WORCESTER, Mass. — Bucknell held the high-scoring Holy Cross offense without a point until the final seconds of the first half, but the Crusaders overcame a 10-0 deficit and scored 34 of the game’s final 41 points to defeat the Bison 34-17 Saturday afternoon at Fitton Field.
Holy Cross quarterback Dominic Randolph was 38-of-49 passing for 398 yards and four touchdowns. Three hundred of his yards came in the final 31 minutes of play.
Bucknell (4-4, 1-2 PL) suffered its first road loss of the season and dropped its fourth consecutive contest to the Crusaders, who improved to 5-3 overall and 3-0 in Patriot League play. It was their fourth straight win.
Holy Cross, which was averaging 36 points per game, piled up 532 yards, its second-highest total of the season, while Bucknell totaled 338 yards, including 245 through the air as Marcello Trigg threw for 158 before leaving the game late in the first half with a leg injury. Andrew Lair came on in relief and was 5-of-11 for 87 yards and one touchdown.
The Bison opened the scoring midway through the first quarter when A.J. Kizekai caught a pass from Trigg in the left flat, dodged a tackle and sprinted down the sideline for a 79-yard touchdown. It was his fourth career touchdown of at least 75 yards, and Bucknell’s longest play from scrimmage this season.
Holy Cross had chances to get on the scoreboard, but a missed 36-yard field goal and a Greg Jones interception near the goal line kept the score 7-0 into the final minutes of the first half.
Following Jones’ interception, the second of his career, Bucknell took possession at the 11-yard line with just under three minutes left in the half. A 53-yard pass from Trigg to Josh Lee helped the Bison get within field-goal range. The drive stalled after Trigg exited the game and Will Carney connected on a career-long 47-yarder to put Bucknell up 10-0 with 51 seconds remaining in the half.
It appeared as though the Bison would take a 10-0 advantage into the locker room, but Randolph engineered a six-play, 63-yard scoring drive that took just 44 seconds. Randolph, who threw for 63 of his 161 first-half yards on the drive, found Jon Brock in the right corner of the end zone from 20 yards out to make the score 10-7.
The Crusaders offense got in gear in the second half as it scored the first 24 points to go up 31-10 in the fourth quarter. Holy Cross scored on five of its six second-half possessions and held the ball for more than 20 minutes.
After a fumble and three punts, two of which were blocked, on its first four possessions of the second half, Bucknell scored with 6:04 remaining when Lair found Shaun Pasternak from 11 yards out. It was the eighth touchdown catch of the season for Pasternak.
Kizekai led the Bison with 254 all-purpose yards, including 119 on kickoff returns. Kizekai combined with Lee for 177 of Bucknell’s 245 receiving yards, while Lair had 50 rushing yards on 11 attempts. Linebackers Casey Williams (10) and Travis Nissley (9) led the Bison in tackles.
Randolph, who has now thrown for nearly 2,700 yards this season, spread his passes around to 10 different receivers.
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Holy Cross rolls in second half to knock off Bucknell
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