The Spire

Ben Kuchipudi ‘25

Sports Editor

Holy Cross and Boston College football have a history. Before Saturday’s game, the Eagles held a 50-31-3 record over the Crusaders, and Holy Cross hadn’t beaten Boston College since 1978. Boston College was coming off an embarrassing home opener loss to Northern Illinois, a game they lost 27-24 in overtime. Holy Cross was fresh off of a 42-20 shellacking of Merrimack, a game where junior running back Jordan Fuller scored five touchdowns, four on the ground and one in the air. The Crusaders looked like they hadn’t missed a beat from their undefeated 2022 campaign and they looked poised to pull off the historic upset and beat the Eagles for the first time in 45 years.

The Eagles started off with the ball and immediately made a statement against their Massachusetts counterparts with a Kye Robichaux rushing touchdown, their first opening drive touchdown since November of 2021, but the Crusaders didn’t back down and answered with Fuller scoring his sixth touchdown of the season. Boston College was able to stifle Holy Cross for most of the first half and eventually led 21-7 with minutes left in the half. The Crusaders needed a spark, and they got that spark with Matthew Sluka completing a 32 yard pass to Justin Shorter who made the adjustment at the eight yard line. One play later, Sluka lowered his shoulder to get in the endzone to make it a one score game again. 

The Eagles got a last second field goal to push their lead up to ten going into halftime, but once again the Crusaders answered the bell. On second and nine, Sluka completed a 23 yard pass to running back Tyler Purdy, and the next play Fuller bullied his way down the sideline for a 45 yard gain, leading to Sluka’s second rushing touchdown. The teams would exchange punts for most of the fourth, and the Crusaders needed a stop to get the ball back down three. The Eagles were driving late in the fourth quarter, but safeties Stu Smith and Jake Jarmolowich stepped up and forced Boston College to punt. The Crusaders were getting the ball back down three with just under two minutes left to make history. Then came the storm. Literally.

Right before Holy Cross started their final drive, play was temporarily paused due to a storm warning in the area. This was a momentum killer, as the road crowd fueled their heroes and they now had to wait until the storm passed. During this time, most of the Boston College fans left the game, but not ‘Sader Nation. The student section for Holy Cross wouldn’t quit on their team as they turned Alumni Stadium into Fitton East, cheering on the Crusaders with a variety of chants. Even Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos had to give the students their flowers. He was wondering where all his fans went as all he saw was a sea of purple. 

Two hours later, the Crusaders came out of the locker room fired up. Fueled by their fans, they were ready to take the field and pull off their greatest upset in decades. On the first play of the drive, a read option was called, and Sluka took off and got past the second level. It looked like he was gone, but the side judge ruled him out at the BC 40 yard line. A questionable call to say the least, but Holy Cross was in business. A first down throw to Jalen Coker put the Crusaders at the Eagles’ 28 yard line with just over a minute remaining. Then, as Sluka tucked a wet football, he lost control of the ball and Boston College recovered. Ball game. Sader Nation waited through two hours of rain to lose in arguably the most heartbreaking fashion. 

Despite the loss, this game showed that Holy Cross was for real. Losing by only three points in a game against an ACC opponent that they were 14 point underdogs and playing a perfect game is something that they should be extremely proud of. Even Boston College fans and analysts said that the Eagles should be ashamed of themselves and that Holy Cross deserved to win that game. 

“Our guys proved that they belonged here, proved that they belonged at this level,” Holy Cross coach Bob Chesney said. “I think there were a lot of doubters, a lot of people that did not think we belonged here. … We knew that we did.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself, coach. If there was no rain delay, I can say with full confidence that we would have capped off the drive with a touchdown, and we would have gone back to Worcester winners against our hated rival. Unfortunately that did not happen, but this was a statement game for the Crusaders, and the rest of the FCS should be scared of Holy Cross.