Gridders' Bending 'D' Did Not Break

The unsung hero of the Harvard football team's loss to Pennsylvania? The defense.

It's time to start singing. Softly, at least.

For most of the season, the defense was more of a speed bump: it allowed 36, 31, 31, 31, 30 and 21 points in Harvard's six losses before the Crimson's 29-19 victory over Brown. (Holding Brown to 19 points is no great feat in itself, but it's good for the stat sheet.)

Against the Quakers, however, the defense copped a page from the offense and tried the flexible approach.

The bend-but-don't-break style of 'D' proved to be very successful. Against the powerful Penn rushing game, the defense bent so much it made Plastic Man look like Al Gore.

The 'D' allowed an amazing 427 total yards, 321 of those on the ground. But Harvard held Penn to just 21 points--and, more importantly, came up with every big stop in crunch time.

"The defense played very well, giving us the ball in key situations," Harvard Coach Joe Restic said. "I had to be pleased."

Restic is referring to one key situation is particular. Late in the fourth quarter of the Penn game, the defense came up with the biggest stop of its season.

The Big Stop occurred after Harvard scored on a 15-yard Mike Hill run to pull within two, 21-19. With 3:36 left on the clock, Restic elected to kick away instead of go for the onside.

"It was too early to gamble it all," Restic said.

Down by two late in the game without the ball, the situation was eerily reminiscent of the Crimson's game against Lafayette. In that game, Leopard quarterback Tom Kirchhoff sunk the Crimson defense with two long second-down passes to save the game.

But against Penn, the defense was treading water, dog-paddling...hell, setting Olympic records in the freestyle.

Penn sophomore Terrance Stokes, who had gained 83 yards on 15 carries up to that point, took a first down carry up the middle for four yards, but the Quakers were flagged for illegal procedure--a five-yard penalty.

Restic declined the penalty--taking the play and the time, not the yardage. Instead of 1st-and-15, Penn faced 2nd-and-6. It was a gutsy call, but senior defensive end Dehdan Miller vindicated the coach by flattening Penn running back Eko Mott on second down for a gain of one.

On 3rd-and-5, Penn sent Stokes up the middle again. (Sound familiar? See Harvard, early season 3rd-down calls.) Senior adjuster Chris Pillsbury knocked him down and forced the punt.

"You just can't ask for more than that," Restic said. "The defense played pretty darn well."

Harvard also came up with clutch turnovers. With Pennsylvania on the Harvard 3-yard line and a 7-0 lead, Quaker quarterback Jim McGeehan faked a handoff to senior tailback Sundaita Rush and bootlegged to his left, looking to throw.

The linebackers followed Rush into the line, leaving McGeehan with more time to throw than it took Mario Cuomo to decide not to run for President. McGeehan could have taken it in himself, but he decided to toss the ball to a seemingly wide-open Mike Baker in the end zone.

But (and it was a great play) senior cornerback Rob Sonne stepped in front of Baker at the last moment and rumbled 67 yards the other way before Stokes caught him at the Penn 33.

Senior linebacker Monte Giese notched the second interception of the day and his second interception of the season when he leaped and tipped a McGeehan pass behind the line of scrimmage, then caught his own deflection.

No yards on the return, but that was hardly the point.

Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week honors went to Columbia quarterback Chad Andrzejewski--for completing 33 of 49 passes for 294 yards and a TD in the Lions' stunning 35-30 upset of Cornell--and to Cornell quarterback Bill Lazor, who completed 37 of 59 passes for 409 yards and four touchdowns.

Defensive Player of the Week went to Columbia linebacker Des "Boom Boom" Werthman for the second week in a row. Werthman recorded 16 tackles (12 solo), recovered a fumble and returned a blocked punt 24 yards.

Werthman also rushed 15 times for 29 yards and two touchdowns kicked two extra-points and caught a two-point conversion pass.