SWC75
Bored Historian
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Because they’ve done it before:
1957:
“The Orange were so sluggish at the start that they needed nearly 20 minutes to pick up their initial first down…For the sixth time in seven games, Syracuse won the toss and elected to receive but it didn’t help as Holy Cross had the wind to its back and when Syracuse was forced to kick after three futile plays the Crusaders got the ball in Syracuse territory four yards past midfield. After moving to the Syracuse 29 on fourth down and with four yards to go Holy Cross surprised by punting and it turned out all right for the visitors. The ball sailed into the end zone but Syracuse had to kick on fourth down from its 20. As Ringel called for a fair catch, Co-Captain Mike Bill grabbed him and the penalty started HC toward its first score. Surprisingly, the Crusaders stayed on the ground for this one, with Ringel, Surrette and Stagnone driving hard until, with 4th down and less than a yard to go, (Tom) Greene kept the ball and dived over the goal line to score. Tom converted and it was 7-0.”
Syracuse finally got going after Dick Lasse blocked a Greene punt in the second quarter. “Dick Aloise had a chance to scoop it up but fell on it at the Cross 47). Chuck Zimmerman ran 12 yards for that initial first down but then threw an interception to kill the drive. Syracuse forced another punt, which went out of bounds on the Syracuse 15. From there Syracuse’s second team marched 85 yards get back in the game. Fred Kuczala threw a pair of 17 yard passes to Ernie Jackson and Gerry Skonieczki. “On third down, after two plays lost a yard, Kuczala faded to pass, saw an opening in the left flank and raced the 16 yards to score.” Al Gerlick, the hero of the Pittsburgh game with his last second field goal, “blooped” the extra point to the left, (per Arnie Burdick), leaving the Orange still behind at 6-7.
Holy Cross had time for a quick response. “Greene threw a 37 yarder to Pecunas and a 16 yarder to Stagnone as time was running out. On the second to last play of the half, Greene threw to Ringel in the end zone but the receiver, hit by Zimmerman as he grabbed the ball, dropped it incomplete.” It was an era when quarterbacks could prevent touchdown passes. Burdick said that “Ringel took about two steps before fumbling when hit.” (But he didn’t ‘complete the play’!)
Holy Cross drove to the Orange 10 in the third quarter but lost the ball on downs. “From his own 10, Zimmerman rolled out deep to his right. Then, as he stepped into the end zone, Healy hit him and Chuck fumbled. Fred Turrin, one of the Holy Cross twins, covered the ball for one of the season’s easiest touchdowns. “. Greene again converted to make it 6-14. “Syracuse needed to score twice and few thought the Orangemen could do it.”
Ed Coffin did. He “got the Orange off to a rousing start with a 47 yard runback that brought the kickoff almost to midfield. Then Coffin got to work on the ground. For six plays, the senior fullback gained 34 yards, battling for every inch. It was second down on the six when Stephens took a pitchout, shook off tacklers at the three and scored standing up.“ Gerlick kicked the conversion but SU was still down 13-14.
Coffin ended another Crusader drive with an interception- tipped into his hands by Stephens- at the SU 11 and Jackson put them in a hole with a 48 yard punt that rolled dead at the 7. “Kicking into a strong wind, Greene could only get 21 yards on a third down punt and Syracuse was left with 31 yards to cover for the go-ahead touchdown….Stephens, swinging wide on a play from the HC one yard line… seemed trapped by Johnny kern at the 5 but he broke away to cover the distance to score and Syracuse was ahead for the first and only time.” (19-14 after Gerlick blooped another conversion.) There were 3 ½ minutes left to play. “Then Green warmed up his pitching arm again and the Crusaders bagged a victory that they richly deserved.”
Holy Cross’s response “was a dilly. This one covered 80 yards in 6 plays.” (“Against a wind that was whistling into their clenched teeth”, per Arnie Burdick, who nonetheless credited Greene with “a Daniel Boone-like accuracy”.) “After Gerlick’s kick-off Stagnone was brought to the Crusader 28, Greene pitched a 20 yard pass to Surrette to put the ball at midfield. Then Greene threw another beautiful arching pass to Ringel, who was tackled on the 9 as he made the catch. After two plays were smeared, Greene rolled out as if to pass, found an alley on the right side and ran it the final nine yards to score. When Greene missed the point after touchdown, it didn’t make a difference because the Crusaders weren’t going to lose.” There was still 1:15 left to play. “ Led by end Dave Steechi, the visitors rushed Zimmerman so hard that he couldn’t complete a pass in four tries and the Crusaders were in positon to rack up another score with the ball on the Syracuse 18 when the game ended. “
Coffin rushed for over 100 yards and didn’t score and Greene passed for more than 280 but had no touchdown passes.
1958:
“The game, played in sunny weather with the temperature in the high 60’s, say Coach Eddie Anderson’s team wrap up the statistics as well as the victory. Tom Greene’s ability to complete passes that repeatedly took Holy Cross off the hook was decisive….the Crusaders for 17 first downs to 11 for the Orange and almost matched Syracuse’s rushing yardage 154 yards to 162. In the air, Greene, who did all the passing for the winners, completed 11 of 23 for 168 yards. Meanwhile the Orange passing attack showed only 3 completions in 8 attempts for a net of 49 yards.”
“Although the Orangemen’s second team was able to do little on offense besides getting the first Syracuse touchdown, the Crusader’s first team had more trouble with the Orange reserves than they did against the Syracuse first club. Syracuse failed in its attempt to wear down the Purple with its greater depth.”
The Orange, after bumbling itself into some early holes, mounted the first drive of the game, moving well on the ground, drove to its own forty when, on third down, the orange unaccountably shifted to the air. When Zimmerman’s pass was knocked down by Bavaro, the orange was forced to kick and the Crusaders started to move. An 11 yard pass from Greene to Stecchi set up the big play, a pass in which Pecunas got loose at the 25 yard line for a fine catch and speed to the 4 where before he was knocked out of bounds by Fogarty. In three crashes against the Syracuse second team the Crusaders got only to the one. But then Joe Stagnone went wide, shook off a tackle at the 5 and dived into the end zone for the touchdown at 12:15 of the first period. The Crusaders, who had gone 75 yards in 13 plays, went into the T formation on the conversion try and Greene faked a pass, kept the ball and dived but was stopped on the one by Gerlick and Youmans. ”
Later, “Fred Mautino rushed Greene and blocked a third down pass to force a punt. When Greene, again rushed hard, got off a short kick, Greene, again rushed hard, got off a short kick, Syracuse, staying on the ground, drove to the 10 yard line. There a third down fumble, recovered by Zimmerman lost two yards and, on a try for four yards on fourth down, Kieffer got only one and the Orange lost the ball on downs.”
On the next HC possession, “Dan Fogarty intercepted Greene’s pass at the 25 and returned it to the 8. On the first play Fogarty pitched it to Ed Bowers, who went wide behind good blocking and carried a pair of HC tacklers into the end zone.” The extra point was blocked, leaving the score tied at 6-6.
“Ken Hohl intercepted a Fogarty pass after Syracuse got a break on a short punt and reached the Crusader 39….On first down Greene passed long to Ed Hayes, who caught the ball on the sidelines at the Syracuse 35. Then, with Greene passing well to keep the drive going, the Crusaders moved the ball to the Syracuse 7. After two drives by Hayes and Stagnone carried the ball within a foot of the goal line. Stagnone fumbled and Hayes recovered on the 2 yard line. When on fourth down, Stagnone tried the same wide sweep he had scored on earlier, Al Gerlick and Ger Schwedes crashed through to spill him at the 5 as the half ended.”
An Art Baker interception early in the third quarter set up a 30 yard touchdown pass from Chuck Zimmerman to Gerry Skonieczki, who made a great catch in the end zone. Baker snatched the ball at the HC 36 and returned it to the 35. “After Zimmerman carried to the 30, Chuck dropped back and fired the ball into the end zone. Skonieczki, covered by two defenders, split between them and made a brilliant diving catch in the end zone.” Rachkiewicz kicked the extra point to give SU a 13-6 lead, 3:22 into the second half. But we wouldn’t score again.
Ed Keiffer kicked a Hofrichter-like punt of 54 yards to the HC 5 later in the quarter and Greene’s return kick only went to the HC 33. But a clipping penalty stunted that drive and Keiffer punted to the HC 12 “and Holy Cross went all the way from there….With Hohl and Hayes sweeping the Orange flanks for consistent gains Greene needed only two passes in the 88 yard march to victory. One pass was a 6 yarder to Steechi, good for a first down on a fourth and one situation. The other was also a 6 yarder to Hohl. Otherwise the Crusaders ate up the Orange first team on the ground, moving steadily to within a foot of the goal, where Greene, on a keeper, dived over the goal. Trailing by 13-12, Holy Cross lined up in the T formation. Greene faked a pass, kept the ball, ran it wide to the right, then barreled into the end zone for the decisive two points. “
“After that the Crusaders marched ahead and dominated the rest of the way. The big break for the winners came when sophomore Ed Kiefer fumbled near midfield with Dave Stecchi, crusader end, recovering…That gave the Crusaders plenty of time to kill the clock as they penetrate d to the 2 yard line on a great play by soph end Tom Gilburg.”
“The desperate Orangemen mounted a magnificent last gasp bid after wresting the ball from the Crusaders on their own 6 yard line with 2:55 left to play Zimmerman completed 2 of his 3 good passes on this drive, which carried to the Holy Cross 24 yard line. Before, with time running out, Dan Rachiewicz tried an unsuccessful 30 yard field goal that only made it to the goal line.” They had no Andre Szmyt in those days.
Hey, if they could do it back then…..
(Game descriptions are from my series “The Bold, Brave Men of Archbold”)
goholycross.com
1957:
“The Orange were so sluggish at the start that they needed nearly 20 minutes to pick up their initial first down…For the sixth time in seven games, Syracuse won the toss and elected to receive but it didn’t help as Holy Cross had the wind to its back and when Syracuse was forced to kick after three futile plays the Crusaders got the ball in Syracuse territory four yards past midfield. After moving to the Syracuse 29 on fourth down and with four yards to go Holy Cross surprised by punting and it turned out all right for the visitors. The ball sailed into the end zone but Syracuse had to kick on fourth down from its 20. As Ringel called for a fair catch, Co-Captain Mike Bill grabbed him and the penalty started HC toward its first score. Surprisingly, the Crusaders stayed on the ground for this one, with Ringel, Surrette and Stagnone driving hard until, with 4th down and less than a yard to go, (Tom) Greene kept the ball and dived over the goal line to score. Tom converted and it was 7-0.”
Syracuse finally got going after Dick Lasse blocked a Greene punt in the second quarter. “Dick Aloise had a chance to scoop it up but fell on it at the Cross 47). Chuck Zimmerman ran 12 yards for that initial first down but then threw an interception to kill the drive. Syracuse forced another punt, which went out of bounds on the Syracuse 15. From there Syracuse’s second team marched 85 yards get back in the game. Fred Kuczala threw a pair of 17 yard passes to Ernie Jackson and Gerry Skonieczki. “On third down, after two plays lost a yard, Kuczala faded to pass, saw an opening in the left flank and raced the 16 yards to score.” Al Gerlick, the hero of the Pittsburgh game with his last second field goal, “blooped” the extra point to the left, (per Arnie Burdick), leaving the Orange still behind at 6-7.
Holy Cross had time for a quick response. “Greene threw a 37 yarder to Pecunas and a 16 yarder to Stagnone as time was running out. On the second to last play of the half, Greene threw to Ringel in the end zone but the receiver, hit by Zimmerman as he grabbed the ball, dropped it incomplete.” It was an era when quarterbacks could prevent touchdown passes. Burdick said that “Ringel took about two steps before fumbling when hit.” (But he didn’t ‘complete the play’!)
Holy Cross drove to the Orange 10 in the third quarter but lost the ball on downs. “From his own 10, Zimmerman rolled out deep to his right. Then, as he stepped into the end zone, Healy hit him and Chuck fumbled. Fred Turrin, one of the Holy Cross twins, covered the ball for one of the season’s easiest touchdowns. “. Greene again converted to make it 6-14. “Syracuse needed to score twice and few thought the Orangemen could do it.”
Ed Coffin did. He “got the Orange off to a rousing start with a 47 yard runback that brought the kickoff almost to midfield. Then Coffin got to work on the ground. For six plays, the senior fullback gained 34 yards, battling for every inch. It was second down on the six when Stephens took a pitchout, shook off tacklers at the three and scored standing up.“ Gerlick kicked the conversion but SU was still down 13-14.
Coffin ended another Crusader drive with an interception- tipped into his hands by Stephens- at the SU 11 and Jackson put them in a hole with a 48 yard punt that rolled dead at the 7. “Kicking into a strong wind, Greene could only get 21 yards on a third down punt and Syracuse was left with 31 yards to cover for the go-ahead touchdown….Stephens, swinging wide on a play from the HC one yard line… seemed trapped by Johnny kern at the 5 but he broke away to cover the distance to score and Syracuse was ahead for the first and only time.” (19-14 after Gerlick blooped another conversion.) There were 3 ½ minutes left to play. “Then Green warmed up his pitching arm again and the Crusaders bagged a victory that they richly deserved.”
Holy Cross’s response “was a dilly. This one covered 80 yards in 6 plays.” (“Against a wind that was whistling into their clenched teeth”, per Arnie Burdick, who nonetheless credited Greene with “a Daniel Boone-like accuracy”.) “After Gerlick’s kick-off Stagnone was brought to the Crusader 28, Greene pitched a 20 yard pass to Surrette to put the ball at midfield. Then Greene threw another beautiful arching pass to Ringel, who was tackled on the 9 as he made the catch. After two plays were smeared, Greene rolled out as if to pass, found an alley on the right side and ran it the final nine yards to score. When Greene missed the point after touchdown, it didn’t make a difference because the Crusaders weren’t going to lose.” There was still 1:15 left to play. “ Led by end Dave Steechi, the visitors rushed Zimmerman so hard that he couldn’t complete a pass in four tries and the Crusaders were in positon to rack up another score with the ball on the Syracuse 18 when the game ended. “
Coffin rushed for over 100 yards and didn’t score and Greene passed for more than 280 but had no touchdown passes.
1958:
“The game, played in sunny weather with the temperature in the high 60’s, say Coach Eddie Anderson’s team wrap up the statistics as well as the victory. Tom Greene’s ability to complete passes that repeatedly took Holy Cross off the hook was decisive….the Crusaders for 17 first downs to 11 for the Orange and almost matched Syracuse’s rushing yardage 154 yards to 162. In the air, Greene, who did all the passing for the winners, completed 11 of 23 for 168 yards. Meanwhile the Orange passing attack showed only 3 completions in 8 attempts for a net of 49 yards.”
“Although the Orangemen’s second team was able to do little on offense besides getting the first Syracuse touchdown, the Crusader’s first team had more trouble with the Orange reserves than they did against the Syracuse first club. Syracuse failed in its attempt to wear down the Purple with its greater depth.”
The Orange, after bumbling itself into some early holes, mounted the first drive of the game, moving well on the ground, drove to its own forty when, on third down, the orange unaccountably shifted to the air. When Zimmerman’s pass was knocked down by Bavaro, the orange was forced to kick and the Crusaders started to move. An 11 yard pass from Greene to Stecchi set up the big play, a pass in which Pecunas got loose at the 25 yard line for a fine catch and speed to the 4 where before he was knocked out of bounds by Fogarty. In three crashes against the Syracuse second team the Crusaders got only to the one. But then Joe Stagnone went wide, shook off a tackle at the 5 and dived into the end zone for the touchdown at 12:15 of the first period. The Crusaders, who had gone 75 yards in 13 plays, went into the T formation on the conversion try and Greene faked a pass, kept the ball and dived but was stopped on the one by Gerlick and Youmans. ”
Later, “Fred Mautino rushed Greene and blocked a third down pass to force a punt. When Greene, again rushed hard, got off a short kick, Greene, again rushed hard, got off a short kick, Syracuse, staying on the ground, drove to the 10 yard line. There a third down fumble, recovered by Zimmerman lost two yards and, on a try for four yards on fourth down, Kieffer got only one and the Orange lost the ball on downs.”
On the next HC possession, “Dan Fogarty intercepted Greene’s pass at the 25 and returned it to the 8. On the first play Fogarty pitched it to Ed Bowers, who went wide behind good blocking and carried a pair of HC tacklers into the end zone.” The extra point was blocked, leaving the score tied at 6-6.
“Ken Hohl intercepted a Fogarty pass after Syracuse got a break on a short punt and reached the Crusader 39….On first down Greene passed long to Ed Hayes, who caught the ball on the sidelines at the Syracuse 35. Then, with Greene passing well to keep the drive going, the Crusaders moved the ball to the Syracuse 7. After two drives by Hayes and Stagnone carried the ball within a foot of the goal line. Stagnone fumbled and Hayes recovered on the 2 yard line. When on fourth down, Stagnone tried the same wide sweep he had scored on earlier, Al Gerlick and Ger Schwedes crashed through to spill him at the 5 as the half ended.”
An Art Baker interception early in the third quarter set up a 30 yard touchdown pass from Chuck Zimmerman to Gerry Skonieczki, who made a great catch in the end zone. Baker snatched the ball at the HC 36 and returned it to the 35. “After Zimmerman carried to the 30, Chuck dropped back and fired the ball into the end zone. Skonieczki, covered by two defenders, split between them and made a brilliant diving catch in the end zone.” Rachkiewicz kicked the extra point to give SU a 13-6 lead, 3:22 into the second half. But we wouldn’t score again.
Ed Keiffer kicked a Hofrichter-like punt of 54 yards to the HC 5 later in the quarter and Greene’s return kick only went to the HC 33. But a clipping penalty stunted that drive and Keiffer punted to the HC 12 “and Holy Cross went all the way from there….With Hohl and Hayes sweeping the Orange flanks for consistent gains Greene needed only two passes in the 88 yard march to victory. One pass was a 6 yarder to Steechi, good for a first down on a fourth and one situation. The other was also a 6 yarder to Hohl. Otherwise the Crusaders ate up the Orange first team on the ground, moving steadily to within a foot of the goal, where Greene, on a keeper, dived over the goal. Trailing by 13-12, Holy Cross lined up in the T formation. Greene faked a pass, kept the ball, ran it wide to the right, then barreled into the end zone for the decisive two points. “
“After that the Crusaders marched ahead and dominated the rest of the way. The big break for the winners came when sophomore Ed Kiefer fumbled near midfield with Dave Stecchi, crusader end, recovering…That gave the Crusaders plenty of time to kill the clock as they penetrate d to the 2 yard line on a great play by soph end Tom Gilburg.”
“The desperate Orangemen mounted a magnificent last gasp bid after wresting the ball from the Crusaders on their own 6 yard line with 2:55 left to play Zimmerman completed 2 of his 3 good passes on this drive, which carried to the Holy Cross 24 yard line. Before, with time running out, Dan Rachiewicz tried an unsuccessful 30 yard field goal that only made it to the goal line.” They had no Andre Szmyt in those days.
Hey, if they could do it back then…..
(Game descriptions are from my series “The Bold, Brave Men of Archbold”)
Thomas W. Greene - 2015-16 - Athletics - Holy Cross Athletics
Thomas W. GreeneStudent-Athlete - Greene attended Holy Cross after astarry career at Loyola High in Baltimore where in 1954 he wasselected the outstanding high
goholycross.com
