Image courtesy of Holy Cross Football

10 down, one to go.

The last time Holy Cross finished a regular season unbeaten was 1991. After a tough 36-29 win over a scrappy Bryant team, the Crusaders one win away from changing that.

At 10-0, the No. 5/6 Holy Cross program has continued to show it can win any type of game. Saturday was sloppy by HC standards, but it never felt like the Crusaders were ever truly in danger of letting an FCS playoff bye and possibly multiple home games slip away, even if the Bulldogs were going to make things nasty.

With one game left on the road against Georgetown next weekend, Saturday was basically a survive and advance type of game.

Early on, it looked as if things were going to go according to plan as Holy Cross jumped out to a 22-0 halftime lead. Phoenix Dickson had his first career touchdown reception to cap a methodical early drive for Sluka (12-21/144/2, 16 carries/72) and the offense. Dickson was a former linebacker, but made a nice grab on the 15 yard play. A botched snap on a punt went through the back of the end zone for a safety to make it 9-0 and a Derek Ng 27 yard field goal made it 12-0 after one. The Crusaders should have had more, but penalties (10/110 yards) killed them throughout the afternoon.

Ng made history with 3:38 to go in a sluggish second, banging home a 52 yard field goal for the 15-point lead and a perfectly executed two minute drill for Sluka eventually led to a 17 yard touchdown connection between he and Justin Shorter in the final minute.

Bryant opened up the third quarter with an 11 play drive, using tempo to keep Holy Cross off balance. Zevi Eckhaus hit tight end Jihad Edmond from 10 yards out, but the two point failed, leaving things at 22-6. Another lengthy drive soon followed and Eckhaus capped that with a one yard TD run. The two point attempt once again failed, but the Bulldogs were alive and well.

Peter Oliver (19/140/2) came up with a huge 34 yard touchdown run, rumbling through tacklers and giving HC a 29-12 lead after three. Edmonds capped another long drive that started late in the third for Bryant with an 18 yard TD catch early in the fourth, cutting it to 29-19.

A mini brawl broke out after a late hit out of bounds on the Bryant sideline during a Crusaders’ punt return set things off. Three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties were called on the Bulldogs and one on Holy Cross. Bryant also had one sideline ejection as well.

Oliver seemed to take it personally and bowled over and through defenders again on his way to a 39 yard touchdown run for a quick response and a 39-19 lead. Bryant wouldn’t go away quietly and cut it to 10 with 3:57 to play on a 20 yard TD reception by Landon Ruggieri. The Bulldogs moved down inside the HC 10 soon thereafter, but Eckhaus threw an interception in the end zone to Walter Reynolds with just over five minutes left.

A late field goal by Ethan Gettman brought the Bulldogs within seven, but Jordan Fuller iced the game in the game with less than a minute to go.