Memories Of '83
By James
Greene
Special To GoHolyCross.com
Central Massachusetts woke up to a light dusting on the morning of
December 3, 1983. The snow melted by kickoff, but the outcome of
that afternoon's playoff football game at Fitton Field has left an
indelible chill on those who played in it wearing purple. For three
quarters and most of the fourth, Holy Cross went toe-to-toe with
Western Carolina's high-powered offense. But that proved as no
consolation at the time, and still doesn't, for members of the 1983
Crusader football team.
That group finished the season 9-2-1, the most wins for the
program since 1935, when the squad finished 9-0-1 in Dr. Eddie
Anderson's third year on Mount St. James. They even had more wins
than the Orange Bowl squad, the only other Holy Cross squad to play
a postseason game, which finished the regular season 8-1 before the
loss to Miami (Fla.). The 1983 Crusaders were considered one of the
greatest teams the program had ever assembled to that time, and
yielded the school's first All-Americans since John Provost in
1974. Ranked No. 3 in I-AA (now Football Championship Subdivision)
and named the 1983 ECAC Team of the Year and Lambert Cup champion,
all roads seemed pointed to a deep run in the playoffs. Instead, it
was a disappointing end to an otherwise brilliant
season.
"Clearly that was our best team," explained Gill Fenerty, the
offensive star of that squad, a third team All-American that year
and a sophomore at the time. "We had the best talent on offense and
defense. That team was playing great ball. We had [Bruce] Kozerski
[on the offensive line], and that defense with [Harry] Flaherty was
just really good. It was a lot of fun. It was an interesting
season."
Kozerski is one of several notable
names of the last Holy Cross team to make a postseason appearance.
A senior in '83, he was a member of the offensive line that helped
lead the way for Fenerty and fellow running backs Chuck Doyle and
Sandy McMurtry and provided protection for junior quarterback Peter
Muldoon. That team remains second in school history in rushing
yards and third in rushing yards per game. Kozerski and Steve
Raquet were both named first team All-Americans, the first time
multiple Crusaders earned that distinction in the same year since
1951. Raquet graduated with the career mark in sacks with 19.
Flaherty was a four-year starter at linebacker who came to Holy
Cross after a successful high school career at Red Bank Catholic in
Red Bank, N.J., where he now coaches the tight ends and
linebackers. He still holds the Crusader career mark in tackles
with 447, and was the team leader in that category in 1983 with
152.
"It was my senior year and I was a captain of that team," Flaherty
said, also a third team All-American and the team MVP. "I had the
privilege of starting all four years. I loved being there. [Mark]
Duffner was my linebackers coach and defensive coordinator. It was
an incredible season."
In many ways, the disappointment of 1982 laid the groundwork for
the following campaign. Rick Carter was in his third season as head
coach, having guided the program to back-to-back winning seasons
for the first time since 1961-1962. The Crusaders finished 8-3 in
1982, but losses to Colgate (21-17) and Harvard (24-17) and a 35-10
defeat to Boston College prevented Holy Cross from receiving an
at-large bid to the postseason.
The Crusaders opened the 1983 season with a 14-3 win over Boston
University. Fenerty ran for 196 yards on 25 carries and two
touchdowns in his debut in purple, a sign of things to come. After
a 4-0 start, a showdown with undefeated Colgate loomed at Fitton.
In an exciting game with 22,551 in attendance, backup quarterback
Tom Heffernan relieved an injured Muldoon and drove the Crusaders
64 yards in three plays in the fourth quarter, connecting with Bill
Cowley with 4:22 remaining from 20 yards out to give Holy Cross a
come-from-behind 21-18 win.
The following week, sacks by Peter Quinlan and Raquet and an
interception by Bill McGovern preserved a 20-16 victory over
Connecticut. Holy Cross then beat Brown 31-10, which set the stage
for perhaps the most incredible individual performance in Crusader
football history.
"It was an other-worldly experience, there's no other way to
describe it," Fenerty said of his numbers in a 77-28 drubbing of
Columbia. "My first carry I got a touchdown. My second carry I got
a touchdown." "The Thrill" had four touchdowns by halftime and
carried the ball just three times in the second half and scored
twice before Carter pulled him. When all was said and done, Fenerty
ran 18 times, gained 337 yards, reached the end zone six times and
broke or matched several NCAA, New England and Holy Cross rushing
records. "Games like that just don't happen," he added.
For the most part, the Crusaders had remained healthy during the
season. Senior co-captain and offensive lineman Matt Martin went
down with a knee injury in the third quarter of the season opener
versus Boston University, something that weighed heavily on the
co-captain's mind. "It was devastating to wreck my knee the first
game of my senior year," he said. "It was kind of bittersweet for
me. I was able to play the last two games [against Boston College
and Western Carolina]."
The body count really began piling up with the Harvard game. At a
rain-soaked Harvard Stadium, the Crusaders' winning streak was
snapped with a 10-10 tie with the Crimson. One week after his
monumental performance, Fenerty was lost with a separated shoulder
early in the third quarter. "The Harvard game was part of the good
and the bad," he said. "One day you're on top of the world, the
next week you're injured. It's just part of the game."
Holy Cross shut out Delaware, 24-0, the following Saturday, but
Cowley went down with shoulder separation and was lost for the
year. Nearly half the offensive numbers disappeared with both he
and Fenerty on the sidelines. The Crusaders wrapped up the regular
season with a 47-7 loss to Boston College, which was only a 10-0
Eagle lead at the half. "We were in a tough situation [with the
injuries] going into the BC game," Flaherty noted. Martin returned
for the annual rivalry tilt, but the offense experienced another
brutal blow when wide receiver Gary Quinlan suffered a knee injury
that ended his season.
Holy Cross finished the regular season 9-1-1, earned a playoff
berth and a bye, but was severely shorthanded. "Unfortunately we
barely had enough guys to put on the field by the playoffs,"
Fenerty said, who is now a CPA and tax manager for a public
accounting firm in New Orleans. He also remembered the excitement
that enveloped Mount St. James as the Crusaders entered postseason
play for the first time since 1946. "There was a buzz around the
campus. The stadium was filled. That was amazing. I just remember
it being a whole lot of fun."
The Western Carolina team that visited Fitton that December was a
formidable group and one of the most talented the Crusaders would
face all season. The previous week, they had spotted Colgate a 23-7
halftime lead, but rallied to edge the Raiders, 24-23. The
Catamounts boasted two All-Americans (Tiger Greene and Eric
Rasheed) and seven players who eventually went on to play in the
NFL, including Greene, Dean Biasucci, Louis Cooper and Clyde
Simmons.
Fenerty made a gutsy return for the Crusaders against the
Catamounts, and even scored the game's first touchdown in the
second quarter on a 33-yard rush, giving Holy Cross a 7-0 lead. A
punishing hit in the second quarter sent him back to the sidelines
for the rest of the game, after he'd carried the ball 10 times for
62 yards. "My shoulder didn't really feel connected to the rest of
my body after that hit," he said. "It was real difficult not being
in there, you feel helpless. You can't help your teammates. It was
not a good feeling."
Western Carolina tied the game late in the first half when
Catamount quarterback Jeff Gilbert found Rasheed for a 30-yard
touchdown strike. Holy Cross took a 14-7 lead in the third quarter
on McMurtry's 38-yard touchdown run. After holding the Catamounts
on their next possession, the Crusaders drove into Western Carolina
territory, when a play occurred that changed the fortunes of both
teams.
"We were up 14-7 and we were on their 40 or 35 yard line,"
Flaherty remembered. "Carter almost called a fake punt but at the
last second he called it off. Bruce Kozerski went to snap the ball.
[Pat] McCarthy punted it but it was blocked by Tiger Greene."
Simmons picked up the ball, and 60 yards later the game was tied at
14.
"It was a momentum shift for them," Flaherty continued. "The tough
thing was having the momentum in that game and driving the ball and
having a fourth and short, deciding to punt, having the punt
blocked and them making it a 14-14 game."
The Catamounts scored again to take a 21-14 advantage early in the
fourth quarter, but Doyle's two-yard touchdown plunge tied the
game. Western Carolina took a 28-21 lead on Gilbert's third scoring
pass of the game and second to Rasheed, putting the pressure on
Holy Cross. After trading punts, the Crusaders started on their own
one-yard line with less than three minutes to go and drove to the
Catamount 15, but Muldoon's fourth-down pass fell incomplete at the
five.
"It was a terrific ballgame," Kozerski recalled. "Coach Carter had
a great game plan. We just came up a few points short. I think we
were better than that team."
Western Carolina advanced to the semifinals of the I-AA playoffs,
where they defeated No. 2 Furman, 14-7. Their run ended the
following week when they lost to Southern Illinois, 43-7, in the
I-AA National Championship.
"Just the camaraderie we had with one another and the friendships
I have with those guys," Martin said when asked about what he
remembers of the '83 squad. "I hadn't seen some of those guys since
I graduated when I came back for 25th reunion. It was like we were
still teammates. It was a special group. We were a very cohesive
and solid unit." Kozerski added, "The group was very focused."
Twenty-six years later, Holy Cross is back in the playoffs. On
Saturday, the Crusaders will visit Villanova in their first
postseason game since the Western Carolina game. Despite five
Patriot League championships, a pair of perfect 11-0 campaigns and
two 10-1 seasons in the years that followed, conference
restrictions prohibited Holy Cross from challenging for a national
championship.
"I keep track of Holy Cross when I can," Kozerski said, who is now
busy teaching and coaching at Holy Cross high school in Coventry,
Ky. "I talked to Coach [Tom] Gilmore for a long time when I came up
for my 25th reunion over the summer." Kozerski was also the high
school coach of a current Crusader footballer, sophomore defensive
lineman Eric Oldiges.
Flaherty has been the State Director of the Fellowship of
Christian Athletes for New Jersey and New York City since 1995, in
addition to his coaching duties as his high school alma mater.
Despite his busy schedule, he's been able to keep an eye on Holy
Cross while also watching his sons follow in his football
footsteps. Harry, Jr., is a tight end for Princeton and just
finished his junior season. Another son, Zach, plays on the
Catholic University football team. His third son, Jake, is in high
school and could become the next Flaherty to attend Holy Cross.
Martin's family ties with Holy Cross did not end with him. His
younger brother, Andy, became a Crusader in 1984 and went on to
earn third team All-American honors while also being twice named
first team All-Patriot League.
Despite playing in the NFL with both the Dallas Cowboys and
Philadelphia Eagles and a stint in the USFL with the Tampa Bay
Bandits under Steve Spurrier, Flaherty speaks the most highly about
his time on the south side of Worcester. "The most fun I had was my
four years at Holy Cross."
On Saturday at Villanova Stadium, a new generation of Crusaders
have the opportunity to create their own special postseason
memories.
