SHU draws Holy Cross in FCS playoff opener

When Sacred Heart was 2-3 after a loss to Howard on Oct. 2, the defending NEC football champion knew something had to change. A six-game winning streak has followed, which earned the school the conference title again on Saturday.

The reward for the Pioneers (8-3) is a visit to Patriot League champion Holy Cross (9-2) on Saturday at noon at Fitton Field in Worcester, Mass. in the first round of the NCAA FCS playoffs.

The winner gets fifthseeded Villanova (9-2) on Dec. 4 at 7 p.m.

“It’s the game we wanted, really,” senior linebacker DeAndre Byrd said. “A couple of our guys on the team are from Massachusetts. We know some guys on Villanova. It’s very close.”

It was certainly their most likely game, with the first round regionalized and few eastern, particularly northeastern teams, in the running for spots.

Getting there was the hard part. Star running back Julius Chestnut was injured in the first game of the year and didn’t return until the last three weeks.

“I think we needed to find our identity. When Julius went down in the first game of the year, everybody kind of panicked, looking around to try to find ‘that guy,’” Pioneers coach Mark Nofri said.

Byrd said the team met after that loss to Howard.

“Some of the captains got together and said if we wanted to get to (Saturday), we had to change,” Byrd said. “I think it was a Sunday at 8 p.m. We were in there for two hours, holding people accountable.”

Nofri said a wide assortment of players have stepped up after that.

It was all about getting another ring, Byrd said, and Saturday’s 38-14 win at LIU clinched the Pioneers’ second conference title in seven months. They’d claimed the NEC title in April with a 34-27 overtime win at Duquesne; the conference unusually played a championship game in that pandemic-abridged 2020-21 season.

“It’s great for the kids. It’s great for the school and the program,” Nofri said. “Winning in the spring and again in the fall, it shows a lot about the kids’ character and what football means to them.”

Next up is Holy Cross, whose first two wins this season were at UConn (3828) and at Yale (20-17 on a last-minute field goal).

In between those, the Crusaders lost 35-21 to Merrimack. Their other loss was to Harvard, 38-13.

Sacred Heart opened its season with a 21-0 win over Bucknell, which Holy Cross defeated 45-6 on Saturday.

“They’re a great program. Bob (Chesney, the Crusaders’ coach) has done a great job at that place,” Nofri said. “They’ve got a huge win, beating UConn. They’ve got two very good quarterbacks. Their linebacker (Jacob Dobbs) might be the best linebacker in the country. We’re looking forward to the challenge.”