'They stayed the course': Holy Cross falls just short of pulling off upset at Boston College

BOSTON – After a 2-hour, 13-minute severe weather delay at Alumni Stadium Saturday afternoon, Holy Cross came out of the locker room riding the momentum it took into it, and fully ready to make something happen in the final 2 minutes.

Trailing Boston College by three points, HC had the ball at its own 25 with 1:58 left, and on the first play after the long pause, senior quarterback Matthew Sluka took off toward the end zone, where, behind it, HC’s rabid student fans, eagerly waited.

The Crusaders’ purple-clad classmates did not leave their seats during the storm, but instead danced and sang and chanted for Sluka.

On his way to what would have been a monumental touchdown, Sluka stepped out of bounds at the BC 40.

“I thought I’d get there,” Sluka said, “but the line got me.”

Sluka still had his team in good position with the clock ticking.

Three plays later, and right after Sluka completed a first-down pass to senior Jalen Coker, BC junior end Neto Okpala knocked the ball from a running Sluka, BC graduate linebacker Vinny DePalma recovered, the Eagles ran out the clock and held on for a 31-28 victory before 40,122 fans.

“I thought we battled,” Holy Cross coach Bob Chesney said. “I thought our guys proved they belonged here and proved they belonged at this level. I think a lot of people out there did not believe we belonged here, and I think we knew we did. These guys will battle and play 60 minutes with anybody.”

The Eagles (1-1) snapped HC’s 18-game regular-season winning streak. The Crusaders were looking to make it three straight wins over a Football Bowl Subdivision team, but they will get another crack at an FBS opponent when they visit Army in November.

Holy Cross, which opened 2023 win a win over Merrimack, was seeking its first victory over BC since 1978, and the Crusaders, cognizant of the challenge the ACC Eagles presented, came in confident they could do it.

“Absolutely,” Holy Cross junior running back Jordan Fuller said. “We played in big games before against really good teams, and this was another one of those. BC is a great opponent. Our veteran guys gave us that confidence throughout week. We showed up here, and we felt comfortable, and I think it showed for the most part today.”

Holy Cross fell to the Eagles here, 62-14, five years ago, in the teams’ last meeting.

Sluka played a terrific game. He carried 19 times for 131 yards and two touchdowns, and completed 10 of 15 passes for 130 yards.

His lost fumble was the only turnover of the game.

“He made a good tackle, had one hand on the ball, and I just lost it,” Sluka said.

With 13 carries for 109 yards, Fuller had his second straight 100-yard rushing game. He scored two rushing touchdowns to bring his season total to six.

The Eagles have won 34 in a row against FCS (Division 1-AA) opponents.

BC led, 31-21, after sophomore quarterback Thomas Castellanos hit sophomore tight end Jeremiah Franklin with a 5-yard TD pass in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter. The Crusaders responded with a 12-play, 75-yard scoring drive, and Fuller’s 15-yard TD run had HC within three with 7:26 left.

BC punted on its next possession. Coker made a fair catch at the HC 10, and a personal foul penalty on the Eagles gave HC the ball at its 25.

Then came the lightning delay, and the teams returned to their locker rooms. The Crusaders ran, jumped, yelled and fired up their fans on the way to theirs.

During the delay, HC’s players stayed loose and focused.

“They did a great job,” Chesney said. “When we came out, we were ready to roll.”

HC was just as animated coming out of the locker room.

“Our fans gave us that energy,” Sluka said. “Coming out and seeing what we had compared to what BC had (very few remained) was unbelievable, and it made it really exciting.”

BC led by 10 at halftime, but Sluka directed a crucial touchdown drive to open the third quarter. A 23-yard completion to senior running back Tyler Purdy and Fuller’s 45-yard gain highlighted the drive, and Sluka scored from 8 yards, and it was 24-21.

In the first half, BC scored on every possession, and its touchdown drives covered 80, 91 and 85 yards.

HC, which came out slow last week against Merrimack but showed great improvement in the second half, held the Eagles to seven points in the second half.

“We look forward to working this week to starting faster on the defensive side,” senior linebacker Jacob Dobbs said, “and putting together two halves. We can’t start like that. We have to be better next week (at Yale).”

Each team had the ball just once in the first quarter. BC opened with a 14-play, 85-yard drive, culminating with a 3-yard Kye Robichaux touchdown run.

The Crusaders responded with a sustained drive of their own. They overcame three holding penalties during the drive. After the third one, HC faced a third-and-13 from the BC 19. Sluka delivered with a 13-yard completion to senior tight end Phoenix Dickson, and on the first play of the second quarter, Fuller scored on a 2-yard rush to cap the 15-play, 75-yard drive.

Castellanos’ beautiful 47-yard strike to junior Jaden Williams set up a Castellanos 3-yard TD throw to tight end George Takacs with 1:23 left in the first half.

Two BC penalties on the ensuing kickoff gave HC the ball at midfield, and the Crusaders moved quickly, covering 50 yards in 37 seconds to score before halftime.

Sluka completed passes to Coker for 10 yards and Shorter for 33, and Sluka ran it in from 8 yards, eluding a would-be tackler and running over another BC defender on his way to the end zone.

The Eagles got the ball back with 46 seconds, and HC penalties (pass interference, personal foul) helped BC into the red zone. Sophomore kicker Liam Connor of Leominster made a 37-yard field goal to put the Eagles up, 24-14, at the break.

“We overcame a lot of adversity in the beginning of the game,” Chesney said, “but they stayed the course. Coming out of that break, we felt great about our play selection. We just came up a little bit short.”

—Contact Jennifer Toland at jennifer.toland@telegram.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @JenTolandTG.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Holy Cross nearly pulls off upset at Boston College, lightning delay and all