BRONX, N.Y — With 7:24 to go in the second quarter on Saturday — and dark clouds, rain and wind rolling in — the Holy Cross football team found itself trailing for the first time against Fordham. After the Crusaders led 17-7 early, the Rams had responded with a pair of second-quarter touchdowns to take a 21-17 lead.
Mere moments later, a lightning delay sent both teams to their locker rooms at Jack Coffey Field, suspending play during the battle between the last two teams undefeated in Patriot League action.
A little more than an hour later, the sun came out.
Right out of the stoppage, Fordham hit a field goal to extend their lead to 24-17, but from that point on, Holy Cross rattled off 35 unanswered points and held the Rams scoreless en route to a commanding 52-24 victory on Saturday, Nov. 13 — clinching the Crusaders' third straight Patriot League title.
"We had to come in, and we had to keep believing in our guys," said Holy Cross head coach Bob Chesney.
"They picked each other up, and they knew what they had to do."
With the victory over the Rams (6-4, 4-1 Patriot League), the Crusaders (8-2, 5-0 Patriot League) earned at least a share of the Patriot League title and the League's automatic berth in the NCAA D-I football championship subdivision (FCS) playoffs for the third straight season.
In arguably the most anticipated Patriot League matchup of the 2021 season — pitting the conference's top-ranked offense entering the game in Fordham against the league's best defense in Holy Cross — the Crusaders totaled a season-best 559 yards of offense to Fordham's 314, with the Holy Cross defense tallying four sacks, three pass breakups and an interception.
Sophomore quarterback Matthew Sluka had four total touchdowns, throwing for a career-high 272 yards with a pair of touchdowns in the air and rushing for 104 yards and another two touchdowns on the ground. Freshman running back Jordan Fuller ran for three touchdowns; sophomore wide receiver Jalen Coker caught a touchdown and had a team-high 76 receiving yards. Senior running back Peter Oliver rushed for 76 yards.
Junior linebacker Jacob Dobbs had a team-high seven tackles and a pass breakup, while junior cornerback Devin Haskins had six tackles and a pass breakup; senior defensive end Jake Reichwein had 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble.
This is the first time since 1989, 1990 and 1991 that Holy Cross has won three straight Patriot League titles. The victory also marked the fifth consecutive for Holy Cross against Fordham in the historic Ram-Crusader Cup matchup.
Sluka led the Crusaders on a nine-play, 75-yard drive to open the contest, giving Holy Cross a 7-0 lead with 11:10 left in the first after scoring on a one-yard rush. Senior kicker Derek Ng made a 41-yard field goal to extend the lead to 10-0 with 3:24 to go in the opening frame, but Fordham closed out the quarter with a two-yard touchdown rush to cut the lead to 10-7.
The Crusaders opened the second quarter with a flea flicker, with senior wide receiver Tenio Ayeni reeling in a 54-yard touchdown pass from Sluka.
Fordham quarterback Tim DeMorat had a 25-yard touchdown pass to Fotis Kokosioulis on the ensuing drive, followed by a 32-yard touchdown on the Rams' next drive, putting Fordham ahead by a score of 21-17 right before the lightning delay.
The Crusaders went three-and-out upon returning from the stoppage, and the Rams connected on a 35-yard field goal to extend their advantage to 24-17.
Fuller's first touchdown of the day came on a rush from one yard out with 15 seconds remaining in the first half, knotting things up at 24 points apiece heading into halftime.
The Holy Cross defense forced a three-and-out by Fordham to open the second half, with a third-down sack coming from senior linebacker Liam Anderson. On the next drive, Sluka's 34-yard pass to freshman wide receiver Justin Shorter put Holy Cross at the one-yard line, and Fuller ran in for his second touchdown to put the Crusaders back ahead with 11:02 to go in the third.
The lead grew to 38-24 after a 15-yard touchdown run from Sluka with 4:32 left in the third.
Fordham was able to drive to the Holy Cross 23-yard line, but senior cornerback John Smith picked off a pass from DeMorat in the end zone, regaining possession for the Crusaders. The defense continued to quell any Fordham momentum throughout the third, with Reichwein and senior defensive tackle Matt Cedeno sacking DeMorat to close out the quarter.
Sluka completed a 42-yard pass to Coker to open the fourth and extend the Holy Cross lead to 45-24. Reichwein sacked DeMorat on the following drive, with senior defensive end Dan Kuznetsov recovering a fumble at the Fordham 37-yard line. Fuller later scored his third touchdown of the day on a four-yard carry, giving Holy Cross a 52-24 lead with 7:46 left.
Holy Cross held Fordham to just 91 rushing yards — the Crusaders have held all Patriot League opponents under 100 rushing yards in every game this season.
The Crusaders will play at Bucknell on Nov. 20 to close out the regular season, and will learn their fate for the playoffs on Nov. 21. The selection show will be televised on ESPNU at 12:30 p.m. ET.
"Just a great win for the program, a great win for the community, a great win for our alums...a great win for Holy Cross," Chesney said. "We have a lot to be proud of when it comes to the work that these guys put in and the support that we have."
