WORCESTER – Physical.

It’s the only word needed to describe Holy Cross’s annual Spring Showcase inside the St. Ignaitus Indoor Practice Facility on Friday night.

For about an hour and a half, the Crusaders wrapped up a very productive spring with a surprisingly hard-hitting controlled scrimmage.

“We tried to get everybody an opportunity today,” said head coach Dan Curran. Obviously, a lot of our 1, 1As, they repped, but we knew today was going to be more about our twos and threes. It was an opportunity for us to have a great engagement with our community. We had an awesome turnout today and obviously, it was – to me – the culmination of what’s been a very productive offseason.

“The momentum we have right now as a program, I think it’s palpable. You can feel the energy. You probably felt it today. You know, we did want to tone it down a little bit, but these kids don’t know any other way. That’s kind of been our DNA and our mark and how we’ve really built this program.”

Cal Swanson, David Lynch, Dominic Campanile and Braden Graham rotated at quarterback through 10 different possessions. The first highlight of the night came with Lynch at QB during the second drive. Senior defensive back Chisom Onwuzurigbo came down with a leaping interception on a deep ball down the right sideline.

Two possessions later with Lynch under center again, the biggest, most memorable play of the night (or maybe the second most memorable, more on that in a minute…) was a huge hit by sophomore safety Anthony Redfern, who smoked a receiver on a grab over the middle, drawing a big ‘ohhh’ from both the players and recruits and fans in attendance.

On the same drive, former CM star and Boston College transfer running back senior Darrell Jones – who was extremely elusive all night – was seemingly stopped in the backfield, but got out of trouble and ripped off a 25-yard touchdown run. Owen Saraceno added the PAT.

“All spring ball, we was physical, we was competing on offense and defense, so I expected it to be physical,” said Jones. “That chip on my shoulder has always been there since I was young. I just want to go out there and represent my city Dorchester and just put on for my city.”

A quick break followed and team awards from the 2025 season were presented. In a bit of a funny, yet fitting encapsulation of the Holy Cross offensive struggles last season, center Cam Nolan won the program’s Offensive Player of the Year.

Once the ‘game’ got started again, Swanson wasted little time getting the offense in the end zone. With the ball at the O’s own 35(ish), Swanson tossed a beautiful deep ball to Luke Petitta down inside the red zone. One snap later, Swanson threw a little screen for a TD to tight end Drae Tyme.

The defense forced a fumble at the line of scrimmage on the next possession before two lucky kids were picked to try and throw a football off the crossbar from 15-yards out. Both did just that, winning some sweet Holy Cross merch.

It was at this point that I was chatting with athletic director Kit Hughes and we both marveled at how the ball came off of punter Ethan Moss’s foot. Could be a weapon this season in the field position game.

UConn junior transfer DB Chase Fountain picked off Graham on the first play of his final possession and Saraceno added a late field goal. Before one final special play that has become a tradition to end each Holy Cross Spring Showcase, we had a highlight reel big man TD when sophomore D-lineman Vin Ferrara was in the right place at the right time, catching a ball out of the hand of Swanson as he was hit. Ferrara caught it and sprinted down the right sideline for a pick six, with the entire sideline chasing him into the end zone to celebrate.

Then, it was time for the star of the show. Team Impact member and now longtime Crusader teammate Jack Savage scored the final touchdown of the night, with players cheering him on, blocking for him downfield and whiffing on several attempted ‘tackles’ before jumping up and down and breaking on ‘1-2-3, Jack!’ to officially end spring ball.

Kids were able to take part in a skills circuit with the coaching staff and players after before getting some autographs, wrapping up another special night in Worcester.

“I think it must have been the fifth of sixth year in a row where we were Top 10 in the country for average home fan attendance. We don’t just get great support from our alumni and the student body, it’s really from the Worcester community,” Curran added.

“We really try to engage them and give back because they give so much to Holy Cross. To me, it’s a great relationship we want to continue to foster and having opportunities and events like tonight are really important for building that relationship.”