Yale will take the win and begin preparations for next week's game at Dartmouth but the reality was that there was more drama in the Bulldogs' 31-28 win over Holy Cross than necessary.
Aided by a pair of Bobby Abare interceptions, a fumble recovery by Paul Rice and a methodical 17-play scoring drive, Yale took a 21-7 lead into halftime.
Despite four second-half drives into Holy Cross territory, the Bulldogs failed to score in the third and fourth quarters.
Holy Cross quarterback Dominic Randolph engineered 91 and 90-yard scoring drives in the fourth quarter to send the game into overtime. Yale escaped when Matt Partain missed a 37-yard field goal in the second overtime.
A few thoughts:
Abare was absolutely brilliant with 10 tackles, one interception in the end zone and another which he returned 32 yards for a score. Fellow senior linebacker Jay Pilkerton was also extremely active.
Running room was hard to come by again for Mike McLeod but with 39 carries, he did manage to record his first 100-yard game of the season with 131 yards. McLeod went down late in the fourth quarter with a ankle injury but he returned in overtime. Center Ty Davis also was injured but returned. Other than that, Yale appeared to come out of the game in good shape physically.
The two-quarterback experiment appears to be over as senior Ryan Fodor played the entire game and was 17 of 23 for 142 yards and 2 TD passes.
Tom Mante's brilliant season punting the ball continues. His average of 36.6 yards on nine punts may not seem that impressive but six of the punts landed inside the 20, a seventh was placed perfectly and was nearly downed inside the five and Holy Cross' dangerous punt-return game accounted for six yards on five returns.
Travis Henry, starting for injured starter Brady Hart at defensive end, had six tackles and a crucial pass breakup to force Holy Cross to attempt a field goal in the second overtime. When the kick fluttered wide left, Yale celebrated a three-point win.
Yale's JV team will be back in action Sunday when Brown comes to Clint Frank Field at noon.
Nothing against Brook Hart but giving Ryan Fodor all the snaps allows him to get into the flow of the game as it progresses which should help the team as the season unfolds. Brook looks like a future superstar because of his size and already acquired skills.
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