Image courtesy of Phoebe Wong

The dream of a fifth straight Patriot League title isn’t dead, but it’s certainly teetering.

After falling to Lafayette at home in a monsoon last week despite putting up over 500 yards of offense – with 330 rushing yards from Matt Sluka, a D1 record that earned him multiple accolades this week – the Crusaders now have to travel and take on a very good Fordham team that nearly beat them at Fitton Field last year.

Holy Cross dropped all the way down to No. 22 in the FCS Coaches Poll this week and another loss might have them out completely next Monday.

Along with Sluka’s historic day against Lafayette, Jalen Coker also became the program’s all-time leader in receiving yards. Later in the week, Jacob Dobbs was named a finalist for the prestigious William V. Campbell Trophy, recognizing the top athlete both on the field and in the classroom.

“Any time you are the best in anything, I think it speaks volumes about the work, the sacrifice, the ability, everything you’ve put into it to get yourself to that position,” said head coach Bob Chesney earlier this week. “Those guys work extremely hard, they’re very talented and I love when you have a chance for it to show up and be recognized. It certainly means a lot to this program. This is a long, storied history within this program and to see guys of today’s day go to the top of the record books, that’s pretty…it’s exciting and telling of just how special this group is.”

Sluka’s record-setting performance was a combination of taking what the defense and horrendous weather conditions gave him, along with some designed stuff for the electric, play-making QB.

“He made a lot of people miss early and then he’s just out in the open field and his vision, his quickness and his ability to just feel leverage took over,” Chesney explained. “He’s as good as it gets when you’re in the open field and he did a really good job of that, but it all lifted. We did a good job trying to lift the defensive backs out of there and a lot of the run plays we had also had draws tagged to them, or pass plays also had a draw tagged to them, so if he didn’t like it he could pull it down and have some lead blocking. It was all a combination of all of it.”

Now, the Crusaders must go on the road with everything on the line this weekend, despite still having about a month to go in the season. It’s a much different spot than they’ve been in the last few seasons.

“They’re just as good as they’ve always been,” added Chesney. “They spread you out all over the place. Their running back is a lot. You’re going to look at him and he’s going to look a lot like a Jordan Fuller. The O-line is huge and they’re physical. Their quarterback is a transfer kid that can throw it all over the place and then they’ve got MJ Wright at receiver and a bunch of other good receivers, They’ll spread you out a whole lot to try and run the ball and then if you bring anybody back into that box they’re going to shoot it down the field. That’s where we have to figure it out, kind of similar to last week, just a different way of getting to it formationally…that balance is really what they do. Defensively, their D-line is very good. They do a really nice job on the defensive line. They are aggressive with pressures and they’re just a good football team. You get to their return game, the guy last week was really good this one coming up is just as good. Probably, actually better. It’s MJ Wright and the kid breaks them all the time and is very, very tough and very, very talented.

“So, we certainly have our hands full in all three phases for sure. They’re a great football team, as we know they are.”