The Crusaders defeated Cardinal Hayes 25-24 in an exhilarating New York State Catholic Championship game on November 23, 2019. The Canisius team got off to a good start defensively in the first quarter. Donovan Davenport '22 intercepted a tipped ball on the opening play of the game and Riley Simpson '21 recovered a fumble later in the quarter. Unfortunately, the Cardinals' defense was just as dominant as the Crusaders', so the scoreboard remained empty after the first quarter.

The Crusader offense came alive in the start of the second quarter, driving to the Cardinal Hayes side of the field. On third and long, Tyler Baker '22 dropped back, scrambled from a collapsing pocket, and finessed his way through defenders for a 34-yard touchdown run. Then matching Canisius, Cardinal Hayes put together a solid drive of their own, scoring a touchdown to cut the Crusader lead to 7-6. Then after recovering two consecutive onside kicks, the Cardinals scored twice more and took an 18-7 lead. Canisius finally got the ball back with under two minutes remaining with the hopes of scoring before halftime. Baker connected with Simpson for a 36-yard gain down the sideline to bring the offense in Cardinal territory. Then, a fourteen-yard completion to Nik McMillan '22 and a penalty brought the Crusaders to the five-yard line with time winding down. Despite their lapse in coverage throughout the drive, the Cardinal defense stood strong, sacking Baker and breaking up a couple end zone throws to McMillan to close out the half.

The Canisius defense started strong in the third quarter. With six minutes on the clock, Joe Dixon '21 recovered a fumble and gave his team excellent field position in enemy territory. The offense drove down the field, but stalled at the eleven-yard line. Wisken Whited '21 split the uprights on his field goal attempt to make it a one possession game going into the fourth quarter.

After trading possessions at the start of the final quarter, Cardinal Hayes struck first with a 57-yard rushing touchdown, jumping to a 24-10 lead. With nine minutes left in the contest, it was crunch time for the Crusaders. They drove down the field quickly, but faced an ominous fourth and nine play. In one of the most crucial plays of the game, Baker dropped back to pass and hit Simpson near the sideline for a 29-yard pass to move the ball to the ten-yard line. A couple plays later, Dixon weaved through the Cardinal defense for a nine-yard touchdown, and the Crusaders cut the lead to seven. The Crusader defense made outstanding plays against a talented Cardinal Hayes backfield in the next series, forcing a punt. Canisius got the ball back at their own seventeen-yard line with 1:59 on the clock, staring at the biggest drive of their season.

Baker commanded the offense in the final drive of the game. He completed multiple intermediate passes to Simpson, Max Dowling '21, and Eric Kegler '20 to bring the ball all the way to the opponent thirteen-yard line with fifteen seconds left in the contest. Baker fired to his receivers three straight times, but a lock-down defense prevented a touchdown on each play,

bringing the game to fourth down with three seconds left on the clock. With the season on the line, Baker took the ball from the shotgun, rolled to his left, and floated the ball to the corner of the end zone while taking a hit. Awaiting the pass, receiver Nik McMillan jumped up over two defenders, extended his arms, snatched the ball from over their heads, and got his foot down in the end zone for a touchdown! The bench and Blue Crew went wild, but the Crusaders were still down by one point. Instead of attempting an extra point and trying to bring the game into overtime, the coaching staff decided to go for the game-winning two point conversion. At the two-yard line, Baker took the snap and handed the ball off to C.J. Ozolins '20 in the backfield. The fullback couldn't find a hole in his initial lunge toward the goal line, but a late push sent him and the ball into the end zone for the successful two-point conversion to win the game!

Tyler Baker led the Crusader offense in the game, completing 25 of 38 passes for 249 yards, a touchdown, and an interception while tallying 79 yards off of eleven carries. In the ground game, Joe Dixon recorded 31 yards and a touchdown off of eleven carries while catching four balls for 33 yards. Riley Simpson led the wideouts with five catches for 88 yards while Nik McMillan recorded four receptions for 49 yards and the game-winning touchdown. Eric Kegler and Max Dowling also contributed, each catching four balls for 28 and 25 yards, respectively. On defense, C.J. Ozolins was all over the field, tallying fourteen tackles, two tackles for a loss, one sack, one fumble recovery, and a blocked extra point while Dave Medley '21 had six tackles, including a tackle for a loss, and Riley Simpson tallied twelve tackles. In the secondary, Joe Dixon had six tackles, two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery while Donovan Davenport recorded seven tackles, one pass defensed, and an interception.

The Crusaders finish their outstanding season with a 7-5 overall record, a Monsignor Martin playoff championship, and a NYS Catholic championship. The Crusaders showed great improvement throughout the season, winning six of their last eight matchups while also avenging regular season losses to rivals St. Joe's and St. Francis in the playoffs. Congrats on another excellent year!