The Championship Subdivision News Log

Holy Cross coach Tom Gilmore stood on Fitton Field after Saturday’s win over Lafayette and just sort of took in the whole scene as players took turns hoisting the Patriot League championship trophy. Defensive coordinator Richard Rodgers led the team in its victory song, senior quarterback Dominic Randolph hugged his parents and took photos with his “Little Brother,” Franky, and a bunch of former Crusaders joined in the celebration, giving handshakes and high-fives.

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Honors from all 14 conferences.

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They didn’t dance in the Lafayette locker room Saturday following the Leopards’ 26-21 Patriot League victory over Fordham.

It wasn’t that the victory was insignificant. It was that the dancing was inappropriate.

‘’That was for the first half of the season,'’ coach Frank Tavani said Sunday. ‘’There will be no more dancing until the proper time.'’

He never identified ‘’the proper time,'’ but it doesn’t take a genius to read between the lines. It’s about focus. The next dance should not be expected until the Leopards can check off the phrase ‘’Patriot League champions'’ on their 2009 goals list.

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WORCESTER - It wasn’t one of the busiest afternoons for Matt Bellomo, but it was one of the happiest.

“Probably one of the best wins in Holy Cross history, at least for a while,” said the Crusaders’ sophomore tailback from Holliston.

Holy Cross bumped off unbeaten Colgate 42-28 at damp but delirious Fitton Field yesterday, putting the Crusaders in a position to control their own destiny regarding the Patriot League title.

“We’re in the driver’s seat,” said Bellomo as Holy Cross climbed to 6-1 and 2-0 in league play. Colgate slipped to 7-1 and 2-1 in the league.

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You know you’re in for something when the coach starts his press conference by saying, “I have to be careful what I say today because, uh … it’s hard to beat 18 guys. Lafayette’s a helluva football team but it’s hard to beat 18 guys.”

That was Fordham’s Tom Masella following Lafayette’s 26-21 Patriot League victory Saturday in Fisher Stadium.

“I saw two of the worst calls I’ve ever seen in football today,” he added.

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WORCESTER — That one-point loss in the snow last November gnawed at Dominic Randolph.

He had done everything in his four years at Holy Cross — everything except win a Patriot League championship — and now he and his teammates had to take that long ride home from Hamilton, N.Y., the disappointment of that season-ending loss to Colgate seared in their memories.

This isn’t how Randolph wanted his college career to end.

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Holy Cross Avenges Heartbreaker.

WORCESTER — It had been 343 days since Holy Cross’ heartbreaking loss to Colgate in the 2008 season finale, but time did little to wipe that painful memory from the minds of the Crusaders.

“That was probably the worst feeling I ever had in my life,” senior wide receiver Bill Edger said. “We couldn’t let it happen again.”

Colgate beat Holy Cross by a point for last year’s Patriot League title, and while the Crusaders did not win a championship yesterday, they took a giant step in that direction while getting revenge on the Raiders.

Behind senior quarterback Dominic Randolph, who had a hand in all six touchdowns, and an inspired effort by the defense, 22nd-ranked Holy Cross beat No. 17 Colgate, 42-28, before a soggy but delighted crowd at Fitton Field.

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The chance to play another year of college football, to hone his skills and polish his game were all reasons Holy Cross quarterback Dominic Randolph came back for a fifth season. One last crack at a Patriot League championship was another.

“Definitely,” Randolph said this week. “That’s the goal of every team and not winning it last year pushed me to try again.”

Colgate beat Holy Cross, 28-27, in the last game of 2008 to claim the Patriot League crown. The longtime foes will clash again at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Fitton Field, and the top-25 matchup should certainly have PL title implications. It is the first of five straight league games for HC.

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All 14 league honors.

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All 14 league honors.

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In 1969, hepatitis was a foe too tough for the Crusaders.

What they remember most 40 years later is how quickly it all ended. One day, the Holy Cross football team was preparing for a road game with Colgate. The next day, the season was over and the players were quarantined.

“The abruptness of it,’’ says Steve Jutras, the star tailback for the Crusader varsity that played only two games in 1969.

None of the players would have dreamed when they thirstily slurped water drawn from a nearby faucet that they were contracting hepatitis, wrecking not only that season but also the next one, when the Cross went winless for the first time in its history.

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All 14 league honors.

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Imagine, for a second, that instead of traveling to Holy Cross tomorrow to watch Harvard take on the Crusaders, you were one of over 30,000 fans packing into a maximum-capacity Harvard Stadium as the Crimson kicked off its season against a major-conference team, say, Boston College. It’s a pleasant thought, but the reality is far more complex.

Fordham’s decision in June to begin awarding football scholarships starting with this year’s recruiting class piqued the interest of a lot of people in the Ivy League football community. The move shows a changing mentality in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS, formerly Division 1-AA), which includes the Ancient Eight.

“It’s something we’re definitely keeping an eye on because if they go scholarships—we’re talking about the league now—it will change dramatically,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy says. “The last time any Patriot League school had scholarships in that league was Holy Cross in the ’80s and ’90s. They dominated Eastern football at this level in a way that wasn’t seen before and hasn’t been seen since.”

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Leopards, coming off opening win over Georgetown, will have little room for error.

If Frank Tavani and his Lafayette football team were in even a little hot water Saturday night in Washington, D.C., that was nothing compared to the Flames that will engulf the Leopards this week.

‘’That won’t be good enough,'’ Tavani said of the Leopards’ 28-3 Patriot League victory over Georgetown.

That comment came at Lafayette’s weekly media luncheon Tuesday. He said pretty much the same thing immediately after the game, and while he never mentioned any names then, it was pretty clear what he was saying: Lafayette will have to be a different team if it expects to win its home opener against the nationally ranked Liberty University Flames at 6 p.m. Saturday.

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Two dozen doughnuts went uneaten Sunday in the Lafayette trainer Matt Bayly’s physical therapy room in the Bourger Varsity Football House.

‘’Leftover doughnuts,'’ head coach Frank Tavani said, ‘’is a good Sunday morning.'’

What it meant was the Leopards came out of their season-opening 28-3 victory over Georgetown without a lot of injuries that required immediate therapy.

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EASTON - A new-look coaching staff has led to a streamlined playbook with the goal of a more efficient offense as Lafayette College prepares for its season opener Saturday night at Georgetown.

After a rare bye in Week 1, the Leopards can’t wait to try out their offense in the first game ever played under the lights on the Washington, D.C. campus.

“I know for me it’s a lot easier because I’m not making any more calls,” senior guard Brian Wycinowski said. “I mean, (center) Mike Wojcik has to get up to the line, he has to read the safeties, he has to read the linebackers, then the D-lineman, then he’s got to call his protection. I just sit up there and wait for what he calls.

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Running the ball successfully will be key for the Lehigh University football team Saturday night against No. 3 Villanova.

Actually, it will be important for the Mountain Hawks in every game this season.

Lehigh is 3-10 when the team fails to rush for 100 yards in a game under fourth-year coach Andy Coen. When the team eclipses the century mark on the ground, the Mountain Hawks are 13-8.

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It wasn’t supposed to start this way.

Not after all of the optimistic talk and positive vibes through the offseason. Not with a clear-cut choice and the reigning Lehigh-Lafayette MVP back at quarterback. Not with a gorgeous late-summer Saturday that eliminated bad weather as a potential obstacle.

Maybe Central Connecticut State is so good it will roll to the Northeast Conference title and qualify for the FCS playoffs.

Maybe Lehigh will look back on its disappointing opener and say it was just the kick in the pants needed to jump-start the season.

But for now, what happened Saturday at Goodman Stadium has to be alarming to anyone who cares about the program.

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