Boston College holds on to defeat Holy Cross 31-28

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The 84th meeting between the Holy Cross Crusaders (1-1) and Boston College Eagles (1-1) took place on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Stadium. The Eagles were looking to bounce back from an overtime loss last weekend at home to Northern Illinois. Holy Cross was playing their first game on the road in the 2023 season having won their home opener last weekend over Merrimack 42-20. Junior running back Jordan Fuller had a big day for Holy Cross as he totaled five touchdowns on the day, four on the ground and one through the air. His effort earned him National Offensive Player of the Week by Stats Perform. He also ran for a career-high 120 yards vs the Warriors. His five TDs were the most by a Crusader since Gordie Lockbaum in 1986.

Boston College’s running game showed some improvement from a year ago. They averaged 5.2 yards and 146 yards for the day besting any game in 2022. Quarterback Thomas Castellanos was the leading rushes for the Eagles with 67 net yards on nine carries and a score. Boston College came into this game having won the last nine straight between these two schools. However, Holy Cross had won their last two games vs FBS opponents.

In what may not have been too much of a surprise, Thomas Castellanos got his first career start at BC. After winning the coin toss to begin the game, the Eagles decided to put the offense on the field right away. It did not take long to see a difference in how the Eagles would play under Castellanos. The first drive of the game went 14 plays and 85 yards and took 6:08 seconds. Castellanos was 4-of-6 for 34 yards through the air and gained another 23 yards on the ground. The offense recorded five first downs. Kyle Robichaux (19 carries 94 yards 1 TD) finished the drive with a 3-yard TD run up the middle to make it 7-0 Eagles six minutes in.

Holy Cross’ first time with the ball would take up the rest of the time in the first quarter. Quarterback Matthew Sluka had two big runs of 17 and 21 yards. He showed he could move the ball with a 17-yard completion to TE Phoenix Dickerson. The quarter ended with the Crusaders at the Boston College 2-yard line. On the first play of the second quarter, Jordan Fuller (13 carries, 109 yards, 2 TD) took a handoff and barreled his way into the end zone for a 2-yard score. His fifth on the ground already this season and his sixth overall. The game was tied at 7-7. Holy Cross had the ball for 8:53 and went 15 plays.

BC’s second drive was as good as their first. 14 plays, and 91 yards that took 7:45 of game time. They converted a fourth down try getting a key 13-yard run from Robichaux and took advantage of a 15-yard pass interference call against Holy Cross cornerback Terrence Spence. The drive ended with Ryan O’Keefe running right, breaking a tackle, and scampering into the end zone for his first score of the year. After the defense came up with their first stop of the day, the offense was back at it. A nine-play 80-yard drive found the end zone once again. A key play was a 47-yard completion from Castellanos to Jaden Williams down the right sideline as Williams beat his man and caught the ball in stride. A few plays later, Castellanos found tight end George Takacs in the right back corner of the end zone for a 2-yard TD catch, his first of the year. 21-7 BC.

Holy Cross took the ensuing kickoff and with the help of some Eagles penalties moved the ball all the way to the BC 7-yard line. Two key pass completions by Sluka, one to WR Jalen Coker. then a 32-yard pass to Justin Shorter would set up a Skula 8-yard TD run off the right side, his first rushing touchdown of the season. It was 21-14 BC with a minute left in the half. The Holy Cross scoring drive took only 37 seconds. BC ended the half with Liam Connor hitting a 37-yard FG and the half came to an end with the Eagles up 24-14.

Boston College finished the first half with 275 yards of total offense. Castellanos was 11-of-16 for 142 yards and a TD. He gained another 41 on the ground. Crusaders QB Matthew Skula was just as good going 6-of-9 through the air for 73 yards, 69 more on the ground on eight carries, and a score. Holy Cross put up 177 yards of offense themselves.

It would take all of five plays for the Crusaders to take the third-quarter kickoff and score. Sluka hit Tyler Purdy on the left sideline for 23 yards. Jordan Fuller broke through the line and went for 45 yards. Sluka then ran it in from 8 yards out after finding no one to throw the ball to. It was his second rushing TD of the game for a 24-21 BC lead early in the third.

A fairly quiet third quarter led to an interesting fourth. After a trade of punts late in the third, BC put a drive together that was helped by a 23-yard completion from Castellanos to Lewis Bond on the right sideline. Bond would break a few tackles down the sideline to set up the Eagles at the Holy Cross 5-yard line as the fourth quarter started. It would take only one play to find the end zone as Castellanos found Jeremiah Franklin for a 5-yard TD score. BC was back up by ten at 31-21 with 14:55 to play. For Franklin, the TD catch was the first of his career. Holy Cross would not go away as they took the kickoff and marched it right back downfield. On a fourth down, Fuller gained 13 for a first down. Sluka then hit Coker with a 21-yard completion and then he finished off the drive with a 15-yard TD run off the left side The Crusaders were back to within three at 31-28 with 7:26 left.

On the next Eagles drive, coach Haffey decided to go for it deep in his own side of the field. Robichaux took care of it with a 6-yard gain to keep the clock moving. The call was made after the Eagles called time out to talk about it. The drive stalled, and with 1:58 left and one with timeout left, Holy Cross had a chance to steal the game at the end. The only problem with that was the game was stopped because of severe weather that was in the area.

The game resumed after a two-hour delay, but most of the crowd of 40,122 had already left. After the delay, Holy Cross QB Matthew Sluka ran down the right sideline for 35 yards to set his offense up at the BC 40-yard line. After an 11-yard completion to Coker, Sluka (10-of-15, 130 yards, 19 carries 131 yards, two scores) fumbled the football on the right side trying to avoid a rush. The ball was recovered by Vinnie DePalma for the Eagles. All Boston College had to do was down the ball, and they got win number one on the season 31-28 over Holy Cross.

After the game, a very animated coach Haffey addressed the media. He was not happy with the mistakes his team made. He thought his offense could have scored every time they had the ball. He went out of his way to make the point that “We are going to win games.” He praised Crusaders QB Matthew Sluka saying “Think he is an NRL Player?” He also was not concerned about a rush defense that allowed 264 yards on the day, and 394 total yards. Overall, he said time and again “We need to clean up the mistakes we are making.” Boston College’s offense was in high gear themselves gaining 409 total yards (208 on the ground, 201 in the air)

Thomas Castallnos (17-of-23, 201 yards and two TDs, 16 rushes for 80 yards) liked the up-tempo approach of the offense. He was one of the players that took a taunting penalty that halted a drive. He said, “It will not happen again” and also spoke about the maturity that needs to be on display at all times on the field.

With Florida State next up for Boston College, a lot of things need to be cleaned up if the Eagles are to give themselves a chance vs the Seminoles.