WORCESTER, Mass. – The crowd of 15,117 that braved a rainy afternoon at Fitton Field was rewarded with a highly entertaining game. It was the soggy Yale fans that went home happy.
Nathan Denney's 3-yard touchdown run with 12 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter lifted the Bulldogs to a thrilling 38-31 victory over Holy Cross in the season opener for Team151.
While it was the opener for Yale, Holy Cross (1-3) was playing its fourth game of the young season.
TURNING POINT
After Holy Cross tied the score at 31 on Jayden Clerveaux's third touchdown run of the afternoon with 3:35 remaining, the Bulldogs answered with a 9-play, 64-yard drive that used up a majority of the remaining time. A key moment in the drive came when Holy Cross was called for a pass interference penalty on fourth down. Denney capped the drive with his 3-yard TD run up the middle. The Crusaders got to the Yale 43-yard line after the ensuing kickoff, but a desperation heave to the end zone was knocked away as time expired.
BACK AND FORTH
Yale scored the first points of the game on quarterback
Brogan McCaughey's 3-yard touchdown run on the opening drive. From there, the teams traded points. The score was tied at 7-7, 14-14, 17-17, 24-24 and 31-31. The Bulldogs, though, never trailed.
McCAUGHEY SHINES IN RELIEF
McCaughey was forced into action on Yale's first drive when starter
Grant Jordan suffered an injury. McCaughey went on to complete 18-of-32 passes for 217 yards and one touchdown, while orchestrating the game-winning drive.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Receiver
Mason Shipp made a spectacular, one-handed catch to set up Yale's fourth touchdown, which came two plays later on a Denney 5-yard run.
KEY STATS
The teams combined for 45 first downs and 820 yards of total offense.
NOTES
• Yale was playing its season opener against Holy Cross for the sixth straight season. The win over the Crusaders was Yale's first in the series since a 23-10 victory in 2019.
•
David Pantelis led Yale with six receptions for 95 yards, including a 24-yard touchdown reception.
• Shipp added five catches for 74 yards.
• Denney finished with 80 rushing yards and a career-high two touchdowns.
• Captain
Dean Shaffer had a team-high nine tackles.
QUOTING RENO
"The game was two good teams fighting it out to the end," said
Tony Reno, The Joel E. Smilow '54 Head Coach of the Bulldogs. "I give Holy Cross a lot of credit. They fought hard. We were just able to stay with it. We made a lot of first-game mistakes that we need to correct, but I'm so proud of how we battled. I told the team this week a perfect game for me would be where we have to find a way to score and make a stop in the last two minutes, and we did."
WHAT'S NEXT
Yale opens Ivy League play next Saturday at Cornell. The opening kickoff is slated for 2 p.m. in Ithaca.
