Dash powers Lancers by Falcons

Tom Maderia pulled off a few first-half tricks in an attempt to upset his old team again. But in the end, the most powerful magic came from Dan Dash's legs.

Dash rushed for 203 yards and three touchdowns last night to pace Holy Cross, ranked No. 2 in South Jersey by The Inquirer, to a 28-20 victory over host Burlington Township in a Burlco/Olympic National Division game.

The Falcons (2-4 overall, 1-3 division) were attempting to stun the Lancers, whom Maderia made into a power in the 1990s, for the second straight year after beating them for the first time in the history of the series last season.

For a while, it looked as if it might happen.

A fake point-after kick produced a two-point conversion, and a fake punt set up a last-second field goal that gave Burlington Township a 20-14 halftime lead.

"We knew that was coming," Dash said of the trickery.

The 20 points were seven more than the Lancers (5-0, 3-0) had allowed all season. Holy Cross' offense wasn't much better, with just 5 total yards in the first quarter.

"I can't even explain what happened," Dash said. "We just didn't do what we needed to do. We didn't come out the way we thought we would come out.

"We told the team we had to play a whole 48 minutes, and we did. We needed a big play. Once we got that, it got us going."

Dash would be the one to supply that play.

With Burlington Township holding a 9-0 lead on the first of two Kevin Ivins field goals and a Tyler Woolridge touchdown run, Holy Cross responded with a 34-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Tom Reilly to Mark Singer.

The Falcons roared back with Gerald Swain's TD run and a two-point conversion to make it 17-7, and Dash then showed a sign of things to come with a 53-yard touchdown run that seemed to spark the Lancers' offense.

Stubborn Township used a late drive for another Ivins field goal at the buzzer, but the Falcons would not score after intermission.

Dash scored on a pair of 4-yard touchdown runs in the third and fourth quarters, and Reilly finished 9 for 19 for 167 yards.

Trailing, 28-20, the Falcons had two chances to tie in the final four minutes, but interceptions by Singer and Sean Neary sealed it.

Holy Cross now has a 4-1-1 edge in the series.

"Our coach [Charlie Pirello] said don't even worry about last year," Dash said about the 2006 upset loss to Township. "It's not like that. It's not about revenge, it's about coming out and being 5-0."

Holy Cross0 14 7 7 - 28

Burlington Township3 17 0 0 - 20

B: FG Ivins 21

B: Woolridge 11 run (kick failed)

H: Singer 34 pass from Reilly (Huelster kick)

B: Swain 11 run (Swain pass from Ivins)

H: Dash 53 run (Huelster kick)

B: FG Ivins 21

H: Dash 4 run (Huelster kick)

H: Dash 4 run (Huelster kick)