Predators, Preyed

When its offense showed some signs of struggle, the No. 15 Harvard football team set out to prove the old adage that “defense wins championships.” On Saturday, at least, defense got the Crimson halfway there.

A stifling, swarming defense helped a sputtering Harvard offense as the Crimson (5-0, 2-0 Ivy) knocked off Lafayette (2-4, 1-0 Patriot) by a score of 24-7 in front of 10,807 fans this weekend at Harvard Stadium.

Harvard’s last non-conference game of the season was the setting of its most lackluster offensive performance. Junior quarterback Chris Pizzotti completed only 17 of his 40 pass attempts for 210 yards, throwing just one interception but coming dangerously close at least once more. He did connect on two touchdowns, however, and together with another typically strong effort from Clifton Dawson and a defense that gave up just 240 total yards, it was enough for the Crimson to win handily.

“Defensively, I thought we played tremendously today,” Murphy said. “Offensively, we really played relatively poorly, but you’re going to have games like that over the course of the year, where one unit may not play well and the other unit rises up. That was the case today.”

In fact, the only touchdown the Harvard defense gave up on Saturday followed an offensive miscue. Driving deep from within the Crimson’s own territory, Pizzotti threw an interception that Leopard defensive back Justin Stovall took back 12 yards to the Crimson 22-yard line. Four plays later, Lafayette quarterback Brad Maurer hit Jonathan Hurt in the endzone for a 10-yard score, putting the Leopards up 7-0 with 8:09 to play in the opening frame. Asked what frustrated the offense most on Saturday, Pizzotti cited himself.

“It was definitely execution as an offense,” he said. “We had a lot of open receivers today. Personally I didn’t have my best game today, but I give a lot of credit to Lafayette’s defense, too.”

That defense failed to stop the Crimson on the possession following the Leopards’ score, when Pizzotti, aided by a Lafayette personal foul penalty and key catches from junior Corey Mazza and freshman Matt Luft, marched Harvard down the field before finding senior tight end Matt Farbotko in the back of the endzone for a three-yard touchdown.

“He was checking each play, and getting us into the right looks,” Dawson said of Pizzotti’s performance. “I give a lot of credit to him and what he did today.”

After three straight punts, the Crimson needed seven plays before Pizzotti hit Mazza for a 19-yard strike to make it a 14-7 contest.

Then it was the defense’s turn to shine.

Three straight Lafayette possessions resulted in three straight interceptions for Maurer, whose 157 yards on the day were about half as many as Harvard had given up the previous two games. Junior cornerback Steve Williams, sophomore linebacker Glenn Doris, and captain linebacker Ryan Tully caused the turnovers. Dorris also had a sack and nine tackles on the day, and a fumble recovery on the Leopards’ opening play of the second half. It was the best performance of his young career.

“Last week against Cornell, we were in pass coverage just as much, but we really didn’t perform,” said Dorris of the linebacking core’s performance against Lafayette. “We had a really good week of practice. It just clicked today.”

The fumble recovered by Dorris and caused by sophomore Brenton Bryant led to a Crimson field goal that increased the lead to 17-7 with 12:46 to play in the third. A 10-yard touchdown run by Dawson made the margin 24-7 with 3:44 to go in the quarter, ending the day’s scoring.

The fourth quarter wasn’t without its highlights, however. On a Lafayette drive that started just over four minutes into the final frame, a fluid Leopard charge was halted by three sacks on three straight plays—all by sophomore defensive end Sonny McCracken.

“I thought the hockey guys were going to start throwing their hats,” Murphy said. “He’s just a very tough, competitive kid.”

Though it wasn’t the 42-yard average that had Harvard ranked first in I-AA in rushing defense, the Crimson again held a team under 100 yards on the ground, allowing only 83 to the Lafayette offense. Along with six sacks and four total turnovers, it was perhaps the defense’s best performance of the season.

“I thought our defense had enough critical stops in there, and gave our offense the ball enough to win a football game,” Leopard coach Frank Tavini said. “Our offense certainly didn’t get it done at all.”

He did not equal the three touchdowns he had scored in each of Harvard’s first four games, but Dawson did rush for 144 yards on 26 carries with a single score. His lone touchdown tied him with 2006 Brown graduate Nick Hartigan for the most career rushing touchdowns in Ivy League history, and he now sits in fourth-place on the all-time yards chart.

“I can’t really control what other people expect of me,” Dawson said. “I appreciate the expectations.”

And as high as Murphy’s expectations were entering the season, the result so far is still pretty satisfying.

“We’re very happy to be 5-0,” Murphy said. “The bottom line is, if you could have asked me back in August, ‘Would you be pleased and proud to be 5-0 at this stage of the game?’ I would have said, ‘Absolutely.’”

—Staff writer Malcom A. Glenn can be reached at mglenn@fas.harvard.edu.