ALMEDIA – Having scored just two touchdowns through its first five games, and been outscored by a lot, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech was looking for some improvement at the very least after installing a new offense as it opened the second half of its season with a home game Saturday afternoon against Holy Cross.
With the new offense intended to give multiple running options and in a driving rain that most of the game was played in from the passing Nor’easter, CMVT turned in its best offensive performance of the season, which included equaling their season output of touchdowns in the first quarter alone and outgaining the Crusaders for the game.
But turnovers and failed fourth down conversions that produced a field position disadvantage proved to be too much for the Rams to overcome as Holy Cross capitalized off both CMVT turnovers and came away with a 41-16 win over the Rams.
“We’re been working on this (new offense) for about two-and-a-half weeks, but it’s a work in progress to install something new,” said CMVT coach Mark Varner. “With all of our injuries, we don’t have a traditional drop-back quarterback, so we had to do something else. We’re finally getting the knack of it and I thought we played well today. We just need to cut down on our mistakes – the fumbles, the big-play scores for them. We cut down on that, we’re in the game.”
The Rams had more yards than Holy Cross, 271-204, with all of their yards coming on the ground as they did not throw the ball once. Liam Patraw led the way with 114 yards on 20 carries, while Blake Sponenberg had 95 on 17 carries and scored both CMVT touchdowns.
Sponenberg capped a nine-play, 76-yard drive off the opening kickoff for the Rams with a 10-yard touchdown run. Cody Zimmerman added 33 rushing yards on four carries on that drive while rotating at quarterback with Sponenberg, but was hurt on the last one of those carries and had to leave the game and did not return.
Sponenberg added another rushing touchdown later in the first quarter, this one a 62-yarder that tied the game 14-14 with 2:19 left in the first.
But after picking up 147 yards in the first quarter, the Rams only managed 124 more yards the rest of the game, as Holy Cross’ defense hunkered down and kept the Rams off the scoreboard for the remainder of the game. A fourth quarter safety was the only other points the Rams could manage on the afternoon, and CMVT was just 1-of-6 on fourth down conversions.
“We kind of came out really flat. I don’t know if it was the letdown after the win last week or the ride down, but we just weren’t into the game early,” said Holy Cross coach Joe Giorgio. “We changed up the defense a little and that seemed to give them a little bit more of a problem, but I think the bigger thing was just the fact that we woke up, finally.”
Holy Cross’ average starting field position over its first eight possessions of the game was the CMVT 38-yard line, compared to CMVT’s own 25 for the Rams’ first 10 possessions.
A 75-yard kickoff return for touchdown by Luca Berardi immediately after Sponenberg’s first touchdown provided an immediate answer to the Rams.
The Crusaders then forced one of the Rams’ two turnovers and took over at the CMVT 21-yard line. Seven plays later, Chase Rutkoski capped the drive with a one-yard touchdown run to give Holy Cross a 14-8 lead with 2:38 left in the first quarter.
After Sponenberg’s second touchdown it was largely all Crusaders for the remainder of the game. The Rams went for it from their own 42 early in the second quarter and failed, giving the Crusaders the ball at the Ram 35, and one play later, Chris Transue got loose for a 35-yard touchdown run, giving Holy Cross a 20-14 lead with 8:53 remaining in the first half.
CMVT’s second lost fumble came later in the second quarter and the Crusaders recovered at the Ram 24. Two plays later, Rutkoski hit Berardi for a 24-yard touchdown reception, and then hit Tyler Kohut for the two-point conversion, making it 28-14 heading into halftime. Rutkoski threw for a pair of touchdowns and had 76 yards passing but completed just 4-of-14 passes.
“We’re still not executing like we should be. We need to give our quarterback more time to throw the ball because we do have receivers open but he needs to have time to throw the ball,” said Giorgio.
The Crusaders kept the momentum going to start the second half, as they received the second half kickoff and put together a seven-play, 58-yard drive capped by Rutkoski’s 14-yard touchdown pass to Kohut, making it 35-14.
Holy Cross then again came up with a fourth down stop on CMVT’s half of the field, taking over at the CMVT 45. From there, they proceeded to put together a five-play drive capped by a two-yard touchdown run by Noah Davis to extend their lead to 41-14 with 3:58 remaining in the third quarter.
The Crusaders then stopped the Rams twice inside their 5-yard line in the fourth quarter and while that sequence did eventually give the Rams a safety, Holy Cross was able to keep CMVT out of the end zone.
The first play of the fourth quarter was a 13-yard pickup by the Rams to give them a first-and-goal at the Holy Cross 1-yard line. The Crusaders stopped four straight runs by the Rams shy of the goal line.
After a punt gave the ball back to the Rams beginning at the Holy Cross 24, the Rams got as close as the 3-yard line before once again turning it over on downs.
“With Cody going out, the majority of the plays fell on Blake and that just wore him out a bit,” said Varner. “We wanted to have about 50-50 between the two of them at quarterback, but then it had to be about 75 percent for Blake and he just wore down.”
Holy Cross 41, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech 14
Holy Cross (2-2) 14 14 13 0 – 41
CMVT (0-6) 14 0 0 2 – 16
First quarter
7:34 – (VT) Blake Sponenberg 10-yard run (Sponenberg run), 9-76, 4:26
7:23 – (HC) Luca Berardi 75-yard kickoff return (kick failed)
2:38 – (HC) Chase Rutkoski 1-yard run (Berardi pass from Rutkoski), 7-21, 3:08
2:19 – (VT) Blake Sponenberg 62-yard run (run failed), 1-62, :19
Second quarter
8:53 – (HC) Chris Transue 35-yard run (pass failed), 1-35, :10
:35 – (HC) Luca Berardi 24-yard pass from Chase Rutkoski (Kohut pass from Rutkoski), 2-24, :13
Third quarter
8:38 – (HC) Tyler Kohut 14-yard pass from Chase Rutkoski (Patino kick), 7-58, 3:22
3:58 – (HC) Noah Davis 2-yard run (kick blocked), 5-45, 2:14
Fourth quarter
3:19 – (VT) Team Safety
Statistics
HC VT
First downs 12 13
Rushes-net yards 26-128 56-271
Passing yardage 76 0
Passing 4-14-2-0 0-0-0-0
Fumbles-lost 3-0 5-2
Penalties-yards 5-31 6-39
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Holy Cross: Naim Ortiz (9-70), Chris Transue (8-51-1), Noah Davis (4-31-1), Chase Rutkoski (4-(-3)-1), Team (1-(-21)); CMVT: Liam Patraw (20-114), Blake Sponenberg (17-95-2), Hoyt Kelley (6-17), Keegan Moyer (5-8), Cody Zimmerman (4-33), Wyatt Bodnar (4-4)
PASSING: Holy Cross: Chase Rutkoski (4-14-76-2-0); CMVT: None
RECEIVING: Holy Cross: Luca Berardi (2-34-1), Chris Transue (1-28), Tyler Kohut (1-14-1); CMVT: None