The "V" Spot

In the end, a great quarterback defeated a great defense.

Colgate's great quarterback, Ryan Vena, perhaps the best player in Division I-AA, geared up for a final drive at 1:24 with the score tied, 21-21.

The Harvard defense, great all day, needed one more stop to send the game into sudden death.

Senior linebacker Isaiah Kacyvenski, as always, led his troops onto the field, waving his hands in the air. He was fired up as the Crimson had just scored two improbable touchdowns in the fourth quarter--a stunning turnaround that the defense needed to cap off.

But it had nothing left to give.

The cool and calm Vena took the . He hit two 17-yard passes and ran for 25 more putting together a 63-yard drive. As time expired, Erich Kutschke's field goal sailed through the uprights.

"I said if we held Colgate to 21 points, we were gonna win," Harvard Coach Tim Murphy said. "[Colgate]is going to get yardage, but the key was to keep them out of the end zone."

Colgate certainly got its yards--487 of them--but don't believe the numbers. The Crimson defense had a spectacular day against Vena's explosive offense.

Almost every time that Vena started moving the ball downfield, the defense dug deep and came up with a play to keep the ball out of end zone.

While the offense sputtered to repeated three-and-outs, the defense found a way to keep Harvard in the game.

It started in the first quarter with the Raiders on the Crimson's 32-yard line and opting to go for it on fourth-and-5. Vena completed a pass over the middle to Dave Beitler, just short of the first down marker--and that's where the ball stayed. A hard tackle by senior linebackers Jeff Svicarovich and Aron Natale prevented Beitler from falling over the 27.

Time after time Colgate encroached upon Harvard territory, and each time it emerged with no points.

Kacyvenski saved at least a chip shot field goal attempt at the end of the first half, intercepting a Vena pass that went directly to him. Kacyvenski was superbly positioned and made the play at Harvard's 5-yard line.

Midway through the third quarter, Colgate again attempted a fourth down conversion. This time it had made it to the Harvard 23, and had a mere yard to go. But when the offensive line pushed to let fullback Tim Lavoie leap over it, the line encountered a brick wall, and Lavoie, well, crashed into it.

"We had chances at the end to put this game away," Colgate Coach Dick Biddle said. "We didn't make any plays."

Only when the offense had blundered so much could the Red Raiders make big plays against this defense.

After the second fourth-down stop, Harvard's drive lasted just one play--an interception by safety Tom McCarroll. That pick marked the first of three Colgate interceptions on consecutive series.

Certainly, the defense had to sit on the bench in stunned disbelief--actually, it had barely any time to sit on the bench. No surprise then that Colgate found the end zone off the first two interceptions.

The defense, ever resilient, recovered and at 11:10 of the fourth quarter responded with an interception of its own. Senior safety Mike Madden returned his catch to midfield, and the offense finally converted an opportunity, drawing the score to 21-14 off a sneak by senior quarterback Brad Wilford.

After the touchdown, the defense gave the team a chance to tie the score by forcing a three-and-out, and the offense did.

All the unit had to do was dig deep one more time and the game would enter sudden death, but a potential interception sailed through Svicarovich's hands and Vena proved why he is considered a leading candidate for the Walter Payton Award, Division I-AA's equivalent of the Heisman Trophy.

There is certainly no shame in this loss for the Crimson. Harvard demonstrated that it has a fighting spirit that rises to the occasion when challenged.

The offense struggled but made something happen when the game was on the line. The defense remained strong all game until the fateful last series.

Harvard may have lost this game, but it lost to what is probably the best team on its schedule and, more importantly, a non-conference opponent. Dartmouth faced this squad the previous weekend and suffered an overwhelming defeat, 35-3.

If the Crimson defense can continue to cover most of the mistakes of the offense, that certainly does not bode well for the rest of the Ivy League. If Harvard could corral Vena, the best quarterback in the division, can't it do the same to Brown's James Perry, the best quarterback in the conference?

The Crimson may not have had that little extra in this game, but Harvard's future opponents may not make it dig so deep.