Grass is kept greener by Brendon Connor and crew at HC

Grass is kept greener by Brendon Connor and crew at Holy Cross' Fitton Field

'You almost didn’t want to step on it, it’s so beautiful,' says Crusaders coach Bob Chesney

Jennifer Toland

Telegram & Gazette

As Holy Cross’ general foreman of athletic fields, Brendon Connor is the head groundskeeper for Fitton Field.
Before tending to Fitton Field as Holy Cross’ general foreman of athletic fields, Brendon Connor got his start in turf management at Wachusett Country Club, located not far from his childhood home in West Boylston.
At Wachusett, where Connor began as a dishwasher, the Marrone family nurtured his love for all things green, and for two years, he worked as the club’s assistant superintendent. He later spent five years at Wellesley CC in the same capacity.

Last Saturday, the Holy Cross football team played its home opener at Fitton Field and shone on its emerald stage, trouncing Yale, 38-14. Numerous longtime HC fans commented that they had never seen Fitton look better.
HC coach Bob Chesney, in fact, compared his team’s gridiron to an elite golf course’s fairway.

“What a place,” Chesney said. “You almost didn’t want to step on it, it’s so beautiful. It’s a first-rate facility. Those guys do a great job down there.”
Holy Cross and Connecticut (Rentschler Field) are the only two Division 1 schools in New England with home fields of natural turf.

Connor, who has been at Holy Cross for 11 years, and his team of five, including right-hand man Kevin Blanchard, take great pride in meticulously maintaining Fitton Field.
“Turf is my thing,” Connor said during an interview in the Fitton Field bleachers this week. “I have an appreciation for it, and just a passion for it. I love putting a good product out there and making sure it’s safe and it’s healthy.”

Connor played football at St. Peter-Marian in the early-mid 1990s, which was a dominant stretch for the Guardians. As Connor noted, his SPM teams beat St. John’s every year in their traditional Thanksgiving Day matchup at Fitton Field.
“When I applied for the job here,” said Connor, a 1996 SPM graduate, “it had a little bit more sentimental value. I really wanted to be here. I had some blood, sweat and tears here, and that was a great part of my life growing up.”
The Fitton Field turf is especially green this fall for the Holy Cross football team.
Connor’s grandfather, Edward Connor Sr., was a 1950 graduate of Holy Cross and member of the baseball team.

Connor earned his associate’s degree from the Stockbridge School of Agriculture at UMass, and a bachelor’s in business from Worcester State.
Connor ran the greenhouse at Holy Cross before fully moving over to athletic fields. He and his crew also take care of the baseball, softball and soccer fields.
“We couldn’t put out a product like this without the work of everybody,” Connor said.

Getting Fitton Field, one of the few natural surfaces in the Northeast, in the condition it is now is a yearlong process, Connor said.
“It starts with cultural practices, fertility programs and just general maintenance, overseeding,” he said. “We try to manage our watering practices and follow a good IPM (Integrated Pest Management) program so we don’t have to continually put chemicals. We try to be as biologically and eco-friendly as we can.


“We gear up for game day double cutting the grass, making sure everything is neat and manicured, and we start our (yard-line) painting on Wednesday or Thursday, depending on the weather.”
The elements, like rain, and, as the season goes on, frost, bring challenges, and so did this summer’s drought.
“This was one of hardest summers we’ve been through because of the lack of rain,” Connor said. “We would water, but instead of running water on whole field all the time, we took out hoses and hosed the really bad spots. We did that three or four times a week.”

In 2016, HC installed a new sod, a bluegrass blend grown in Maine, at Fitton Field.
“It’s gotten better every year since,” Connor said.

Connor and his wife, Kim, live in Holden, with their daughters, ages 15 and 13. Connor’s front lawn rivals Fitton Field, according to neighbors.
The HC football team plays on the road the next couple of weeks, but Connor and his crew will have Fitton Field ready for the Crusaders return on Oct. 29.
“Every time I come out here, I try to put my best foot forward,” Connor said, “and try to put a top quality product out here on the field and make sure it’s safe for the football field. I love being here.”

League play begins for HC

No. 13 Holy Cross begins defense of its Patriot League title Saturday at Colgate.
The preseason favorites, the Crusaders are seeking to become the first PL team to win four straight outright championships and earn their fourth consecutive automatic NCAA Football Championship Subdivision postseason berth.

“This is playoff football,” Chesney said as HC prepared for the Raiders. “As history provides for us, this is a one-bid league, so because of that, this is a playoff football game. I think that is really important for us to understand, but it doesn’t change a single thing we do. It’s worth mentioning it to our team, but after we mentioned it, the next question that has to be posed is, ‘What are you going to do about it?’ and what you’re going to do about it is exactly what you’ve done up to this point.”

Colgate (1-2) beat Maine in Week 2, and has losses to Stanford and Penn.
Raiders sophomore quarterback Michael Brescia was the 2021 Patriot League Rookie of the Year after taking over the starting duties in mid-October and helping Colgate win its final three games and finish second in the PL standings at 5-1.
“He does an excellent job,” said Chesney, who is also impressed with Colgate’s defensive front. “They were very stout and went toe to toe with Stanford’s offensive line for that entire game. To me, that speaks volumes. (The game) will be a huge challenge that we’re really excited about.”

Gaining the tough yards

While reviewing his notes from last year’s game against Yale, Chesney kept coming across the same entry — “Pete Oliver ran so hard.
“I must have written it five or six times,” Chesney said.

Oliver, the former St. John’s High star from Auburn, carried 12 times for 57 tough yards in HC’s 20-17 win over Yale in 2021, and the performance propelled him to a first-team All-Patriot League season. A few weeks later, Oliver rushed for a career-high 153 yards and a touchdown against Colgate at Polar Park.

In last week’s dominant win over Yale, Oliver again had a breakout game, totaling a season-best 119 yards on 16 carries to help lead HC’s balanced effort. His long run of 41 yards set up a third-quarter TD.
“It was really reassuring to see that show up again (last) Saturday,” Chesney said. “I certainly believe in him, and I will always believe in Pete Oliver. I think he needed that game to get himself going. I’m excited to see what it does now for the rest of the year for him.”


Whitley joins Chiefs' active roster

Earlier this week, the Kansas City Chiefs signed former Holy Cross star defensive end Benton Whitley off the Los Angeles Rams’ practice squad.
Per NFL practice-squad rules, Whitley will remain on Kansas City’s active roster for at least three weeks. The Chiefs play at Indianapolis at 1 p.m. Sunday.
In May, Whitley signed with the Rams as an undrafted free agent. He had an impressive training camp and preseason, during which he totaled seven tackles and a quarterback hit in three games, before landing on the team’s practice squad.

At HC, Whitley was a three-time All-Patriot League first-team honoree. In 2021, he earned first-team All-New England accolades after recording 49 tackles, 11½ tackles for loss, 5½ sacks, 6 quarterback hurries and a forced fumble.
The Chiefs had an open roster spot following the suspension of linebacker Willie Gay Jr.