning of the season,”

said Beatty, “It'll be interesting. 

He's as good as it gets.  He's

got two already so maybe he'll let us get one [laughing].

style="mso-spacerun: yes">  It'll be fun.

yes">  I'm glad that he made it and I'm happy for him, but at the same

time, I want to win.”