WORCESTER, Mass. – Senior defensive back
Corey Stefanik made a game-high nine tackles with one tackle for loss, but the Holy Cross football team was defeated by Lafayette 23-20 at Fitton Field. The Crusaders fall to 5-5 overall and 3-1 in the Patriot League with the loss, while the Leopards improve to 3-7 on the season and 3-1 in the conference.
Holy Cross finished the day with 280 yards of total offense and 19 first downs, while Lafayette totaled 262 total yards and 14 first downs. But the Crusaders committed five turnovers in the game, while the Leopards did not give the ball away at all.
Midway through the first quarter, Holy Cross opened the scoring on a 43-yard field goal by sophomore placekicker
Derek Ng. Lafayette responded with a pair of touchdown passes by Keegan Shoemaker, for 48 yards to Julian Spigner and 34 yards to Julius Young, to take a 14-3 lead at the end of the opening quarter.
The Leopards increased the margin to 17-3 in the second quarter on a 32-yard Jeffrey Kordenbrock field goal, before junior quarterback
Connor Degenhardt threw a four-yard scoring strike to
Ayir Asante to make the score 17-10 at the break.
In the third quarter, Kordenbrock (31 yards) and Ng (32 yards) both connected on field goals and Lafayette still led by seven (20-13). The Leopards then made the score 23-13 in the fourth quarter on a 40-yard Kordenbrock field goal. The Crusaders came back with an 18-yard touchdown pass from Degenhardt to senior tight end
Derek Mountain to trim the margin to three points (23-20) with 2:10 left to play. But Lafayette recovered the ensuing onside kick and ran out the clock to secure the victory.
Degenhardt completed 19 of 26 passes for 172 yards on the afternoon, while senior running back
Domenic Cozier rushed 14 times for 50 yards. Freshman linebacker
Jacob Dobbs posted six tackles and two sacks, and sophomore defensive back
John Smith added five tackles, one tackle for loss and one pass breakup.
Holy Cross returns to action next Saturday, Nov. 16, when it travels to Fordham for a 1:00 p.m. game.
