Turnovers cost UNH

DURHAM – The University of New Hampshire football team’s defense turned in a big effort against Holy Cross on Saturday afternoon at Fitton Field, but it was not quite enough and the Wildcats dropped their season opener, 13-10.

UNH interim head coach Ricky Santos made his debut as the leader on the sideline. Santos took over as head coach when Sean McDonnell announced on Aug. 26 that he was taking a leave of absence to deal with health issues.

Sophomore safety Pop Bush had nine tackles Saturday to lead a Wildcat defense that gave up 315 yards of offense and did not allow a touchdown.

Sophomore running back Carlos Washington, Jr. carried 18 times for 107 yards and scored UNH’s only TD on a 19-yard run in the fourth quarter. That score gave the Wildcats their only lead at 10-6 with 6:52 left in the game.

Bush and the UNH defense stopped Holy Cross on the UNH 2-yard line with two minutes left in the game. But on the next play Washington fumbled coming out of the end zone and the ball was recovered by Joe Lang for the winning score.

“First and foremost, our kids fought all the way to the end,” Santos said. “You’ve got to give credit to the senior leadership. I thought the defense did a phenomenal job of giving us a chance to win. That team we faced today played their butts off. That’s a great-coached team and they played hard.”

The Wildcats used a pair of young quarterbacks in the game. Redshirt freshman Bret Edwards started and played the first half. Freshman Max Brosmer played the second half and led UNH on its scoring drives to a field goal and the TD.

Brosmer completed 8 of his 16 passes for 106 yards. Edwards completed 7 of his 18 for throws for 97 yards. Each had one pass intercepted.

The Wildcats turned the ball over three times, but were unable to collect any turnovers themselves.

“At the end of the day we’ve got to be cleaner,” Santos said. “We had too many penalties and we had a couple of turnovers. We didn’t do a good job getting the ball out. The theme of the whole game was missed opportunities. On offense, we have to be much better. We’ve got to be better at the quarterback position and we’ve got to be smarter with the ball.”

Holy Cross is now 1-1 on the season.

NOTEWORTHY

• Senior cornerback Prince Smith, Jr. had eight tackles and led the team with two pass breakups.
• Senior linebacker Cameron Brusko and junior safety Evan Horn had seven tackles each. Brusko had three tackles for a loss and was credited with 1.5 sacks.
• Sophomore defensive tackle Niko Kvietkus also had three tackles for a loss, including 1.5 sacks.
• The defense allowed 62 rushing yards.
• The Wildcats had 367 yards of offense in the game and 164 yards rushing.
• Redshirt freshman Charles Briscoe III  senior Malik Love and Washington each had four pass receptions to lead UNH.
• Briscoe had 71 yards in receptions, Love had 38 and Washington 22.
• Senior punter Drew Sanborn (Amherst) averaged 42 yards on his seven punts.

TEAM STATS
Rushing: UNH 36-164. HC 35-62.
Passing: UNH 15-34-2 0 TD. HC 21-34-0, 0 TDs
Total Offense: UNH 70-367. HC 69-315.
1^st Downs: UNH 18. HC 15.
Time of Possession: UNH 30:34. HC 29:26.
Penalties: UNH 7-54. HC 2-30.
Turnovers: UNH 3. HC 0.

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing: UNH – Washington, 18-107, 1 TD. HC – Domenic Cozier 13-43.
Receiving: UNH – Briscoe, 4-71. HC – Derek Mountain, 6-55.
Passing: UNH – Edwards 7-18-1, 97 yards; Brosmer 8-16-1, 106. HC – Connor Degenhardt 21-34-0, 253 yards.
Tackles: UNH – Bush 9-0-9. HC – Joe Lang 6-0-6, Terrell Prince 6-0-6, Corey Stefanik 5-1-6.