ALMEDIA – Facing a fourth-and-17 from just over midfield with the game tied 8-8 late in the second quarter, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech coach Mark Varner, as he often does in such situations, elected to go for it rather than punt the ball away to Holy Cross.
Having completed just one of his first 12 pass attempts, CMVT Myles Koser lofted a ball toward the left sideline and into the waiting hands of Logan Bracey, who had gotten past his defender. Bracey’s reception went for 39 yards and set up CMVT at the Holy Cross 7-yard line. One play later, Braxtyn Brown punched it in for a seven-yard touchdown run and after a successful two-point conversion, the Rams took a 16-8 lead into halftime.
“It’s well known that I don’t like to punt, and both of our punters (Mason Haught and Axton Koser) went down, so we weren’t punting the rest of this game,” said CMVT coach Mark Varner. “We ran a post wheel, great throw and great catch by Bracey. That’s a senior stepping up big time and that was huge, it got us out of a hole instead of giving it to them near midfield and we hadn’t been able to do much through the air to that point. It definitely turned the momentum in our favor heading into halftime.”
That play was the first of two key long receptions made by CMVT that extended drives and later led to touchdowns, and those two plays, combined with some key defensive stops, led the way for a 24-14 win for CMVT over the Crusaders.
The win improves the Rams to 4-1, marking the first time since 2010 they have had a 4-1 record to start the season, although one of those wins was by forfeit. The last time CMVT started 4-1 with all four wins coming on the field was in 2007.
“We had them at fourth-and-17, and we preached pre-game and throughout the week what they were going to do, we knew what they were going to do and we just didn’t cover it,” said Holy Cross coach Joe Giorgio. “Defensively, our linebackers and line played a great game, we hit well, just had a couple of breakdowns in the secondary, two big plays, which as far as I’m concerned were the difference in the game.”
The other long completion and subsequent score for the Rams happened midway through the fourth quarter, and that sequence gave CMVT a 24-8 lead with just 5:47 to go in the game. Facing a third-and-8 from his own 26, Koser dropped back and once again found Bracey down the left sideline, who had again got past his defender, and this time Bracey turned it into a 57-yard gain. Two plays later, Brown once again put the finishing touches on the drive with a 12-yard touchdown run.
That pass was one of just three attempts by Koser in the second half, but he completed them all, and overall completed his last four passes of the game to finish with 126 passing yards.
“I think Myles just calmed down a little bit. He was amped up a little bit in the first half, overthrowing a little bit. He’s got a big arm and just needs to take a little bit off sometimes,” said Varner.
The Crusaders answered CMVT’s fourth quarter touchdown with one of their own as quarterback Josh Lentowski got loose on a bootleg and eluded a handful of defenders for a 41-yard touchdown run. But the two-point conversion failed, leaving Holy Cross still down by two scores with just 5:22 remaining in the game.
Although they stopped CMVT on downs near midfield, Holy Cross went four-and-out and turned the ball back over to the Rams with just 2:00 left, and CMVT ran out the clock.
“This was probably one of the hardest hitting games I’ve coached in a long time. Both teams just brought it and hit hard and obviously it shows with us a little banged up,” said Varner. “We dug deep. We didn’t play great today by any means, but when it counted, we did our job and we won the game.
“Our defense stepped up, and every time we needed a big play, we got one. We made a mistake with a roughing the passer penalty, then came back and got a sack, so we bent but didn’t break. I’d rather win ugly than lose pretty, and we won ugly today.”
While the Rams came away with the win, it may have come at a cost, as starters Mason Haught, Axton Koser and Liam Bloom all left the game due to injury at various points and did not return. Haught and Koser usually split the punting duties, so the Rams were without a punter for about half the game.
The Rams had squandered a pair of golden opportunities early on, as CMVT drove all the way down to the Holy Cross 2-yard line, and then 4-yard line on their first two possessions, only to come up empty after turning it over on downs both times.
“We normally put those in and we have to put those in. We weren’t hungry enough for the end zone. I think with some of them going in so easy last week, so we have to do a better job there, so that’s what we’ll stress this week,” said Varner.
They would finally capitalize on their third possession, as they took advantage of outstanding field position, starting the drive on the Holy Cross 24. Six plays later, Myles Koser found Axton Koser in the end zone for a 15-yard touchdown pass, and with Brown’s two-point conversion made it 8-0.
But that score was almost immediately answered by the Crusaders as they recovered an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff, then got a 31-yard completion by Lentowski to Henry Chilewski, followed by a 25-yard touchdown run by Leland Wudarski and subsequent two-point conversion to tie the game. Holy Cross was also down a starter, as starting running back Aidan Wudarski was injured on Holy Cross’ second play from scrimmage after he had ripped off a 26-yard run one play earlier.
“Offensively, we moved the ball pretty well, but just had some breakdowns, so we need to get better,” said Giorgio. “(Losing Wudarski) definitely hurt us but the next guy needs to step up and I thought Henry did a pretty good job running the ball, Leland ran well. We had guys open downfield but just didn’t make the plays.”
Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech 24, Holy Cross 14
Holy Cross (2-3) 0 8 0 6 – 14
CMVT (4-1) 0 16 0 8 – 24
Second quarter
11:50 – (VT) Axton Koser 15-yard pass from Myles Koser (Brown run), 6-24, 2:01
11:02 – (HC) Leland Wudarski 25-yard run (Vincent pass from Lentowski), 2-56, :48
3:11 – (VT) Braxtyn Brown 7-yard run (Koser pass from Koser), 10-83, 4:21
Fourth quarter
5:47 – (VT) Braxtyn Brown 12-yard run (Bracey pass from Koser), 5-76, 2:56
5:22 – (HC) Josh Lentowski 41-yard run (run failed), 3-51, :25
Statistics
HC VT
First downs 12 14
Rushes-net yards 28-169 43-227
Passing yardage 35 126
Passing 4-15-0-1 5-16-1-0
Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-yards 3-32 7-70
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Holy Cross: Josh Lentowski (10-17-1), Leland Wudarski (8-98-1), Henry Chilewski (8-30), Aiden Wudarski (2-24); CMVT: Braxtyn Brown (34-190-2), Mason Haught (3-28), Charlie Sego (2-8), Elijah Treon (2-1), Myles Koser (1-1), Team (1-(-1))
PASSING: Holy Cross: Josh Lentowski (4-15-35-0-1); CMVT: Myles Koser (5-16-126-1-0)
RECEIVING: Holy Cross: Henry Chilewski (1-31), Austin Bicking (1-4), Freddy Ceccacci (1-1), Leland Wudarski (1-(-1)); CMVT: Logan Bracey (2-96), Axton Koser (1-15-1), Elijah Treon (1-8), Landon Hipps (1-7)
