No. 8 Xavier rolls past Wilbur Cross

NEW HAVEN — Knowing the size Wilbur Cross had on the line and the skill they had surrounding it,

No. 8 Xavier figured it had to be sharp.

The Falcons sharply gained 300 yards in the first half and by then were well on the way to a 56-12 win on Friday night at Bowen Field. Improving to 2-0, they scored on every possession except the one that ended the game.

“Seeing Cross had, I think, three 300-pounders, I was a little nervous,” senior running back D.J. Wright said, “but (Xavier’s line) held steady. They made some holes for Drew and I.”

Drew Kron threw for a touchdown on Xavier’s first play from scrimmage, had one called back on the next play, actually got his second touchdown pass (both to Timmy Conroy) two plays later, and then ran for two in the second quarter.

Wright ran for three touchdowns as well and said he’s seeing great improvement up front.

“Our offensive line did a great job of keeping Drew clean. That was one of the biggest things we had to do in order for us to get this kind of result,” Falcons coach Andy Guyon said.

“Drew’s only been sacked twice this year so far. With the way that we’re able to run the ball and pass-protect, so far, so good.”

Guyon said the Falcons’ receivers have shown improvement.

“And the guys on the back end, in the secondary and our linebackers, they’re still making some mistakes, but they’re improving.”

Quarterback Jamel Lee ran for two touchdowns for Wilbur Cross (1-1), a 54yard score late in the first quarter and a 9-yard run in the fourth to cap the scoring.

“We thought, if we could run the ball and maybe control clock — we did it in the second quarter — we needed like four of those drives,” Acquavita said. “But it would’ve been 35-6 or -12. We still would’ve lost. I’d thought it could be something like that, maybe 35-20, if we could run the ball consistently.”

PLAYER OF THE GAME

Xavier’s Drew Kron was 11-for-14 for 207 yards and two passing touchdowns and also ran for two touchdowns.

TRIAGE

Wilbur Cross was banged up to begin with and then lost another player to injury in warmup.

Counting the one today, that’s three starters there,” Acquavita said. “Then we lost three more to COVID protocol from school. There’s six guys that weren’t on the field. And there were three linemen, so there weren’t any linemen subs today.

“We were right on the cusp of a no-play, but I didn’t want to be that guy.”

PERFECT

Xavier’s Ethan Belzek was successful on all eight point-after kicks.

SECURE

The game was played with additional security added by city officials after fights at last week’s Hamden-Hillhouse game at the same field. Those incidents weren’t believed to be related to athletics, district spokesman Justin Harmon told Hearst Connecticut Media earlier this week. There were no obvious incidents at Friday’s game.

QUOTABLE

“They made us coach. John and his guys do a good job. It just kind of took us a little while to get accustomed to what they were doing. Their quarterback is a dynamic player. They’ve got some good skill kids, and they’re huge up front.” —Xavier coach Andy

Guyon on Wilbur Cross.