Meteors topped by Holy Cross

BY MICHAEL IORFINO

Times-Shamrock Writer

Montrose faced a 48-14 loss on the gridiron to Holy Cross on Saturday at St. Anthony’s Playground.

After recovering a Montrose fumble at their own 38-yard line, the Crusaders drove 62 yards in seven plays, ending with a 31-yard touchdown pass from Dane Addley to Louis Giancopoulos for a 6-0 lead.

From that point, the Crusader’s running back trio of Heyen, Joe Merli and Tyler Hinkley took over, combining for 245 yards rushing and six touchdowns.

Although Holy Cross dominated the Meteors for much of the first half, a 2-yard touchdown pass from Montrose’s Brett Johnson to John Lawson with 12 seconds remaining brought the Meteors within six points, 14-8.

“That was a big score for them,” Holy Cross coach Ben Tolerico said. “We had a lot of momentum heading into halftime and that score gave them some confidence.”

It didn’t take long for Holy Cross to respond.

On the first play of the second half, Merli took a handoff and sprinted down the right sideline for a 64-yard touchdown, extending the Crusaders’ lead to 21-8.

That was just the start of Holy Cross’ third quarter explosion.

Following another Montrose fumble at its own 10-yard line, Heyen scored from 2 yards out, giving the Crusaders a 28-8 lead.

Later in the third, Heyen added a 14-yard touchdown run and Hinkley scored on a 1-yard run to extend the Crusader’s lead to 41-8.

Merli closed Holy Cross’ 34-point third quarter on a 50-yard touchdown run, which gave him 118 yards rushing and pushed Holy Cross’ lead to 48-8.

Montrose added a late fourth-quarter touchdown, when quarterback Dylan Heeman connected with Will Ely for a 37-yard touchdown pass to make it 48-14.

Montrose          0    8   0   6 – 14

Holy Cross       7    7   34  0 – 48

Team Statistics

                              MON       HC

First Downs            14           13

Rushing-Yards   54-192    26-259

Comp-Att-Int       3-5-0      2-2-0

Passing Yards         47           60

Total Yards           239         319

Fumbles-Lost        7-5          1-1

Penalties-Yards     2-25      2-10

Individual Statistics

Rushing: MON – N. Clark 20-72; J. Lawson 15-61; E. Jones 7-30; W. Ely 3-11; B. Johnson 4-8; N. Ruszel 1-5; J. Luce 1-5; D. Heeman 1-3; D. Harder 2-(-3). 

Passing: MON – D. Heeman 1-2-0, 37, 1 TD; B. Johnson 2-3-0, 10, 1 TD.

Receiving: MON – J. Lawson 2-10, 1TD; W. Ely 1-37, 1 TD.