Holy Cross set for spring title defense
Patriot League champs ready to take field after rare off year
Holy Cross is about to bring spring football in a whole new direction.
The Crusaders will play an abbreviated four-game Patriot League schedule as a substitute for the 12 contests they lost in the fall of 2020 in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
It starts at noon Saturday in Bethlehem, Pa., against the Lehigh Mountain Hawks.
The Crusaders were 2019 Patriot League champions and were expected to repeat in 2020. They’ll get a chance to prove it with games at Colgate and home tilts against Fordham and Bucknell at Fitton Field.
“We are in a pretty unique situation,” said Crusaders coach Bob Chesney, the 2019 PL Coach of the Year. “I’m sure there is so much on both sides of the field here that are excited about this opportunity, but at the same time it’s been a while since we’ve been out there.
“There are all the things that comes with it, the game management, the depth charts, who’s healthy and who’s not. There is so much we are all juggling and I think everybody is going to attack this a little bit different.
“For us, we are playing a game and we always want to put our best foot forward and try and win that game. This is a great opportunity and a great test for both teams to see what we’ve been doing the whole offseason to prepare for this moment.”
Holy Cross has been playing football since 1891 and ran unabated through two global conflicts and instances of social upheaval on college campuses. That all changed on July 13, 2020, when the Patriot League canceled its entire fall sports calendar.
The only previous disruption in Crusaders’ football history occurred in 1969 and that, ironically, was caused by a debilitating disease far less exotic than the coronavirus. Holy Cross had to cancel its final eight games of the season when a contaminated faucet on the practice field caused a hepatitis outbreak that infected 90 of the 97 coaches and players on the roster.
The abbreviated 125th edition of Crusaders’ football will go into the books as the 2020 season, with an asterisk.
“My father (Bob Sr.) was a longtime high school football coach down in the coal regions of Pennsylvania where I grew up and I’ve never known a Friday or a Saturday without football,” said Chesney.
“It was emotional sitting there for the first time in my life not having a football game in the fall.”
Chesney sees two benefits to playing a spring schedule that he hopes will pay off down the road. First, he’ll get to measure his program against live opposition, which will serve as a superior building block for the 2021 season than a general spring practice and intrasquad game.
“Just the ability to compete against an opponent,” said Chesney. “You really know who your guys are when push comes to shove and until you truly get tested in fire, that is something to me that you just can’t get from intrasquad scrimmages or practices.
“It is just different and there is a lot that will be gained from this that will help hopefully in our future. But there is a lot at risk as well if there is a knee or a shoulder or something like that shows up, now that is going to affect someone the entire fall. We are more likely to be judged more by the fall and less like the spring.”
The Crusaders have 15 seniors on their current twodeep roster, with seven listed as starting against Lehigh. The NCAA is allowing seniors or graduate students in their final year of eligibility the option to return for the 2021 season.
That puts Holy Cross in an excellent position for title runs in both the spring and the fall.
The Crusaders have won seven Patriot League titles since joining the conference in 1986.
“We have eight coming back and another three trying to determine it and another nine or 10 who have taken a semester off in an arrangement to come back later,” said Chesney.
Holy Cross has six returning All-Patriot League firstor second-teamers from 2019. The list includes Brian Foley (OL), Benton Whitley (DL), Ayir Asante (WR), Connor Degenhardt (QB), Jacob Dobbs (LB) and special teams performer Terrell Prince, who also plays free safety. Place kicker Derek Ng and safety Joe Lang were selected to the PL preseason team.
Degenhardt is a senior QB of Ben Roethlisberger proportions. From Westford Academy, he is 6-foot-6, 214 pounds, with a strong arm and the ability to see the whole field. Degenhardt completed 182 of 341 passes for 2,372 yards and 14 touchdowns. He also had five rushing touchdowns. Asante was his primary target with 48 receptions for 697 yards and six touchdowns.
“He’s probably at the pinnacle of his college career at this moment,” said Chesney. “I think last year (2019) he was one of the better in the league and I would think he would say he did not do a good job in his own evaluation and estimation.
“What he is able to do now is very different.”