Holy Cross Football Brings Veteran Group Into 2016 Season

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Thursday, September 01, 2016

Joe Calabro, GoLocalWorcester Sports Team

The Holy Cross Crusaders football team is set to begin their 121st season in program history on Saturday when they travel to Maryland to take on Morgan State at 2 p.m. The Crusaders are coming off a 6-5 season in 2014 but won 4 of their final five games to close the campaign. 

"We finished on a high note last season and we only had 5 senior starters. This year we have 18 returning starters and we are looking forward to that play carrying over," said Holy Cross head coach Tom Gilmore. 

Last season marked Holy Cross' first winning season in four years

Offense 

This season, Holy Cross returns 10 out of 11 offensive starters and all 10 will be seniors this season. 

Last season, the Holy Cross offense averaged 404 total yards and 32 points per game as well as 22.5 first downs per game. 

"Last year we were a very good passing team, stats bear that out, but what hurt us was that we were inconsistent running the ball, we will be better this year. We have lots of returning starters and our running backs are now veterans," said Gilmore. 

Last season, Holy Cross averaged 108 yards per game rushing but only averaged 3.9 yards per rush. 

The Crusaders running attack will be led by senior Gabe Guild and junior Diquan Walker. 

Last season walker rushed for 309 yards on 86 carries, ranking him third on the team, as well as 5 touchdowns. 

Gabe Guild enters the season ranked seventh all-time at Holy Cross in career rushing yards per carry with 5 yards per carry, and rushed for 402 yards, and 4 touchdowns on 67 carries. 

However, when it comes down to it, the Holy Cross offense will be led by quarterback  Peter Pujals, wide receiver Brenden Flaherty and wide receiver Jake Wieczorek. 

Pujals hit 286 of 484 passes last season for 3,195 yards and 28 touchdowns, while Flaherty set a Patriot League single season record with 106 receptions for 1,082 yards and 12 touchdowns. 

"The funny thing about him is that he just started playing wide receiver in his sophomore year. He came back from injury, we had depth in the backfield so we moved him to receiver. He kind of went unnoticed for awhile but then had a big year last year," said Gilmore. 

Meanwhile Wieczorek caught 31 passes for 415 yards and 4 touchdowns last sea on for Holy Cross. 

 "Brenden and Peter have great chemistry, he's definitely the go to guy along with Jake Wieczorek. But we have a stable of  young wide receivers who have all played but just not as well known as Flaherty and Wieczorek."

Defense 

On defense, the Crusaders return six starters off a unit that ranked 2nd in the Patriot League in both total defense and scoring defense last season. 

"This year we have good talent but better depth. I think that is what hurt us at the end of last year. We had suffered some injuries throughout the season and by the end of the year wee were a really young team," said Gilmore

The Crusaders will be led by defensive end Dewayne Cameron and senior linebacker Kyle Young. 

Cameron led the team with 7 sacks and 11 tackles for a loss while Young led the team in tackles with 76 on the season.

"When you look at the defensive side of the ball, only two players have not started a game for us over the last couple of years. Nine of our 11 players have started before.'

Holy Cross will rely on that veteran experience to carry them through the season. 

Playing Morgan State 

The Crusaders will face Morgan State for only the second time in program history. The first time came in 2014 when Holy Cross won 29-26 at Fitton Field. 

"Playing a team you don't play often, there will be some surprises from them, but we will have some surprises as well," Gilmore said. 

Morgan State went 4-6 last season, finishing 6th in the Mid-Eastern Athletics Conference with a 4-4 league record. 

Gilmore added, "You have to go out and execute what you do in every game, but the first game of the season it is especially important."

After Morgan State, New Hampshire is next on the Holy Cross schedule on Saturday, September 10 at 7 p.m. 

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