NORTH ANDOVER – On Friday night, No. 16 Holy Cross was well aware of the danger Merrimack presented in front of a raucous home crowd in the season opener for both teams.

A year ago, Merrimack went into Fitton Field and beat Holy Cross, so the Crusaders weren’t going to be caught off guard again. Behind 502 yards of offense, two interceptions and a blocked punt for a safety, Holy Cross came away with a 31-17 victory in the first New England Football Journal College Game of the Week.

Matt Sluka threw for 242 yards and two touchdowns and also ran for one while churning out 102 yards with his legs. The Crusaders had a balanced attack with 259 passing yards and 243 rushing yards. Merrimack’s Jack Zergiotis led the Warriors with 189 yards passing and two touchdowns.

The score and flow of the game indicated that the Crusaders dominated – and they did for the most part – but nine penalties for 110 yards marred the win a bit, but for a team looking to make this an unforgettable season, getting the first one out of the way is ultimately all that matters.

“It’s so good to be back,” said Holy Cross head coach Bob Chesney. “It’s so great to watch these guys play, and you think about the fifth-year guys in particular. The amount of sacrifice they made, and then to stay here…to be able to pull out a win on the first one is a big deal. We’ll go right back to work tomorrow and continue this process, but I do want to make sure we enjoy our time together with those fifth-year guys in particular because they sacrificed a lot and believe along with everybody else.”

Leading 19-10 at halftime, Holy Cross quickly made it a 21-10 game on the first possession of the third quarter when Terrence Spence and Devin Haskins combined to block a punt in the end zone for a safety. On the ensuing drive, Holy Cross appeared to be going in for a dagger score, but Garry Rosemond Jr. came up with an interception to give the Warriors some life.

Penalties helped Merrimack move deep into Crusaders territory. Zergiotis was hurt after an incomplete pass at one point and Gavin McCusker had to come in for a snap. He threw an incompletion as well, and Zergiotis fumbled the next snap after returning to the game. McCusker came back in and immediately threw an interception to Walter Reynolds, ultimately finishing off a game-changing sequence in ugly fashion.

The Crusaders ended up settling for a 30-yard field goal from Derek Ng near the end of the third, making it 24-10 heading to the fourth. With Merrimack driving again and the game still within reach, Hunter Burns came up with an incredible interception in the end zone on a ball from Zergiotis, ripping it away from the receiver. Six plays later, Sluka found Jalen Coker (3/60/1) for a 45-yard TD that put the game out of reach at 31-10.

“You see it with Matt now too, his throwing ability is very different,” said Chesney. “He stood in there composed, he didn’t just have to pull the ball down and run all over the place, but when he did he’s still Matt Sluka which is awesome. To be able to have that guy back there and watch his quarterback development and have him be in the place he is at this moment. It showed today. One ball was tipped, other than that, every ball was pretty much on the spot.”

“It’s great, you’ve always got to start the year with a win if possible,” Sluka said.

The Warriors got a late TD when Zergiotis hit Jacari Carter (3/52/1) from 33-yards out with 51 seconds remaining, but a few runs from Peter Oliver (13/73) and kneel downs from Joe Pesansky eventually closed it out.

Before the game, Chesney continuously told his team “this is our house, welcome home!” and the Crusaders got the message.

Ng and Lliam Davis traded field goals on the first two drives of the game with the 8,147 fans on hand rowdy early and often. A dominant 10-play drive – all on the ground – ended with a 7-yard TD run for Sluka to make it 10-3 late in the first. Early in the second, Sluka hit Ayir Asante with a dime in the back left corner of the end zone from 24-yards out to push the lead to 16-3. Ng added another field goal with a little over four minutes left in the half to make it 19-3.

Merrimack refused to go quietly, moving downfield quickly. Zergiotis ended up hitting Pat Conroy along the back line of the end zone with a laser from 18-yards out to cut it to 19-10 with 16 seconds left. Holy Cross found a way to move close enough to give Ng a shot from 48-yards out, but he was wide left to end the half.

“It feels great we wanted to get back here so bad, I feel like we owed this team a little bit,” added Coker. “We’ve been trying to figure it out this whole time, how to get the offense and defense to click on that same type of level, and I feel like today we can see it’s starting to move.”

Merrimack will look to regroup before hosting Assumption next weekend, while the Crusaders are back on the road to face Buffalo.