Written by: Wyatt Audler '24
 

NEW ORLEANS – The phrase "defense wins championship" is thrown around a lot in the football world. That's because it's true.

The Holy Cross Tigers hope to compete for a Catholic League title but the Tigers are headlined by a potent offense that was on full display Friday night at Tad Gormley Stadium in a 49-28 victory over Archbishop Rummel.

These two teams met at this same time last year when the Raiders narrowly defeated the Tigers. This year was quite different.

The heart of the Tigers' offense, Cole Canatella had a performance to remember. He scored four touchdowns, two rushing and two passing, and amassed 305 all-purpose yards to keep Holy Cross unbeaten. Canatella threw only one incompletion, finishing 15 of 16 for 259 yards and two scores and he rushed eight times for 46 yards and a pair of scores.

Holy Cross dominated the first half. The scoring started with an 11-yard touchdown rush from Ke'Rynn Smith. Quickly following that, Canatella scrambled for 14 yard touchdown to bring the score to 14-0.

From that point, it was all passing to add on to the lead. Canatella hit Derrick Johnson on a 61-yard catch and run before Krosse Johnson's 35-yard scoring reception put the Tigers up 28-0. Both receivers had over 100 yards.

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