Tom Pugh called his quarterback, Yianni Gavalas, on Sunday morning and told him not to hang his head.
“Look outside,” the Holy Cross coach told him. “The sun is up. We’re aright. You gotta just pick it up and go.”
Gavalas was understandably down. The senior threw four interceptions as the Knights got dismantled, 43-0, by Mount St. Michael on Saturday afternoon. Gavalas said it was the worst game of his life. But he got some cheering up Tuesday morning when he found out he had won the NYPost.com poll for best quarterback in New York City.
In a tight race, Gavalas beat out Lincoln’s Jessel Jones with 22,507 votes (39.19%). Jones finished with 22,226 (38.7%). Mount St. Michael’s Najae Brown came in a distant third with 5,111 votes (8.9%).
Denis Gostev
Holy Cross coach Tom Pugh called quarterback Yianni Gavalas on Sunday morning with the message to move on from Saturday's tough game.
“I guess people still have faith in me,” Gavalas said. “It made me happy that people know I’m a good player.”
There’s still no doubting that fact despite a bad game Saturday. Coming in, Gavalas had thrown for eight touchdowns and only one interception. In his first season starting full time at Cross, he was being considered one of the league’s premier passing quarterbacks.
“I really like their quarterback,” St. Anthony’s coach Rich Reichert said after his team’s 29-19 win over Holy Cross two weeks ago. “He hangs in there, took some shots. Good player.”
Pugh’s biggest issue with Gavalas against Mount wasn’t the four picks. It was that he lost confidence in his own leadership when things hit the skids. The Knights center kept snapping high, making it harder for Gavalas to make his read quickly before the Mountaineers rush was on top of him.
“When things are going bad and you’re doing bad, you still have to get in people’s faces,” Pugh said. “He has to realize, ‘I’m the quarterback, this is my team.’ If the center is snapping high, you have to get in the guy’s face.”
That was one of the things Pugh said in that Sunday morning conversation. Gavalas plans on taking heed. His confidence is not shattered. He knows how good of a year he’s still having and that Holy Cross remains one of the city’s best teams.
“I just gotta put the past behind me, keep working toward the future,” Gavalas said. “Don’t let the loss hang on your head like that.”
Pugh isn’t worried. Things already looked better Monday in practice with a game against tough Archbishop Stepinac looming Saturday.
“I think he’ll respond,” the coach said.
He already got a heck of a response in the poll.
mraimondi@nypost.com
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