The Spire

Brendan Grudberg ’28

Staff Writer

The Holy Cross Crusader football team returned to Fitton Field for the first time in three weeks on Saturday to face off against Colgate (2-5) on a crisp fall afternoon. Fans had reason to be excited coming into this one, as the Crusaders won their first game of the season the week prior against a formidable opponent in Richmond (4-4). 

What the fans got was a thrilling football game with plenty of scores at every turn, but also a game that, unfortunately, ended in another close Crusader, 29-28, loss.

Colgate took the first lead of the game, leading a 69-yard, 5:43 drive capped off by a Danny Shaban touchdown that followed a quick Crusader three-and-out. 

“Actually not a lot has changed whether we’re starting fast or starting slow, so just trying to make sure that those guys are prepared and ready to go [is important]. You know, both those games the last two weeks, the good news is we ended up taking control of the game pretty quickly even with those slow starts, which is good because that’s not necessarily always the case,” said Holy Cross head coach Dan Curran. “We found that the group last year started to start faster. This year defensively, for whatever reason, we do start slowly in games when we played well, so we’ve actually talked about that with the team, and we’ve got some [things] we’re doing pregame that will hopefully kind of spark them early so we don’t come out of the gates slow defensively.” 

On Saturday, the Crusaders responded to the Raiders’ opening drive touchdown decisively, leading a five minute touchdown drive of their own to knot the game at seven apiece. 

First-year quarterback Dominic Campanile scored first for Holy Cross, and found the end zone for the second straight week. Though Campanile scored on an empty set, meaning no running backs were in the backfield, he also had the option to throw. 

“It was a quarterback draw that had RPO tags to it on both the front side and the back side, so he made the right decision on that, but he’s a guy we trust to run the offense, even though he’s a young guy, and not just be a run threat,” said Coach Curran. “But yeah, Dom’s done a nice job contributing, and hopefully that role will continue to grow.” 

Campanile has been used as a secondary rushing quarterback for option plays, and the success he’s found in back-to-back weeks speaks to the versatility Campanile has added to this offense despite not being the primary quarterback.

Holy Cross got the ball back in the second quarter and led a quick 50-yard touchdown drive capped off by a reception by first-year receiver Lincoln Fisher. 

Fisher tied for a team-high four receptions alongside senior wide receiver Max Mosey and got in the end zone a second time later on in the game. The Upper Marlboro, Md. native has scored three touchdowns in as many weeks and seems to be building chemistry with sophomore quarterback Braden Graham. 

Colgate followed up the Crusader touchdown with the longest drive of the game to that point, a 69-yard marathon that took 7:42 off the clock. The Crusaders forced a field goal attempt on fourth down, which was missed from just 24 yards away. 

Holy Cross could not capitalize on the big break off the missed chip shot, and punted it away to Colgate. This time, the Raiders led a successful field goal drive and cut the Crusaders’ lead to four points, 10-14. Cam Santee snuck right through the A gap and made a huge tackle for loss on third and one to force the field goal try.

In the third quarter, the Crusaders began to take control of the game. A quick Colgate three-and-out put the ball on the 50 yard line for the Crusaders’ first offensive series of the second half, which they capitalized on with another Lincoln Fisher touchdown reception. 

Holy Cross built on this momentum even further when Joseph Townsend sacked Colgate QB Jake Stearney on 3rd and 10 for a loss of 15 yards, forcing a punt. The field position created by that sack proved valuable, as Max Mosey took the ensuing punt return all the way for a 47-yard touchdown, which put the Crusaders up 28-10.

Colgate returned from this massive momentum swing well, leading a quick 79-yard touchdown drive capped off with a Reed Swanson receiving touchdown from Stearney. This drive seemed to wake up the Colgate offense.

They stormed back with another touchdown, this time a Stearney rushing effort, to make it a one score game. Holy Cross responded with a 43-yard drive, which set up a 45-yard field goal attempt that narrowly missed. It had the distance, but it hit the right upright. 

“After watching the film, there are a few opportunities to work to really close out. It was all over the film, you know, and there’s going to be a lot of conversation about the missed field goal [in the fourth quarter] because that would have put the game away, that would have been the winning score,” said Coach Curran. “But my challenge to the offense is, we put a really good drive together there, that’s got to be a touchdown.” 

The Crusaders were then stopped on downs trying to ice the game. The Raiders responded with a 61-yard, seven-play drive capped off by a nine-yard Brendan Cassamajor touchdown. Colgate’s two-point attempt failed, meaning the Crusaders only needed a field goal on their ensuing drive. 

2:35 remained on the clock when the Crusaders got the ball back, but the offense stalled out and was unable to get much going. The Crusaders ultimately fell 29-28 in a game that saw plenty of flashes all around but also saw the team struggle in timely moments. Colgate held Holy Cross scoreless for the final quarter and a half of the game, while the Raider offense scored 19 unanswered points to close out. 

A bright spot from this heartbreaker in a season full of them is the first-year contributions for the Crusaders. Three of the four touchdowns were scored by first-year players, with two coming from Fisher and one from Campanile. 

It has no doubt been a frustrating season for the Crusaders, who can’t seem to execute when it matters most, but the contributions from the 2025 recruiting class have been exciting regardless. Their linebackers continued to shine too, with Carlo Crocetti and Cam Santee making impact plays all game. 

“Defensively, we played well for the first three quarters, but the big thing that stands out is we really struggled tackling down the stretch, which [solid tackling] is something we take a great deal of pride in,” said Holy Cross head coach Dan Curran. “They just missed opportunities. We counted four dropped interceptions we could have had against them [Colgate]. That goes back to the game plan of getting after the quarterback, which I felt we did a pretty job of with our front seven, but some of those, potentially could have been pick-sixes. You get one or two of those and the game’s over.” 

The Crusaders have plenty of football left to play. They aren’t even halfway through their Patriot League schedule, and have the opportunity to even their league record to .500 hosting a tough Lafayette (5-3, 3-1) team this Saturday for Family Weekend. 

Regardless of the disappointing results to this point, the Crusaders still have an opportunity to turn this season around, and if Saturday’s loss showed one thing, it’s that the future is bright for this team. 

“I think when you look at teams that are struggling like this, though, you usually don’t see super competitive games as much as against all the teams, but against good programs and good teams and outside of really the Harvard game, we’ve kind of been able to do that,” Coach Curran said. “So I don’t think it falls the traditional path of a team that’s struggling right now like this, you pointed out the schedule we had earlier in the year. The only other team with a schedule as intense as ours is probably Colgate. So I don’t think it’s really reflective of who we are as a team, but we got to wear it right now. I think this group has done a really good job of just trying to stay in the moment and being focused on what’s next, trying to learn and grow from what’s happened.” 

Featured image courtesy of the Worcester Telegram

Copy Edited by Lauren Zerella ’29