BY JOBY FAWCETT

Times-Shamrock Writer

SUSQUEHANNA – Austin White made sure that a victory would highlight Susquehanna’s Homecoming Day celebration.

Scoring four straight touchdowns and throwing another, the sophomore quarterback sparked the Sabers to a 40-8 win over Holy Cross on Saturday in a Lackawanna Football Conference Division III game at William Emminger Memorial Field.

“This is fantastic,” White said. “Our line blocked really well. We hit on defense and we came out and got off to a fast start.

“We are looking forward to the rest of the season.”

Susquehanna (1-0 in division, 2-4 overall) hurt Holy Cross with its running game that totaled 302 yards and featured the elusiveness of White and the power of Cole Mallery, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior who ran for 155 yards and the game’s first touchdown.

“We have a young team and for ‘Whitey’ to come in and lead us is really big,” Mallery said. “Coach is telling me to keep working hard.”

Following Mallery’s 3-yard scoring run, the Sabers pushed the lead to 13-0 when White hit C. Jay Monks, who had been sidelined with a nagging knee injury since Week 2, for a 9-yard touchdown.

“That was awesome, because I have been out,” Monks said. “That helped get us fired up and got us ready to keep playing.”

From there, White took over the game. He scored on an 8-yard run, then intercepted a pass and returned it 27 yards for a touchdown to make it 26-0 with 5:37 remaining in the second quarter.

“I was kind of hiding behind the receiver so the quarterback couldn’t see me,” White said. “When I saw him throw it, I knew that I was going to get in front of it and get it.”

Later in the second, White broke free for a 55-yard sprint to the end zone, and he capped Susquehanna’s opening drive of the second half with a 15-yard run that made the score, 40-0.

“I was just feeding off the energy of the linemen,” White said. “They were really pushing people around and that made my job a lot easier.”

Susquehanna also got a strong effort from its defense. Jagr Briar, Christian Miller, freshman Evan Aldrich and Lyle Lawson had tackles for loss as the Sabers limited Holy Cross to 46 yards rushing on 19 carries in the first half.

Holy Cross (0-1, 0-6) got on the board when Connor Callejas scored and R.J. Klein caught a tipped pass for the 2-point conversion with 39 seconds remaining.

Holy Cross        0    0  0 8  –  8

Susquehanna   13 20 7 0 – 40

HC          SUS

First Downs    7             14

Rushes-yards           33-110   33-302

Comp-Att-Int           2-12-1     2-6-0

Passing            4            21

Total yards    114         323

Fumbles-Lost             2-0         5-1

Penalties-Yds            5-32       3-31

Rushing: HC – C. Calliejas 7-61, 1 TD; T. Ware 12-44; N. Valvano 5-10; E. Gatto 4-(-5); C. Petcavage 5-0. SUS – C. Mallery 11-155, 1 TD; A. White 12-94, 3 TDs; B. Hepler 2-38; L. Brinton 4-15; A. Felter 3-1; Team 1-(-1).

Passing: HC – C. Calliejas 2-5-1, 4; E. Gatto 0-7-0, 0. SUS – A. White 2-6-0, 21, 1 TD.

Receiving: HC – R. Klein 1-2; E. Gatto 1-2. SUS – C. Monks 2-21, 1 TD.