By Steve Svetovich
The Holy Cross Crusaders football team looks impressive early on with senior quarterback Josh Lentowski leading the team to two wins in the first three games.
The Crusaders easily defeated Montrose, 48-12, in the team opening game, Saturday, August 24.
Holy Cross earned its second win of the season over Hanover Area, 24-20, Saturday, September 7.
Son of Andrew and Tricia Lentowski, the Holy Cross senior signal caller scored two touchdowns and passed for another as the Crusaders converted on two-point conversions on each en route to the 24-20 win over Hanover Area.
The senior standout scampered into the end zone on a 10-yard touchdown run with four minutes left in the first half as the Crusaders took an 8-7 lead.
He then fired a 7-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Vincent in the third quarter. The two-point conversion gave Holy Cross a 16-7 lead.
Hanover Area cut the lead to 16-14 when running back Dewayne Downey picked up his second rushing touchdown of the game.
Josh’s 37-yard pass to Leland Wudarski highlighted the final Holy Cross drive. The drive ended with Josh scoring his second rushing touchdown of the contest.
Josh also plays free safety on defense where he excels with three interceptions at press time.
He said his parents taught him a lot. “My parents always tell me to stay calm. Life goes so fast, so be calm.
“And they always tell me to strive to get the most out of everything. They tell me to do what God wants us to do,”
He talked about his improvement as a quarterback this season.
“Well, I put in a lot of work in the off-season. My head coach Joe Giorgio and assistant coaches Ryan Runco and Dunkin Cooligan helped me so much to improve my game. They helped me with quarterback mechanics and safety and installing that into the offense.”
Josh totaled five rushing touchdowns and two passes for scores in the team’s first five games this season.
He talked about what it takes to excel at the quarterback position.
“You need poise and a calm demeanor. You need to trust your line and find your open receivers.”
He praised Holy Cross head football coach Joe Giorgio. “He communicates extremely well with the team. He has helped me the most and taught me a lot.”
Josh also plays outfield on the Holy Cross baseball team. He hit his first homer last season.
He played golf as a freshman and was on the basketball team for three years.
He has a highly impressive 3.89 grade point average taking honors classes where he received several academic awards.
The scholar-athlete hopes to attend either Rowan University in New Jersey or Penn State. He will study engineering in college.
He enjoys listening to music and attending concerts in his spare time. He saw ACDC, Metallica, and Guns N’ Roses, all with his dad. He enjoyed ACDC the best.
Josh is proud of the team’s first two wins. “Against Montrose, we worked very hard to beat them. We played our game and proved we can do this. We lost to Lakeland, but came back very strong to beat Hanover Area. We took our lumps against Lakeland, but we learned from that and continued to work hard. We are proving this team can win.”
He talked about playing free safety. “You need to be deceptive. Stay back, especially on teams that run where you have a tendency to move up.”
Mature, hard-working and wel- spoken, Josh is enjoying his years at Holy Cross.
“It’s a great experience,” he said, “The teachers are the best. I’ve been playing sports here since my freshman year and all of those experiences have been great. I’ve been a part of two district title teams for basketball and one for baseball. Just tremendous experiences.”