SEASON's GREETING: Football Opens Year At Cross-Town Rival

The last time the Harvard football team lined up opposite intrastate rival Holy Cross, the Crimson dominated through three quarters of play, surrendering just 10 points.

But the Crusaders’ offense was roused from its slumber when it mattered, lighting up the Harvard defense for 13 points in the final frame and pulling to within five before ultimately falling just short, 28-23.

The Crimson had better not be counting on a similar slow start this time around.

In its opening two contests this year, Holy Cross (1-1, 1-1 Patriot) has posted a whopping total of 62 points—42 of them coming in last week’s victory over Georgetown.

And that’s a number that would likely be higher had sophomore quarterback John O’Neill not been temporarily forced from the team’s opener, leaving the game for a quarter after being badly shaken up.

There were no signs of lingering damage last week though, as O’Neill threw for 270 yards and four scores, improving his quarterback rating to an almost unheard of 177.71—good enough for the New England Sports Writers Gold Helmet Award as Division I-AA player of the week.

“We’re gonna blitz him quite often just to throw him off early,” senior cornerback Benny Butler said. “They like to throw a lot of timing routes.”

Complementing that effort up front, the secondary will focus on slowing down receivers early on, jamming them to prevent them from getting off the line of scrimmage.

Frequently running three wide receiver sets with a single man in the backfield, the Crusaders look to spread the defensive backfield and exploit blown coverage for big plays.

Against the Hoyas, O’Neill connected with his receivers for three touchdown strikes of 46 yards or more.

Harvard presents a unique challenge to this strategy, however.

In many three receiver sets, a safety is forced to defend the third wideout, though their coverage skills are usually not as refined as those of cornerbacks. Opposing quarterbacks often try to take advantage of the mismatch, expecting a defensive miscue.

But senior Chris Raftery, who moved to free safety after starting last season at cornerback, is the likely choice to guard the third receiver, bringing with him the technical skill many others at his position lack.

“Chris is a good athlete [and] he definitely has helped our defense,” junior cornerback Gary Sonkur said. “He can play corner or free safety. He can go one on one with anybody. He’s probably the fastest free safety we’ve had in a while.”

While this negates a small disadvantage, a talented Holy Cross trio still threatens to wreak havoc downfield.

Sophomore Sean Gruber has unexpectedly burst onto the scene early this season, posting team-high receiving tallies in both games, notching 104 yards his last time out, following up 74 yards against Lehigh.

“Gruber is a good receiver, but they have three good receivers,” Butler said. “We’re gonna play ‘em all the same way we’ve practiced all week.”

Supplementing the attack, captains Ari Confessor and Nick Larsen have combined for four trips to pay dirt in two weeks.

Ranging between 6’ and 6’4”, the group presents the Crimson defenders with a height disadvantage at every position. Though this places Harvard on familiar ground, that may not be a good thing in this case.

Larsen and Confessor combined for 135 yards receiving and two touchdowns in a losing effort last year.

To prevent a repeat performance, the secondary has devoted itself to watching game film for weeks and has several looks ready to surprise the Crusaders at game time.

“We’re gonna mix it up,” Butler said. “We’re going to play a little zone and a little man.”

But the first step in defeating the passing attack will come not downfield but at the line of scrimmage, where the Crimson will look to recapture the dominance shown last year throughout most of the game.

Under heavy pressure, Holy Cross managed just 45 yards on the ground despite 23 carries.

This year, junior tailback Steve Silva has gained 209 yards on the ground, with his success in finding holes and moving the chains helping to make the offense less predictable and creating opportunities for O’Neill to air the ball out.

But if Harvard’s front seven can achieve the same penetration as last year, Silva won’t be making his way out of the backfield on his carries.

“They have a good running back in Silva,” Sonkur said. “He’s a pretty big back...If we can stop them with the run, then they have nothing left to do but pass and pass and we’ll be ready for it.”

And with Crusaders head coach Dan Allen using as many one running back sets as he does, only O’Neill and Silva will be in the backfield, which means fewer blockers and less time on passing plays. And that means more chances for guys like captain Dante Balestracci to take a shot at O’Neill, whose chances of throwing an accurate pass with No. 48 bearing down on him probably aren’t too good.

“We’re just gonna play our defense,” Sonkur said. “We always put pressure on the quarterback. We’re always hungry for the ball.”

The Crimson takes aim at O’Neill and company when it travels to Worcester tomorrow for the season opener at 1:00 on Fitton Field.

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.