WORCESTER, Mass, - The Holy Cross football team evened its record at 1-1 with a 42-34 victory over Georgetown this afternoon in front of 6,142 fans at Fitton Field.  Georgetown falls to 0-2 on the season with both losses suffered against league opponents. The two teams combined for 867 yards of total offense with Georgetown racking up 308 yards passing and 113 yards rushing. Luke McArdle (Boxford, Mass./Masconomet Regional) had a career day receiving bringing in five balls for 190 yards and four TDs plus running back Marcus Slayton (Cleveland, Ohio/Benedictine) posted 106 yards rushing.

The Crusaders got the ball rolling early taking the opening kickoff and marching 66 yards in six plays capped off by a five-yard touchdown run by Joshua Ruffin. After the two teams exchanged punts, Georgetown quarterback Andrew Crawford (Superior, Colo./Fairview) found a streaking McArdle for a 68-yard score to knot the score at seven with 4:55 remaining in the first quarter. It was the first of four TDs the two Hoyas combined for in the contest.

The score would remain deadlocked at seven until with 3:29 left to play, O'Neill connected with senior wide receiver Ari Confesor on a 10-yard scoring strike to give HC a seven-point lead. Georgetown quickly answered as Crawford and McArdle hooked up for a 40-yard TD pass with 48 seconds remaining before halftime. The game seemed destined to head into halftime tied until Silva rushed for 19 yards to bring the ball to the Hoya 47-yard line with 20 seconds left. O'Neill then found sophomore Sean Gruber for a 47-yard touchdown pass to give Holy Cross a 21-14 lead heading into the half.

HC carried that momentum into the third quarter holding Georgetown to just 25 yards of total offense in the quarter and turning two turnovers into 14 points. The Crusaders outscored the Hoyas, 21-0 in the quarter racking up 211 yards of total offense in the quarter. At the end of the third quarter the Hoyas were in a 42-14 hole.

Georgetown refused to go away however scoring 20 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to eight points with 5:56 left to play. The scoring spree started with freshman Alondzo Turner (Capitol Heights, Md./Bladensburg) stepping in at quarterback to ignite the offense on a 66-yard drive ending with Turner’s career first touchdown. It was the second game in a row that Turner jump-started the Hoya offense. Crawford and McArdle hooked up twice for an 11-yard score and a 55-yard bomb to cut the Holy Cross lead. After HC ran two minutes off the clock, it was forced to punt and the Hoyas got the ball with 2:56 left in the game on their own 22-yard line. The Crusaders defense stepped up the pressure however and forced Georgetown to turn the ball over on downs. Holy Cross then ran out the clock to hold on to its first victory of the season.