Area college football notes: After strong finish, Holy Cross looks ahead to 2026
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WORCESTER – Holy Cross football coach Dan Curran met with his team Nov. 24, two days after the Crusaders concluded a trying 2025 season with a memorable win over Georgetown at Fenway Park.
Curran congratulated his players on the victory and for ending the year with back-to-back triumphs (Bucknell, Georgetown). The Crusaders finished 3-9 for their fewest win total in a full season since 2013. HC went 3-1 in the 2021 COVID spring season.
At 3-4, Holy Cross took third place in the Patriot League standings.
“It was not the year we wanted,” Curran said, “but our guys stuck together and continued to work and prepare the right way and play hard every week. We have a lot of momentum going into the offseason.”
While facing the fifth-hardest schedule among FCS teams, Holy Cross lost six games by seven points or less. Five of HC’s 2025 opponents, including PL champion Lehigh and Harvard, who both routed the Crusaders, made the FCS playoff field. HC opened the season with a two-point loss at FBS foe Northern Illinois.
From there, the Crusaders staggered to an 0-6 start, their worst since 1994.
HC’s offense struggled to score most of the season. The Crusaders averaged 20.5 points per game to rank second to last in the Patriot League. They never established a true pass game threat.
HC ranked at the bottom of the PL in passing offense and 119th of 126 FCS teams.
Sophomore quarterback Cal Swanson started six games, sophomore Braden Graham three and freshman Dom Campanile three. None had taken a collegiate snap before this fall.
“For us,” Curran said, “it comes back to stability on the offensive line and at quarterback. We have to be more effective passing the football. That’s protection, that’s executing. That’s a huge priority for us this offseason.”
Curran believes the quarterback of the future is on the current roster.
“We have to have someone step out and separate themselves from the other two guys,” Curran said.
The Crusaders averaged 128.7 rushing yards per game. Junior Jayden Clerveaux and senior Nyeoti Punni each rushed for more than 100 yards at Bucknell and seniors Max Mosey and Sam Slade broke off long touchdown runs late in the Georgetown game.
“Being more consistent on offense is something we have to do to take the next step as a team,” Curran said.
HC’s defense kept the Crusaders in most games. Individually, junior linebacker Cam Santee ranked second in the league in tackles-for-loss, junior linebacker Carlo Crocetti fifth in sacks and junior corner Eli Thompson tied for second in interceptions.
The Crusaders held their first three opponents to 15.6 points and late in the year created more “chaos plays,” as Curran calls them. In the last five games, HC made 21 sacks. The Crusaders made seven interceptions in the last three games and forced three fumbles in the last two.
“We got better at being more aggressive on that side of the ball,” Curran said.
HC led the PL in punt return average and was second in kickoff return average. The Crusaders scored four special teams touchdowns.
“I know our placekicking was an adventure early in the year,” said Curran, referring to the four missed field goals and one missed PAT in the first three losses which were by a total of seven points, “but I thought our special teams were borderline elite this year. There is a lot to build off.”
Much of the coming weeks will be focused on HC’s 2026 roster and finalizing the recruiting class.
Thompson, junior wide receiver Charlie Mullaly and sophomore defensive back Caiden Newsome were early entries to the transfer portal. Additionally, senior offensive lineman Cam Nolan of Oxford entered the portal as a graduate transfer.
Curran expects there will be more.
“We’re going to lose guys and you want to do right by those guys even if they leave,” Curran said, “and then you want to focus on the guys who are staying. We are looking to add pieces (from the portal) as well. It’s tricky for us to navigate, but it’s doable (Swanson transferred to HC from Illinois and Curran’s son, Ty, a sophomore wide receiver from Ball State), and we need to add a couple key pieces.”
Crusaders earn All-Patriot League honors
Mosey (return specialist), Nolan, Santee and junior cornerback Cam Jones earned All-Patriot League first-team honors.
Clerveaux, Thompson, sophomore Alijah Cason (return specialist) and senior John Owens (long snapper) were named to the All-PL second team.
The Crusaders captured two league player-of-the-week honors.
Thompson, who intercepted two passes in the Georgetown game and returned one of them for a 94-yard touchdown, was the PL Defensive Player of the Week.
Junior safety Donovan Comestro, who blocked a punt that was recovered by senior Sam Boyer in the end zone for a touchdown, was the PL Special Teams Player of the Week.
Assumption advances in D2 playoffs
Assumption’s Andy McKenzie, the Northeast-10 Conference Coach of the Year, said before the Greyhounds’ NCAA Division 2 first-round playoff game at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) that when his team is on the same page it has a chance to be competitive with anyone.
That proved true in Assumption’s 23-20 victory over IUP. The Greyhounds, who earned an at-large postseason bid, got contributions in all three phases, and advanced to play at Kutztown (Pa.) at noon Nov. 29.
Kutztown beat Assumption, 51-14, in the 2025 opener.
Behind quarterback Dom Santiago threw for 271 yards and a touchdown and rushed for a pair of TDs, as Assumption outgained IUP, 418-302. Jhensen Touze had a team-high 11 tackles while Owen Fitzgerald of Auburn added 7, and Esteban Ortiz had four pass breakups.
Assumption, making its first postseason appearance since 2022, improved to 4-4 in the NCAA Division 2 tournament.
–Contact Jennifer Toland at jennifer.toland@telegram.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @JenTolandTG.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Area college football notes: After strong finish, Holy Cross looks ahead to 2026
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