Holy Cross' Dae'Sean Graves breaks CT career receptions record in win over Woodland

Holy Cross' Dae'Sean Graves (1) during their game against Ansonia Friday, October 9, 2026 at Municipal Stadium in Waterbury, Conn. (Jim Shannon/Hearst Connecticut Media) BEACON FALLS - Dae'Sean Graves broke Connecticut's career receptions record Friday night as Holy Cross scored 38 unanswered second-half points to beat Woodland 38-14 in an NVL football game.Graves entered with 221 career catches, five shy of tying East Catholic's Joey Montalvo's mark of 226. He finished with seven catches for 110 yards and 228 for his career. On Oct. 23, the UConn commit also broke the state career record for touchdown receptions, surpassing Southington's Alex Jamele's mark of 50. Graves caught a touchdown pass as he broke the state's all-time reception record and led Holy Cross to a 38-14 victory over Woodland #cthsfb #connecticut #highschoolfootball (Kevin Roberts/Hearst Connecticut Media) The public address announcer noted Graves' achievement Friday, but Graves was already focused on the next play."It was definitely good. At the time, I was really focused on the game," Graves said. "That just came, but I wasn't really focused on it. I really was focused on finishing the game. That was my thought process on it, on the announcement of it."Holy Cross was held scoreless in the first half at Woodland High School, where dense fog made a foghorn an easy substitute for an official's whistle. The Crusaders improved to 7-1 and held onto the No. 2 spot in the Class MM playoff standings behind St. Joseph, which was ranked No. 2 in the latest GametimeCT Top 10 poll. The Hawks fell to 5-3.Woodland used a single-wing style offense it installed a couple of weeks ago to build its 14-0 halftime lead. Justin Pringle finished off an 18-play, 86-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown. That drive took 7:39 off the first-quarter clock. Pringle and Evan Mastropietro took turns on direct snaps from center. Mastropietro also threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Kenney in the second quarter."We put in a little niche offense, and we're pretty dynamic," Woodland coach Jeremy Clark said. "Our kids are pretty smart, and we had a good game plan for the first half. We executed well, but it was the tale of two halves for us. It really was."At halftime, Hall told his Holy Cross teammates that they all needed each other."I told them we've all got to believe it to achieve it, and that's what we did," Hall said. "We came out there, came out with energy, all believed in each other, had each other's backs, and we did it in the second half."Holy Cross quickly went to work in the third quarter. Hall had a 30-yard reception on the play before Graves' 32-yard touchdown catch cut the Crusader deficit to 14-7 just 1:02 into the third quarter. After a three-and-out and a short punt, Holy Cross moved the ball 37 yards in a hurry. Graves had a 17-yard catch, then caught a 4-yard pass to break Montalvo's record. Michael Stradford caught an 8-yard touchdown pass to pull Holy Cross within one point, 14-13, with 7:32 left in the third quarter.On the ensuing Woodland possession, Hall picked off a Mastropietro pass and weaved his way to a 40-yard touchdown and a 20-14 lead. Holy Cross recovered a Pringle fumble on the next Hawk possession, then Lombardo finished the ensuing drive with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Stradford for a 26-14 Crusader lead.On the first play of the fourth quarter, Hall used an incredible spin move to turn a swing pass from Lombardo into a 69-yard touchdown reception and a 32-14 Holy Cross lead."Big players make big plays. That's how I think about it," Graves said. "Aaden made a big move and a big play, got that touchdown. I'm proud of him. He's a good player.""When you get out-athleted at the end of the day and it's just a better team, and you tip your cap to them," Clark said. "We've got to move forward and have a short memory, because we have two weeks to try to make a push to get into the playoffs."Lombardo finished the game with four touchdown passes, and he also had several big runs to keep the ball moving for the Crusaders.Jayden Lewis capped the scoring for Holy Cross later in the fourth quarter with an 11-yard touchdown run.Player of the GameDae'Sean Graves, Holy Cross: The senior UConn commit caught seven passes and established himself as Connecticut's new career receptions record holder with 228.Quotable"This is a big win for us. They ended up beating us last year, so this took a big part in our season. We really wanted Woodland this year. That was our mindset this season. We executed our game plan in the second half, and that's how it happened." - Holy Cross' Dae'Sean Graves.Holy Cross 38, Woodland 14Holy Cross 0 0 26 12-38Woodland 7 7 0 0-14W-Justin Pringle 2 run (Hunter Cronk kick)W-Ryan Kenney 7 pass from Evan Mastropietro (Cronk kick)H-Dae'Sean Graves 32 pass from Lombardo (Justin Smith kick)H-Michael Stradford 8 pass from Lombardo (kick blocked)H-Aaden Hall 40 interception return (J. Smith kick)H-Stradford 20 pass from Lombardo (kick blocked)H-Hall 69 pass from Lombardo (conversion failed)H-Jayden Lewis 11 run (conversion failed)Records: HC 7-1; W 5-3.Sign up for the Connecticut Briefing from CT Insider. Get the biggest headlines of the day from our network of journalists around the state.This article originally published at Holy Cross' Dae'Sean Graves breaks CT career receptions record in win over Woodland.