Football Falls to Holy Cross
Football Falls to Holy Cross in the 2013 Home Opener.
The Central Connecticut football team fell to Holy Cross on Saturday evening at Arute Field. The Blue Devils (0-3) and Crusaders (1-2) played a tight first half before Holy Cross pulled away in the second half for a 52-21 victory.
Holy Cross opened the scoring with a 39-yard touchdown pass with 10:56 left in the first quarter. The Blue Devils followed with an 11-play, 72-yard drive that was capped by a two-yard touchdown run by junior Rob Hollomon.
A second Holy Cross touchdown was answered with a second CCSU touchdown. This time it was the Blue Devils that hit the long pass play. A 68-yard strike from sophomore Nick SanGiacomo to sophomore Aaron Berardino.
The Berardino score came with 2:52 left in the second quarter, but despite the limited time left on the clock Holy Cross was able to drive the field and score. The Crusaders' drive was 11 plays and covered 78 yards in just under two and a half minutes. The scoring play on the drive was a 17-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Laughlin to Mike Fess.
The scoring drive gave Holy Cross a 21-14 lead at the half.
Holy Cross opened the second half scoring, after a CCSU drive stalled near mid-field, with a 8-play, 80-yard drive. The drive was again capped with a touchdwon pass from Laughlin to Fess.
CCSU answered with a scoring drive, which was capped by a five yard touchdown run. Hollomon also had the big play of the drive, a 50-yard rush that moved CCSU across midfield.
The Hollomon touchdown was the final CCSU score of the game. Holy Cross scored the final 24 points of the game and controlled the ball for most of the fourth quarter.
Hollomon finished with 145 yards rushing and two touchdowns. He now has five rushing touchdowns this season matching his season total from 2012.
Hollomon also had 11 receiving yards and 76 return yards to total 232 all-purpose yards.
SanGiacomo was 11-of-20 for 165 yards and a touchdown in the game.
Berardino's touchdown catch was the first of his career.
Senior Nick Bacarella had four catches for 47 yards and senior Denzell Jones had two catches for 25 yards.
Senior Antwione Reese led the team with eight tackles, including six solo stops. Junior Josh Alaeze had seven tackles and sophomore Elijah Yopp and junior David Rose each had six stops.
The Crusaders ran 86 plays and totaled 522 yards of offense. Holy Cross ran 72 times for 419 total yards. The Blue Devils posted 162 rushing yards and 346 yards of total offense.
CCSU will return to action on Saturday, September 21, at Albany. That game will kickoff at 7 p.m. from the new Bob Ford Field.