Minutemen get away with mistakes

AMHERST - On a picture-perfect afternoon, the University of Massachusetts football team presented coach Don Brown with the perfect opening game.

Not only did the Minutemen deliver a victory to the fiercely competitive coach, a 40-30 decision over Holy Cross yesterday, they also made enough mistakes that Brown will definitely have his team's attention in the week ahead. After committing 13 penalties and four turnovers and almost squandering a 28-point second-half lead, there will be no room for complacency.

"Obviously, crazy things happen in an opener, and we had our share today," said Brown. "The good thing is there's a ton of stuff to correct. I need to do a better coaching job."

It was an equally mixed bag for Holy Cross, arguably as double-edged a contest for the Crusaders as their 1896 game against Boston College that is officially listed as a victory by both teams. (The Crusaders claim a 6-4 win, while BC considers it an 8-6 triumph after a reversed touchdown call when Holy Cross had already left the field.)

While yesterday's outcome was clear, the Crusaders have much to build on. Coming off a 7-4 season, they put a definite scare into a UMass team fresh off a school-record-setting 13-win campaign.

"If we can come this close to a UMass team that went to the national championship game, I'm quite sure that we can do real well the rest of the year," said coach Tom Gilmore.

The Crusaders appeared buried early in the second half when UMass blazed through a three-play, 83-yard opening drive, capped by a 28-yard touchdown pass from Liam Coen to J.J. Moore. That made the score 37-9.

Holy Cross rallied, though, fueled both by UMass mistakes and by the pluck of Crusaders quarterback Dominic Randolph. Clearly not working on a pitch count, Randolph set a school record - and a record for a UMass opponent - by attempting 62 passes, completing 32 for 296 yards and two touchdowns.

In a rare running play, Randolph scored from 1 yard on fourth down to cut the gap to 37-16 midway through the third quarter. He then hit Justin Maher from 23 yards late in the quarter, and brought the Crusaders within dreaming distance at 37-30 on a 4-yard strike to Thomas Harrison with 8:50 left in the fourth.

The UMass offense, nearly flawless through the first half, continued to sputter in the second, and the Crusaders got the ball back at their 17 with 6:01 left.

The Minutemen responded, however, with the defensive stop they needed, led by senior David Burris, who hails from Holy Cross's backyard in Southbridge. Burris delivered his third sack of Randolph for a 7-yard loss, then led the charge on two big rushes that produced hurried, incomplete passes. Mike Holloway then shanked a 15-yard punt to give UMass possession at the Crusader 25.

Three plays later, UMass kicker Chris Koepplin - who earlier nailed a career-best-tying 48-yard field goal - came up with an ice-in-the-veins 37-yarder from the right hash mark with 3:37 remaining. That effectively ended the drama.

Burris and Koepplin had plenty of company in delivering the Minutemen to victory. Matt Lawrence was impressive at tailback with 153 yards on 23 carries, two of them going the distance. Coen connected on 19 of 32 passes for two scores. Moore had nine receptions for 163 yards and a touchdown. And Courtney Robinson delivered an electrifying 100-yard kickoff return, the first kickoff brought to the house by a Minuteman in 25 years.

"It was fun," said Robinson with a coy smile.

That was enough to offset the turnovers and the festival of yellow cloths that made it seem like the Fourth of July, Memorial Day, and Flag Day all at once. The Minutemen got flagged not only for a host of personal fouls, but for a few violations that dusted off the bottom of the rulebook, including one on punter Brett Arnold, who swept an overzealous long snap out of the end zone for a safety, earning a call for "illegal batting," as if he were George Brett or Sammy Sosa.