Frantz, Ferrara, Griffin Head to Japan

While the players of the NFL may head to Hawaii for their season-ending Pro Bowl, the senior stars of Ivy League football take their season finale to Japan for the Epson Ivy Bowl.

Three Harvard seniors--captain linebacker Justin Frantz, quarterback Vin Ferrara, and punter Tim Griffin--will be a part of a squad of 43 Ivy League seniors who will face off with a team made up of Japan's college and university all-stars on January 7 in Osaka's Hankyo Nishinomiya Stadium.

"It is a great honor," Frantz said. "I feel pretty lucky just to have been asked to be a part of the event. It will be a great opportunity."

Frantz finished the season at the top of Harvard's defensive statistics. His 69 tackles led the team. Franz also racked up 29 assists and forced two fumbles.

Griffin also felt honored to receive the invitation.

"It is nice after a lot of hard work," Griffin said. "It is nice to have something to show for it."

Griffin repeated last year's performance as the top punter in the Ivy League. His 59 punts averaged 36.4 yards. Griffin's longest boot of the season went for 59 yards.

Ferrara had 146 completions for 1532 yards over the course of the season, with a .520 completion percentage. His overall quarterback rating was 95.3. Ferrara averaged 150 yards of total offense in each of Harvard's ten games.

"I think we have one week of practice--five or six days," Griffin said. "In between we have cultural activities and sightseeing. The games have been close in the past, I think."

Frantz was confident of his fellow seniors.

"In the past they haven't done well," Franz said. "But it is getting closer. However, we have a good senior class and I don't think we'll be the ones to give up the win streak."

This is the sixth officially sanctioned Ivy Bowl. The record for the Ivy League is unsurprisingly 6-0-0. Guess who invented the game? Last year's game featured Harvard seniors Toby Brundage, Sean Hansen and Doug Anderson.

Griffin was happy to have finished his career "on top."

"It is great coming off of my back injury last winter and not being able to punt until July to do this well," he said. "But I still don't feel that I punted as well as I should have."

Frantz is just looking for another chance to step between the white lines.

"I just see it as another chance to play football," he said. "Three days after the last game I was bummed about never playing football again."

Both players expect the experience to be a good time and a fond memory, but it won't be Franz's best memory.

"It is hard to beat the memory of that final Yale game," he said. "Just about everything will pale in comparison."

Also announced were the selections for the All-Ivy League Team. Leading the team were unanimous selections Griffin at punter and junior Eion Hu at tailback. Of only five unanimous selections for this honor, Harvard racked up two.

Hu finished his stellar season with 1101 yards, averaging 4.8 yards per carry and 110.1 yards per game. Hu was second in the league in rushing and all purpose yards behind Cornell junior Chad Levitt and led Harvard in scoring with nine touchdowns.

Frantz was awarded honorable mention for the All-Ivy squad at his linebacker position. Sophomore Jeff Compas was also named honorable mention at the defensive-back spot. Compas led Harvard with four interceptions and seven pass break-ups.

The winter break will certainly be an interesting one for the three Harvard seniors. The question is, will they go to the karaoke bars in Japan like the San Francisco 49ers and the Denver Broncos do in their Visa commercial? The three of them could probably do a fine rendition of "Ten Thousand Men of Harvard."