WORCESTER, Mass. – Joe Lang’s fumble recovery in the end zone for a touchdown put his team on top and Chris Riley’s interception sealed the win as the Holy Cross defense made all the difference in a 13-10 victory over New Hampshire on Saturday in the Wildcats’ first game in 20 years without Sean McDonnell as head coach.
New Hampshire (0-1) led 10-6 and took over on downs after Holy Cross (1-1) was stopped 2 yards shy of the goal line with 1:56 to play. Carlos Washington Jr. took the handoff from freshman quarterback Max Brosmer but was dropped for a loss and fumbled in the end zone. Lang came up with the ball for a Holy Cross touchdown and a 13-10 edge. On the following drive, Riley intercepted Brosmer to preserve the Crusaders lead with 1:49 remaining.
“First and foremost, our kids fought all the way to the end,” interim UNH head coach Ricky Santos said. “You’ve got to give credit to the senior leadership. I thought the defense did a phenomenal job of giving us a chance to win. That team we faced today played their butts off. That’s a great-coached team and they played hard.”
Redshirt freshman Bret Edwards started the game and played the first half before Brosmer took the reins of the offense for the final two quarters.
Brosmer was 8-for-16 with 106 yards passing for the Wildcats, while Edwards finished 7-for-18 with 97 yards. Each quarterback threw an interception. Washington ran for 107 yards and the team’s only touchdown.
“At the end of the day we’ve got to be cleaner,” Santos said. “We had too many penalties and we had a couple of turnovers. We didn’t do a good job getting the ball out. The theme of the whole game was missed opportunities. On offense, we have to be much better. We’ve got to be better at the quarterback position and we’ve got to be smarter with the ball.”
Connor Degenhardt threw for 253 yards and Derek Ng kicked two field goals for Holy Cross.
The Crusaders led 3-0 at halftime but New Hampshire’s Jason Hughes tied it up with a 21-yard field goal late in the third quarter. Ng’s 20-yard field goal early in the fourth gave the Crusaders a 6-3 edge but Washington’s 19-yard TD run put the Wildcats up 10-6 with 6:52 to play.