WORCESTER, MASS. - The football team's 35-30 loss to the College of the Holy Cross on Saturday had many of the same components of its two previous losses to Harvard and the University of Rhode Island. Brown started off slow, falling behind 28-10 in the third quarter, and again put together a late comeback that fell short.
Against the Crusaders, however, Brown had multiple opportunities to climb back into the game, but numerous mental mistakes prevented the Bears from evening their record. Three 15-yard personal foul penalties, an offside penalty on third-and-two that extended the Crusaders' final scoring drive, a pair of interceptions and numerous dropped passes were just some of the problems that plagued Brown, which fell to 1-3 overall (0-1 Ivy League) heading into its Friday night contest at Princeton.
When asked what was most disappointing about the game, Head Coach Phil Estes vented his anger over his team's willingness to beat itself.
"The (expletive) bad penalties. The undisciplined, bad penalties that give them first downs, that give them 15 yards, that take away anything we have going (all cost us)," he said. "We're having a hard enough time as it is. That's a sign of frustration and not winning and not being able to stop anyone (on defense). We have to learn that you've got to earn all that you get."
The first back-breaking penalty came late in the second quarter, when Brown had just cut the Crusader lead to 14-10. With Holy Cross at the Bears' 42-yard line and facing a third-and-five situation, Brown's defense forced an incomplete pass to bring up fourth down. However, after the whistle, linebacker Nkosi Still '08 knocked a Holy Cross wide receiver to the ground and appeared to trip him. He was flagged for a personal foul that gave the Crusaders a new set of downs and field position inside the Bears' 30-yard line. Holy Cross took advantage of the gift and scored with only 10 seconds remaining in the first half to make the score 21-10.
The penalty was especially ill-timed because it would have been the first Crusader punt. Prior to that third down stop, Holy Cross had converted three of its four third down attempts and had scored on two of its first three possessions.
In the second half, defensive back Matt Mullenax '08, in his first significant action since sustaining an ankle injury in the first game of the season, committed a personal foul on a Bears punt. Mullenax shoved the Crusaders' returner to the ground away from the play, moving Holy Cross' starting point from its 29-yard line to its 44. Though the Bears' defense forced a three-and-out, Holy Cross pinned Brown on its own 5-yard-line, and quarterback and tri-captain Joe DiGiacomo '07 was intercepted two plays later as he tried to move Brown out of the shadow of its own end zone. That turnover led to another Crusader touchdown that brought the score to 28-10.
For the third straight game, Brown abandoned any attempt to run the ball early on. DiGiacomo was forced to throw 51 times for 401 yards and three touchdowns but was intercepted twice. Once again, the Bears struggled to find a rhythm on offense and finished with 44 rushing yards on 24 attempts.
"We didn't even try to run the ball," Estes said. "If we ever get a lead then maybe you'll see our running game."
Even down 28-10, the Bears refused to go away. They cut the deficit to 28-17 on a fluky, 61-yard scoring strike from DiGiacomo to wideout Lonnie Hill '07 by way of tight end Mathew Krevis '07 and a Crusader defensive back.
With six minutes to go in the third quarter, DiGiacomo dropped back to pass on second-and-10 from his own 39. He fired a bullet 25 yards down the middle of the field that bounced off Krevis' hands. The ball ricocheted off a Crusader defender and back toward the line of scrimmage. Trailing five yards behind the play, the ball settled into Hill's hands, and he sprinted the final 40-some yards to the end zone, outrunning three stunned Crusaders in the process.
"Someone must have been looking down on us and decided to help us out a bit because we didn't have anything going our way until then," Hill said. "It was something that we really needed at the time to get (the offense) going."
On the ensuing possession, the Bears' defense forced a stop, and DiGiacomo then hit wideout Paul Raymond '08 for a 22-yard score with 8:38 remaining to cut the lead to 28-23.
Holy Cross, however, went 80 yards in eight plays on its next drive to push its lead to 35-23. The Bears had an opportunity to halt the Crusaders' advance on third-and-two at Brown's 35-yard line, but linebacker and tri-captain Zak DeOssie '07 was whistled for an offside penalty trying to anticipate the snap count.
With 4:59 remaining, Brown went 66 yards and scored a final touchdown to make the Crusaders sweat. The Bears converted three fourth down attempts on the drive, and Akin Oyalowo '07 plunged in from the 1 for the score.
"The main thing was we didn't play well on offense," Hill said. "We like to go to the hurry-up offense because it helps our momentum usually, but we had a lot of drives stall today."
Unfortunately, a perfect onside kick from Steve Morgan '08 landed at the feet of Herald Staff Writer Justin Amoah '07, but the Bears were unable to emerge from the pile with the ball. Holy Cross ran off the last 90 seconds on the clock for the win.
"We made too many mistakes on offense that we need to cut down on," DiGiacomo said. "It's disappointing any time you lose a game you should win."
Even the referees worked against Brown on the long afternoon. On Holy Cross' first scoring drive of the day, an ineligible receiver penalty was called on second down. Brown accepted the penalty when the field judge told Estes it would be a 10-yard penalty. In reality, it was a 5-yard penalty, and the Bears were forced to accept it anyway, much to Estes' chagrin.
"If it's second-and-20 then we take the penalty," Estes said. "He said it was a 10-yard penalty and that's why we accepted it. He knows it; the whole sideline heard him say it."
Despite the loss, Brown still remains very much in the hunt for the Ivy League title with only one lo ss in the league and six conference games remaining. The Bears are hoping Friday night's match-up with Princeton underneath the lights will bring the best out of them - something that has been missing so far this season.
"This (1-3 start) will build some character," Hill said. "We're not a 1-3 team. The non-conference games are really preparation for the Ivies. We are absolutely looking forward to going to Princeton getting back into Ivy play."
