Mason Alexander Honored During Pitt's Win vs. Duquesne

PITTSBURGH - The final score wasn't all that mattered when the game clock hit zero Saturday afternoon at Acrisure Stadium. A win was a must, yes. And a lopsided win was even better. But Pitt was playing for more than itself in the season opener against Duquesne.

Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi announced earlier this week that the season opener doubled as a celebration of life for Mason Alexander, a Pitt early enrollee who tragically lost his life in a car accident in March.

Alexander's mom, Kelly, walked out for the opening coin toss (along with other family members), and she was also heavily involved in the post-game celebrations.

For Mason 💙💛 pic.twitter.com/zJTbeRiWF2
— Pitt Football (@Pitt_FB) August 30, 2025

The 61-9 victory was important, obviously, but the day was about a lot more than just football on Saturday.

"I think Ms. Kelly — Mason’s mom — was out there," Narduzzi said after the game. "I think it was special what we did for her and what she did for us. Our guys talked about him pregame in the locker room. Maybe that’s part of it. It was an emotional pregame talking about Mason. Then it was emotional at the end, and we gave Kelly the game ball as well. She was in the locker room. So it was special."

Hamilton Southeastern's Mason Alexander poses for a photo Wednesday, July 26, 2023, at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis. | Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK

Pitt wore special helmet stickers to honor Alexander, and for someone like running back Desmond Reid, who walked out to the opening coin toss alongside Kelly and the Alexander family, it meant a lot just to see her happy.

“It was a great feeling just having his people here to see us play," Reid said after the game. "This whole week we’ve been talking about, this game is for Mason. We’re gonna play for Mason. And we did, we came out at the coin toss with his parents there. It was a great feeling seeing her smile because it’s rough times for her, but just seeing how the family was happy, how they enjoyed the game - even in the locker room, they came and did the cheer with us. It was just good to see them smiling.”

Quarterback Eli Holstein had a record-setting performance, rebounding from a slow start to throw for four touchdowns for the first time in his career, and some of the motivation came from Alexander himself.

“It’s definitely something we’ve been talking about through summer camp, fall camp, it’s been a big focal point of our drive for this season, our motivation for this season, we’re playing for Mason," Holstein said after the game. "Mason would love to be out there with us, I know he was watching us, having fun watching us go out there and play some good football. But Mason’s mom was in there with us; she got to lead us a lot in our chants and cheers, and all that, she got to lead us in our fight song, break us down after the game. Seeing how much joy that we brought her and her family and everything like that after something like that happens helps us, gives us some motivation to go out there and play football, play hard and lay everything on the line.”

Pitt kicked off its season with a blow out win, and Alexander was out there for it - as he will be for the rest of the season.

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