Holy Cross fifth-year seniors are hungry for another Patriot League football title
WORCESTER — Holy Cross running back Peter Oliver had a decision to make last November before the Crusaders’ Senior Day game against Lafayette.
Seniors, like Oliver, who would be returning to HC for a fifth season in 2022 would not be taking part in the traditional Senior Day postgame ceremony on Fitton Field.
“I said, ‘No way is this going to be my last game on Fitton,’ ” said Oliver, the former St. John’s High star from Auburn.
Oliver and 13 of his classmates, taking advantage of the NCAA’s extra year of eligibility due to the pandemic, are back for a fifth year at HC and with grand expectations.
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“Everyone here has one goal in mind,” fifth-year cornerback John Smith said, “and that’s to win a national championship. We want nothing less than that.”
The Patriot League normally caps the football roster number at 90, but member institutions may exceed that roster size for exempted student-athletes receiving a league eligibility waiver as a result of COVID-19. HC currently has 99 players on its roster.
“We’re lucky that 14 of them chose to come back,” Holy Cross coach Bob Chesney said. “They could have gone to grad school or had jobs lined up, and they decided to put those on pause and finish this season with their team. In a way, we’re benefiting from COVID in this piece, but so is everybody else. At the same time, we like our guys, and to have that leadership and be able to get close to 100 on the roster, which has never really happened in Patriot League play before, puts us in a good position.”
In addition to Oliver and Smith, who were both first-team All-Patriot League performers last season, offensive linemen Nick Olsofka, Grady Smith and Jack McCauley, wide receiver Spencer Gilliam, defensive linemen Jake Reichwein and Dan Kuznetsov, linebackers Liam Doran and Liam Anderson, defensive backs Walter Reynolds, Terrell Prince and Cristos Argys, and placekicker Derek Ng are back with the Crusaders.
“The relationships I built here were too special to leave behind,” Smith said. “Just coming back to play one more season with these guys means the world to me.”
Olsofka, Kuznetsov, Anderson, Prince and Ng were also first-team All-PL selections in 2021.
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“It was just the culture and the coaching staff that we have that made it too good of an opportunity to pass up,” Anderson said. “All of us fifth-years felt the same way, and we knew that something was brewing here, especially for this season.”
The Crusaders, who finished 10-3 last season and with their most wins since 1991, are seeking their fourth straight league title. They are the preseason PL favorite and ranked No. 16 in the Stats Perform preseason FCS poll.
After Senior Day, the Crusaders did end up getting one more home game last season when they hosted — and beat — Sacred Heart in the first round of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. In the second round, HC battled at No. 6 Villanova before falling by five points.
“A big part of this offseason,” Anderson said, “is ‘How can we take it to the next level?’ ”
Certainly, the 2022 Crusaders have talent, depth, experience and leadership to do that. The fifth-year players have created a winning atmosphere.
“These are the guys that really built the program,” senior linebacker Jacob Dobbs said, “and they have built an amazing culture. It’s been a phenomenal honor to be a part of. You have those guys leading from the front, and you become part of it, and we continue to try to build the best culture possible.”
HC’s younger players have great mentors to emulate.
“Coach Chesney talks about doing everything right,” Smith said. “All the little things —they all matter. We’re instilling that into the younger guys and getting them acclimated to our culture that we’ve established here.”
HC’s fifth-year players have academic requirements to fulfill while they conclude their college football careers. Oliver, for example, is finishing a second major, in Spanish, and Anderson, who finished his economics major, added a minor in digital media studies.
“For me, (coming back for a fifth season) was a no-brainer,” Oliver said. “I got to add another major, which is pretty cool, and everything about the program I love. I love playing on Fitton. Having so many leaders back, I think it’s an important thing for the culture because so many of us have been here for so long, we know how we want this team to be.”
—Contact Jennifer Toland at jennifer.toland@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @JenTolandTG.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Holy Cross fifth-year seniors are hungry for another Patriot League football title
