Football Hopes to Send Local Rival Holy Cross to the Lions

The Harvard men's football team is looking for a chance at redemption after last weekend's loss to Cornell.

And if ever there was an opportunity for such redemption, it would be today as Harvard (1-3-0 overall, 0-2-0 Ivy) takes on the Crusaders of Holy Cross (1-3-0).

There even is a revenge factor for the Crimson: they were upset at the Stadium last season in a 27-22 heart-breaker.

Holy Cross has had its share of trouble this year. Two weeks ago, the team was blown out by Columbia, 42-16. Last week, the team suffered the same fate at the hands of Dartmouth, losing 35-7.

The Crusaders have now lost three straight Ivy League games, with their last Ivy win coming at Harvard last season.

Harvard also is in need of a lift after back-to-back losses at home to Lafayette and Cornell.

Despite last week's loss, there is reason to believe that the Crimson are ready to turn the corner today.

Junior quarterback Jay Snowden, who had an off-day against Lafayette, was 18-of-24 against the Big Red and threw for 216 yards. Junior flanker Colby Skelton also had a tremendous game for the Crimson, with 152 yards receiving in last week's action.

Senior tailback Eion Hu continues to rack up yardage for the Crimson, leading the team with 355 yards rushing, to go with his three touchdowns.

Hu's nemesis today will be Holy Cross defenseman David Streeter, who is coming off of an 18-tackle game last week at Dartmouth.

The Holy Cross defense has indeed been formidable, having forced 12 turnovers in the first five games of the season.

Holy Cross's offense relies heavily on airing out the football. In last weekend's Dartmouth contest alone, 11 different receivers caught passes tossed by Crusader quarterback Brion Stapp.

But Harvard's defense, coming off a two-interception performance against Cornell, is up to the challenge. And despite the losses, the defense had been consistently stubborn in yielding points. The 20 points it allowed the Big Red last weekend was the most it had allowed all season.

Harvard, meanwhile, is hoping to put last week behind them.

Harvard had difficulty scoring from inside the 20-yard line, scoring only half those times. Still, the aforementioned offensive bright spots give Harvard reason to hope that success is just around the corner.