Newhall passes Brown past HC.

• Position: SPORTS

Byline: Jennifer Toland

PROVIDENCE - The knock on junior quarterback Kyle Newhall through Brown's first three games of the year was his lack of experience, but that's not what stood out to Holy Cross coach Tom Gilmore while watching tape of Newhall in preparation for yesterday's game against the Bears.

It was Newhall's poise and ability to make a lot of plays that Gilmore noticed.

"I thought he was a very good quarterback," Gilmore said, and Newhall did nothing against the Crusaders to change that opinion.

Newhall, making his fourth career start, completed an Ivy League-record 46 of 61 passes for 431 yards and two touchdowns, and Patrick Rooney kicked a 34-yard field goal with 3 seconds to play as the Bears handed No. 19 Holy Cross its first loss, 34-31.

The HC defense could not stop the Newhall-to-Trevan Samp connection. Samp, a senior wide receiver, caught 15 passes for 206 yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown. He had a key 21-yard reception on third down during Brown's winning drive.

Holy Cross senior quarterback Dominic Randolph brought the Crusaders back from a 14-point, fourth-quarter deficit with a pair of touchdown passes to Rob Koster in a span of just over four minutes. The second TD, a 30-yard grab in the corner of the end zone, capped a five-play drive and tied the score at 31-31 with 1:49 to play.

"We were confident we could come back," Randolph said, "but we kind of scored too quick, to be honest."

With passes to Samp, Matthew Sudfeld, Bobby Sewall and Buddy Farnham, Newhall directed the defending Ivy League champion Bears to the HC 17 to set up Rooney's winning field goal.

Brown (2-2) has had trouble in the kicking game this season - as evidenced by Drew Plichta's two missed field goals and missed extra point in the first half - and coach Phil Estes told Rooney before the game to be ready. He made a 31-yard field goal early in the fourth. Rooney's only previous experience came in a JV game against Yale two weeks ago.

"Patrick has ice in his veins," Estes said. "He didn't even hesitate (on the winning FG), just went out there and put it through the uprights. I told him on our last drive that if we get the ball inside the 25, we'd give him a shot to win it."

The game was a lot like the last three Holy Cross-Brown games with a lot of scoring and a lot of passing. Randolph was 38 of 53 for 411 yards and four touchdowns. He eclipsed 11,000 career passing yards. In four career games against Brown, Randolph threw for more than 1,500...